1/ 8 yrs ago, after completing a yr-long entry-level fellowship @NPR, I was offered a temp position to stay on. I reminded myself that my rent & student loan payments didn’t temp & then I quit. I came back in a full-time role after a year working elsewhere washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/styl…
2/ I can’t tell you the number of qualified, intelligent, talented journalists I’ve seen leave NPR because they couldn’t afford temp life. Many of these journalists are women and people of color. @npr is worse off without them.
3/ I have seen @NPR try earnestly to look at the way it handles issues of race and diversity in its news coverage. And I applaud management for doing so. But my employer still fails to address some of the systemic issues, like temping, that continue to hurt the org’s diversity.
4/ Temp culture also keeps entry-level @npr jobs from being filled by non-traditional entry-level journalists, like parents, or older employees, or people switching fields entirely. Those perspectives would make our coverage smarter. Temp culture keeps them away.
5/ I have no smart way to end this thread other than to say I want my employer to do better.
