Let's try this again: Candidates and their qualifications...

[ballscribe]

Yeah, black. There's some irony there, no?

 

[three_bags_full]

I was sad, too.

 

[outofplace]

The only thing that gets me is that religious minorities don't count. So if you're Jewish, we don't care. But if you're black, let's talk.

Aren't they both minorities?

As far as age discrimination, it's out there. MEs like to hire cheap young people. That's how I got my break. Sorry old farts.

I really should just close this thread and keep my mouth shut....yeah right....

Shaggy, I think part of it may be because Jewish people are perceived as being very well represented in the media.

Of course, my last two stops I think I was the only Jewish person in the newsroom, definitely the only one in sports.

There are two larger issues.

One is that it is simply easier to spot a sports department that lacks women or minorities than it is one that lacks religious minorities. I hate to say it, but I believe when somebody is hired simply because they are a woman or a minority, it is more about keeping up appearances than any desire by the paper to bring in a different perspective. Not that keeping up appearances isn't a legitimate concern when trying to connect with the community.

Jewish people in particular are often treated as if we aren't really a minority. The argument is that we were never enslaved in this country, never denied the right to vote. I still remember a black woman I had a college class with telling me that being Jewish doesn't count because I could always hide what I am while she can't. Many years later, that comment still bothers me, but I think plenty of people share that opinion.

I've commented plenty on these threads before and they usually end badly. I agree with the poster that you really have to go case-by-case to really comment on a specific situation.

I stand by what I have always said. If it's close, I expect to see the woman or minority hired over the white guy and I honestly can't argue with that.

However, if the white male is far and away the best candidate or if you remove the white males from the candidate pool before you even begin to evaluate, I do believe that is inappropriate. Have I had something like that happen to me? Yes. Have I seen an even more blatant case happen to a buddy of mine who ended up leaving the business because of it? Yes.

Do I expect to change the minds of any of the people who say, "There's too many white males in the business, so it's always good when one is passed over no matter what the circumstances?" No, I don't. No point in even arguing with them.

 

[scalper]

Here's the real irony. Most of the people at the top of newspapers who suddenly decide they're going to hire based on color, gender or youth are OLD WHITE MALES.

They do this not because they think they're righting some wrong. They do it because they think it makes them look good or because it simply saves money. In a sense, they're killing their own kind -- other white males, only ones who didn't aspire to climb newspapers' corporate ladder -- and they're perfectly comfortable with that.

Now if it got turned around on them, and people started hiring diversity candidates to run the newsroom they'd have a major problem with that.

If you find genuine nobility somewhere in this industry, be sure to report it. It'll be the first case on record.

 

[Ace]

I think if editors weren't essentially told by their superiors to hire minorities, to fill a quota, etc. and were given more power in the hiring process, those superiors might be surprised by the diverse newsrooms you'd end up with. Instead, this type of forced hiring can lead to unnecessary dissent, anger, bitterness and it's often unfair to the person who is hired and proves themselves qualified because peers will often associate the person with a flawed hiring process and will never objectively look at the person's work.

I'd be extremely surprised, actually. How many of those enlightened superiors do you imagine were told not to hire minorities?

 

[Crimson Tide]

There used to be a Jewish girl that worked on the news desk who wanted the Friday-Saturday time off as her weekend so she could worship. Very into her faith.

Bosses told her no way.

However, I never saw a Mormon have to work a Sunday, even if meant a non-Mormon went into overtime to cover a Sunday shift.

So she quit and found a job that didn't discriminate against her.

God bless Idaho.

 

[Idaho]

Tide,

I worked EVERY Sunday at my paper when I was in Idaho - I made the schedule that way so my guys would have a weekend day off. You want Sundays off? Best find a different business, IMO. No such games get played like that at the SLC papers I can assure you.

Some publishers or MEs are idiots, however, I'll grant you that.

But your comment/observation is pretty much unrelated to this thread.

 

[Crimson Tide]

Not terribly unrelated. Just to point out that not all women and/or minorities get a free ride just because of their background.

 

[Idaho]

That's true.

 

[Sportsbruh]

Gosh!

White people have DOMINATED and inaccurately reported the news since this Country came into existance. Black people have decided not to even READ white written newspapers because of this HISTORICAL racism.

It's about time the silver spoon is being taken out ya mouth. Now you see what it feels like to be passed over because of the color of your skin. Ouch!

Sorry, I can't empathize with you. Maybe after 200 years of this ongoing behavior will I concede.

 

[Ace]

Gosh!

White people have DOMINATED and inaccurately reported the news since this Country came into existance. Black people have decided not to even READ white written newspapers because of this HISTORICAL racism.

It's about time the silver spoon is being taken out ya mouth. Now you see what it feels like to be passed over because of the color of your skin. Ouch!

Sorry, I can't empathize with you. Maybe after 200 years of this ongoing behavior will I concede.

You can't empathize with being passed over because of the color of your skin? Hey, the white people must have fixed everything then. Minorities are no longer passed over.

Hurray!

 

[Blushing]

The American economy depends on injustice. Injustice is essential to its working. Imagine some lazy college student (choose whatever sex and race you want) whose alarm clock goes off and he/she wonders if it's all worth it. I'm not especially talented, gifted, smart or industrious, and I really don't want to work hard, and I just as soon lie here, he/she thinks, and so what's the use. Why bother because, after all, I'm not particularly deserving. If we all get what we deserve, well, I'm destined to be a telephone solicitor. On the other hand, with the world the way it is, he/she has an incentive and forces the old body to roll out of bed because, he/she thinks, I might be a columnist some day.