Thread by @Carrasquillo

I’ve cared about this for 12 years & seen it ignored so long I can come off a little ornery on the topic. I’ve seen plenty of white newsroom leaders care about diversity & champion it but the problem is everyone gives up super quickly. The efforts are always measured against 1/x

https://twitter.com/erinoverbey/status/1437767832159277058

Robust, existing, well-funded mainstream newsroom efforts and then after a few months it’s like oh well abandon ship! OR staffers of color are hired but 1) they aren’t empowered 2) they succeed (good!) and leave for better jobs, but aren’t replaced. Also, why do they leave? 2/x

Well, sometimes another place wants to pay them a lot more! But why aren’t they valued like senior white colleagues are by execs? I’m not talking out of my ass I’ve seen this happen as recently as this year with someone. Where is the exec stepping in to say “we can’t lose you”?

Back to empowering. Do you know how exhausting it is to be the “staffer of color” but not get paid for that extra layer of responsibility? If you promote your great hires now they are in management roles and can shape coverage and hiring decisions. It’s a business prerogative.