Ed Werder doesn't like women helping women

[CD Boogie]

Imagine the ego one would have to have about their own abilities to swiftly climb an industry's ladder while simultaneously proclaiming publicly that even the best women in said industry are "often" rejected at "every" publication.

I don't know too many quick climbers in any industry who don't have an outsized ego.

 

[dirtybird]

Imagine the ego one would have to have about their own abilities to swiftly climb an industry's ladder while simultaneously proclaiming publicly that even the best women in said industry are "often" rejected at "every" publication.

"Imagine the ego" of someone in journalism?

There's a lot of it. All the way up, all the way down.

 

[Double Down]

Imagine the ego of men who are actually not that great at journalism — but really good at networking — rising through the ranks and getting jobs they probably don't deserve. I see plenty of that. Way more than women, in fact.

 

[typefitter]

Imagine the ego of men who are actually not that great at journalism — but really good at networking — rising through the ranks and getting jobs they probably don't deserve. I see plenty of that. Way more than women, in fact.

Do you know how many people got their jobs through luck, kissassery, or quotas? Every single person who has a better job than I do.

 

[Sports Barf]

The sad part of this whole thing is that, as bad as women and blacks, people of color etc think they have it when it comes to discrimination in this industry, gay people have it even worse. So many gays in this business get passed over way too often.

 

[lcjjdnh]

Imagine the ego of men who are actually not that great at journalism — but really good at networking — rising through the ranks and getting jobs they probably don't deserve. I see plenty of that. Way more than women, in fact.

This strikes me as an important point, too. White Male A might not broadcast on Twitter that he's happy to help other white males apply for a job. But if he just asks his own friends if they're interested it may very well have that effect in practice--even though that's not his intent--simply because they're more likely to be white males.

 

[jr/shotglass]

Fascinating thread.

 

[Slacker]

I believe that this is the most pertinent point in regards to why journalism looks the way it does. I would not still be in this field if I hadn't had a full ride to college. The job is skewed to those already coming from a place of economic security, and as a result you'll frequently see those people being white males. (Which isn't just a journalism problem, but a far great societal issue.)

I will say it's naive to think many people aren't working hard to get minorities a shot in this industry. I've had four separate occasions now in which an editor told me either explicitly or implicitly (and probably illegally) that the upper levels of management didn't give them the OK to fill that opening with a white male. It sucks. But I've also seen the bullshirt plenty of talented women in this business have to deal with that I will never have to. They're very much on an island, which is why organizations like AWSM are necessary and why it's silly to take umbrage at what Wilder tweeted.

Speaking from personal experience, when I was the editor at a 15,000-circulation daily for two years, I had only four females apply for openings out of 100+ applications. One I hired as a part-timer, another I would have but she wasn't able to commit to nights because of her college schedule, and a third I was hoping to hire to a full-time spot until she flaked out and never showed for her interview or even called to say why. Still haven't heard back. Ha.

Welcome back, hoser!

 

[Baron Scicluna]

This is a terrible analogy.

Yeah. He should be getting them to sing the National Anthem.

 

[tapintoamerica]

I may have done it wrong, but when I searched the Department of Education's IPEDS database for 2016-17, I came back with approximately 90,000 grads (first majors only) in what the government calls "Journalism, Communication and Related Fields." Of that total, 60,000 were women. This is far from perfect, of course. You can't assume that only grads in that field are qualified for journalism jobs. Nor can we know what constitutes "related fields." Can't tell if advertising, for example, is in that group or in Business.
But it does suggest that the pool of qualified candidates is more than 12 percent female.

 

[PaperDoll]

If a person didn't grow up loving sports or playing sports, it's really hard to decide, at 23, you want to be in sports journalism.

The readers/viewers can see right through it.

I didn't grow up playing sports, and the only sports I love are the Olympics. I was a psychology major, but chose to be a sportswriter as a college freshman because it was fun. And it still is.

 

[Azrael]

Ignore Az's moral prescriptions then.

Not really a "moral prescription," is it?

(Although Ed's karma is gonna need a touch-up.)

Ex-ESPN Writer Ed Werder Accuses Sports Illustrated Writer of Sexism

Ed Werder takes heat after tweet about men in sports journalism

https://www.theroot.com/ex-espn-reporter-ed-werder-cries-the-whitest-male-tears-1826922517

www.tmz.com/2018/06/18/ed-werder-sports-illustrated-writer-sexism-against-men/