Sports Editor - Washington Times

Greetings

I am a long time reader of this site. I am Gregory Lee, the deputy sports editor of the Boston Globe and the National Association of Black Journalists Sports Task Force chair.

I have read with great interest on the topic of diversity hires in our nation's sports departments.

First I want to say I reached out to Mike Harris privately about the importance of diversity. Mike has been receptive and actually hired two people I gave my thoughts on.

Drip's question on the board was actually a legit question to ask. You can never assume that every sports editor has diversity at the top of their priority list. If that were the case, I would not be needed as chair of the task force or co-director of the Sports Journalism Institute.

Later this year, the sports census will be released once again and it will show decreases in diversity in sports departments.

Since my first story in the APSE Bulletin in 1994 about the lack of diversity in our sports departments, there has been very little change. The biggest impact APSE has made has been supporting the Sports Journalism Institute.
However, no matter how you feel about it, the reality is there is only one African American Sports Editor - Larry Graham. No matter how you slice it, it's not a good look for this industry.

 

So which paper are you going to bully next?

 

I'm going to call Mike and recommend some caucasian journalists that I think he should hire.

 

How many people is Moddy hiring?

I'm sorry, but you can not represent the entire diversity of America within a group of less than 10 people. The sample size just isn't large enough.

Diversity is great and it's terrific that Mike hired two people that you "gave your thoughts" on. I'll bet that Mike hired them because of their talent, experience, and potential.

Of course, by publicly proclaiming that you recommended them, you have just contributed to their hires being looked upon as token hires.

I'm sure they're not. Don't believe Mike would work that way. But you couldn't be content in their being hired. You wanted to put your fingerprints on it. Well done. Now, people will question their hiring. They'll wonder if they would have been hired if you didn't weigh in.

Feel better now?

 

Was Moddy going to get his legs broken if he didn't listen to "The Task Force"

The journalists that Moddy hired might be the next Red Smith and Dan Jenkins, but they're going to think the only reason they got that job is because you flexed some muscle.

Disgraceful.

 

Greg,

How come the Globe didn't hire a minority for its recent Pats opening? Did you call your boss and sic your task force on him?

 

Good call. The Task Force won't be visiting you now.

 

It's the arrogance that bothers me. He might have been completely professional in his dealings with you, but to come on here and brag about it and make it seem like these guys couldn't get a job without his help is disgraceful.

 

The only thing that bothered me was the "you can never assume every sports editor has diversity at the top of their priority list."

Are they all supposed to?