Sports Departments Lacking Diversity (report)

The finger-pointing should be at the educational level. If there aren't minorities coming out of journalism school, there aren't going to be minorities applying for jobs.

Why aren't minorities coming out of journalism school? Probably for the same reasons minority access to higher education is generally economically limited.

But there may be something to be said about certain cultures not having many aspirants to certain professions. Do a lot of minorities, who from different cultural backgrounds, grow up wanting to be sports writers? I don't know.

 

Not in our area, and not at the area schools.

 

Let me take a twist on that one: does the typical black male child, who it's been well-documented has NBA aspirations, see sports journalism as a legitimate career option once those hoop dreams fade?

 

This is total horseshit. Look, there are many places to find minority journalists. From the National Association of Black Journalists to even the APSE, papers that truly want minority sports writers can find them. Again, it comes back to the paper. The situation in a place like say Albany isn't natural but it is apparent they don't want anyone who isn't white. The proof is the product and tour of the newsroom.

 

At the last newspaper I was at plenty of sports writers were interviewed and hired while I was there and even though I wasn't making the hire I looked over most of the packets that came in. I don't remember a single female applicant except for one who got an internship with us. I have no idea how many minority candidates applied for the opening while I was there, but everytime somebody was called in for an interview he was a white guy. I don't really know what this adds to the discussion, but we had no idea what race the people coming into interview were going to be and white guys kept showing up.

 

The story mentioned the Sacramento Bee and papers over 250k in circulation, but didn't mention what the percentages were. I'd like to see it broken down by circulation categories, because I suspect the larger circulations are going to have the most diverse newsrooms. I mentioned this on the thread last week, and I'll say it again here: Minorities have a better chance of starting there because those are the papers who can afford to be choosy about whom they hire. If they want minority candidates, they will have them, because they generally pay better than smaller circulation papers.

 

Unless you include a picture, yes, it is difficult to find out the race of an applicant because it is illegal to ask that question. However, as i have stated earlier, there are plenty of outlets from where some top notch minority talent can be found. It's not rocket science or finding a needle in a hay stack.

 

No, you can't ask the question, but it's often crystal clear when you do a face-to-face interview. Not a needle in a haystack, but I will say this: Every chain makes platitudes about embracing diversity, but there may simply be too few minority candidates to go around, which would lend credence to the thought that in some portion this starts at the post-secondary educational level. For smaller papers, though, staff size limitations place a premium on making quick hires. An SE who has one of two positions under him open and hasn't had a day off in six weeks isn't going to spend time legworking to find a minority candidate.

 

right on the money

 

Tht might be true but that doesn't explain why many SEs and MEs at smaller papers, who know of minority candidates, don't go after them. I have heard too many stories from candidates who felt they were just taken through the motions during interviews.

 

That's where newspapers need to do a better job. Instead of just looking at applicants, they need to reach out. They should already have a candidate in mind before an opening.

 

Here's the flip side, and those that know me have heard me talk about this experience before. But I'm a minority and I was brought in for an interview a couple of years back at a small daily. The sports editor and executive editor kept asking me if I could handle living and working in such a predominantly white community. Right there, I knew a) I wasn't getting the job, and b) I didn't want the job. Just left me with the feeling that they didn't care about my skills, though I was the most experienced candidate, and only wanted to offer the perception that they were "trying" to hire minorities.
Thankfully, I went on to receive my first APSE award a little over a year later. Actually thought about sending the SE a bottle of Mad Dog 20/20 with a note saying thank you for not hiring me.