Why Are Canadian Sports Broadcasters and Media Personalities Predominately White?

[JN]

This is just your way of promoting Syracuse, isn't it.

I have to find something to promote them. Syracuse broadcasters certainly have been more successful than Syracuse players in the NBA.

That being said here are people from Syracuse, that I cut and paste from newhouse website.

"When you look to the top of the sports broadcasting profession you see Syracuse alumni everywhere you turn: from NBC's Bob Costas '74 and Mike Tirico '88 to Marv Albert '63, the Voice of the NBA, plus ESPN's Sean McDonough '84, Dave Pasch '94, Dave O'Brien '86 and Beth Mowins G'90 and CBS' Ian Eagle '90"

Leo notably absent from this list of grads they're proud of.

They're list of grads in high profile sports broadcasting is much longer then above, they cut it off to the most prominent today that are likely visible in the US. Many people were cut off, Leo amongst them -- and rightly so as is he is not at that level. I don't think that means they are not proud of him. He is no Craig Carton ("Boomer" who is a prominent New York City sports host, who was jailed for running a ponzi scheme).

I don't think Leo Rautins is some great TV guy -- if he is moved out, I would not be disappointed. But my main point was he had credentials when hired.. and he hangs on because teams like to retain broadcasters.

[Chandan]

What do you mean about you refusing that logic has left the people?

In this case, I think it's only natural that the broadcasting crew/media personalities are STILL majority White. I dont see how anyone can still be outraged if they took a minute to figure out the reasons.

Think about how many years it takes to learn a trade. Think about the connections you need to build in order to succeed in that industry. Think about when did basketball become popular in Toronto. Think about the language barrier. Think about the old guards in your own industries. Think about the nature of a pursuing a broadcasting career and the risk that comes with it. Think about the actual population break down... I could give you like ten more reasons off the top of my head why isn't there more minorities currently working for TSN. I can be wrong with some of them because i drew them from my experience, but I probably wouldn't bat a 0 considering that I am a minority myself.

It takes time to have minorities saturate the industry and it's already happening. I dont see a reason to start a random fire to push a racial agenda.

Ok. So I think I see what you're saying. So you're saying since minorities only started to come over in mass amounts to Canada in the 70s, it would take a longer time for them to become more prevelant in certain industries?

Thats one of the reason. Sports is a mainstream thing and people from different cultures needs time to integrate into a society. Hockey/baseball used to be the only thing in town, and i didnt see many yellow/black/brown kids holding a stick or bat when i was young. So of course there isnt a lot of minorities wanting to break into sports journalism until basketball fever came along.

now basketball has brought us together. Just let harmony hum its course. And if there is a demand for people of color (strange demand IMO, i mean what does it matter? ), it will eventually be filled.

[arneil]

In this case, I think it's only natural that the broadcasting crew/media personalities are STILL majority White. I dont see how anyone can still be outraged if they took a minute to figure out the reasons.

Think about how many years it takes to learn a trade. Think about the connections you need to build in order to succeed in that industry. Think about when did basketball become popular in Toronto. Think about the language barrier. Think about the old guards in your own industries. Think about the nature of a pursuing a broadcasting career and the risk that comes with it. Think about the actual population break down... I could give you like ten more reasons off the top of my head why isn't there more minorities currently working for TSN. I can be wrong with some of them because i drew them from my experience, but I probably wouldn't bat a 0 considering that I am a minority myself.

It takes time to have minorities saturate the industry and it's already happening. I dont see a reason to start a random fire to push a racial agenda.

Ok. So I think I see what you're saying. So you're saying since minorities only started to come over in mass amounts to Canada in the 70s, it would take a longer time for them to become more prevelant in certain industries?

Thats one of the reason. Sports is a mainstream thing and people from different cultures needs time to integrate into a society. Hockey/baseball used to be the only thing in town, and i didnt see many yellow/black/brown kids holding a stick or bat when i was young. So of course there isnt a lot of minorities wanting to break into sports journalism until basketball fever came along.

now basketball has brought us together. Just let harmony hum its course. And if there is a demand for people of color (strange demand IMO, i mean what does it matter? ), it will eventually be filled.

I can agree with that.

[Morse Code]

Perpetuating division in the disguise of social injustice lol I’ve seen it all.

[SpaceCenter]

I just wrote an angry letter to the South African Government complaining about the lack of white representation in public sector jobs. 8.9% of the population is white so why don't they have 50% of the jobs! #disgusting

[MadDogSHWA]

Out of all the different communities I'm part of the two most disappointing when discussing social issues are my woodworking groups and this message board.

[720]

I work in education and I know one older white teacher that prefers white substitutes in her class. She even told me one day when she came back from a sick day saying how much better the class behaved the day before when she had a white substitute fill in for her. She specifically said “it’s because she is white”.

Sorta **** up considering the principal of the school was black.

[refshateRaps]

Perpetuating division in the disguise of social injustice lol I’ve seen it all.

Fueling extreme fear, division and anger in our youth to gather in protest (or riot) in the streets is nothing new at US election year. But for these political groups and a health organizations to even promote it during the heart of a pandemic that shut down the economy....

That is peak racism. All time high

Every US election one ups the next in the levels they go to ruin lives

[TheBoi10]

Where are the mods

[right between the eyes]

Haven't read the whole thread but with all the negative news in the world right now I come here to discuss ball and not race...this needs to be on the OT board

[omar36]

i tihnk it has more to do with who you know more then anything. there have been a few poc in many fields. we have punjabi night in canada which is great move to make it more popular in south asian communities. I tihnk the thing is no one really cares bout it. I dont see jorunalism at that level about skill, its just bout who u know. its gotten better especially in sports that are more i guess popular with poc. i dotn see an issue with this at all tbh.

[Brinbe]

In this case, I think it's only natural that the broadcasting crew/media personalities are STILL majority White. I dont see how anyone can still be outraged if they took a minute to figure out the reasons.

Think about how many years it takes to learn a trade. Think about the connections you need to build in order to succeed in that industry. Think about when did basketball become popular in Toronto. Think about the language barrier. Think about the old guards in your own industries. Think about the nature of a pursuing a broadcasting career and the risk that comes with it. Think about the actual population break down... I could give you like ten more reasons off the top of my head why isn't there more minorities currently working for TSN. I can be wrong with some of them because i drew them from my experience, but I probably wouldn't bat a 0 considering that I am a minority myself.

It takes time to have minorities saturate the industry and it's already happening. I dont see a reason to start a random fire to push a racial agenda.

Ok. So I think I see what you're saying. So you're saying since minorities only started to come over in mass amounts to Canada in the 70s, it would take a longer time for them to become more prevelant in certain industries?

Thats one of the reason. Sports is a mainstream thing and people from different cultures needs time to integrate into a society. Hockey/baseball used to be the only thing in town, and i didnt see many yellow/black/brown kids holding a stick or bat when i was young. So of course there isnt a lot of minorities wanting to break into sports journalism until basketball fever came along.

now basketball has brought us together. Just let harmony hum its course. And if there is a demand for people of color (strange demand IMO, i mean what does it matter? ), it will eventually be filled.

How old are you?

Because I can honestly say growing up as
poor immigrants in Toronto in the early 90s we (as in immigrant kids from all over the globe) we all played baseball, Street hockey, American football, etc in addition to basketball. We actually probably played those hockey more than anything tbh. Had nets and goalie equipment and everything too.

And we were the furthest thing from suburban white kids lol.

Not to discount your experience, just saying trying to offer my perspective.

[Jcity08]

Ok. So I think I see what you're saying. So you're saying since minorities only started to come over in mass amounts to Canada in the 70s, it would take a longer time for them to become more prevelant in certain industries?

Thats one of the reason. Sports is a mainstream thing and people from different cultures needs time to integrate into a society. Hockey/baseball used to be the only thing in town, and i didnt see many yellow/black/brown kids holding a stick or bat when i was young. So of course there isnt a lot of minorities wanting to break into sports journalism until basketball fever came along.

now basketball has brought us together. Just let harmony hum its course. And if there is a demand for people of color (strange demand IMO, i mean what does it matter? ), it will eventually be filled.

How old are you?

Because I can honestly say growing up as
poor immigrants in Toronto in the early 90s we (as in immigrant kids from all over the globe) we all played baseball, Street hockey, American football, etc in addition to basketball. We actually probably played those hockey more than anything tbh. Had nets and goalie equipment and everything too.

And we were the furthest thing from suburban white kids lol.

Not to discount your experience, just saying trying to offer my perspective.

Everyone's experience is different. As an immigrant living with a single mother, also growing up in the 90s, the only sports I really played were Soccer and Basketball and some Tennis. Because of how accessible those sports were and how many people organized around those sports.

Everyone's experience varies but the cost involved in playing a certain sport to any degree, is not an insignificant factor.

[Metallikid]

This thread has a lot of cherry picking of stats to avoid uncomfortable discussions about race by not putting things in context. Black folks built basketball culture and black folks in the media have long complained about a glass ceiling. This is a discussion that needs to be had and big ups to the OP for initiating it. The issue goes well beyond media personalities reflecting the demographic background of the country. Cause if that was he case, local media in urban sports hubs wouldn’t be so white.

That's not true because the urban sports media hubs still broadcast to the entire country, so they should be representative of the entire country. Everyone in Canada gets the main TSN and Sportsnet channels, so they should reflect national demographics if we're going by a representative framework (because clearly you're not going with a meritocratic/experience framework). Secondly the basketball coverage does have several Black people in media personality positions - Sherman Hamilton, Paul Jones, Akil Augustine, Kayla Grey, and then frequently we bring on Sam Mitchell and Alvin Williams. TV stations that are purely local should reflect concentrations of ethnic populations; CP24 for instance does have a fairly high concentration visible minorities.

That said, in reality many niche local TV and even national niche TV stations are incredibly biased towards their specific minority; the Mandarin channel only has Chinese media personalities, the Hindi channel only has Indian media personalities, APTN only has Native media personalities, the French-language channels predominantly have White French Canadian media personalities - nobody complains that these stations are vastly overrepresented with a particular group even when, for instance, if you spoke perfect Mandarin you would almost certainly not be hired at that station to be a media personality if you were not the corresponding minority.

[Matty]

Where are the mods

I'm not even white and I find this be a nonsensical thread. Mods (and I'll get warned for it but I'm not active enough on the board to care anyways) would have acted more swiftly if a different group was used as a scapegoat. At least be fair enough to put it on the OT board.

[lobosloboslobos]

i think this is a reasonable topic even if not everybody is being entirely reasonable in it. to me the obvious answer - which some have pointed out - is that the people at the top of the Canadian sports media hierarchy are guys (yes all guys) who came up working and loving and playing hockey first and foremost. I mean if you are 55-60 years old and a senior editor (print) or executive producer (tv/radio) in Canadian sports you probably started working in the field over 35-40 years ago, when the NBA was american, hockey was canadian, there were barely any europeans in the NHL, don cherry's xenophobia ruled the CBC sports airwaves, baseball was new and shiny and only a generation and a half past Jackie Robinson, and every single person you ever worked for in your career was a white guy who had only ever worked with other white guys. So in that context, those guys who are 55-65 today and making hiring decisions are at the very least playing serious catchup in trying to wrap their heads around today's cultural expectations and sensibilities. and that is at best. at worst they pay a bit of lip service and don't even try to change anything, or don't even play at caring. i'm sure there are plenty of both types out there. but those sorts of attitudes will take time to really filter out as those guys retire.

[maternal85]

why are most NBA players black? Because they are better at it.

Because black players work at their craft, and actually achieve making the NBA based on merits, not skin colour. The issue is getting these jobs based on merit.

[maternal85]

As someone with Native Status living in Newfoundland the fact that I could get a job over someone who is pure white even though they have better credentials with the federal government is honestly the stupidest thing ever.

Literally, on your application for a job with the government, there is a box to check off if you are an Indigenous, and just because you check it off you are more likely to get the job.

Whoever is better should get the job regardless of skin colour.

Do we really want Mo Pete on TV again?

Don't kid yourself, you're not getting that job over a white person. It's a myth. You really think a Caucasian who systematically built this system to get the upper hand is at a disadvantage over you? Such "affirmative action" gives the illusion that POC have the advantage, which keeps the less fortunate Caucasian upset at POC, making them think jobs are being taken away from them. Even though they were never qualified based on merits to begin with. There are a lot of unqualified Caucasian in sports broadcasting imo.

[RyderMike]

I haven't read the whole thread, but I feel TSN has done a good job with having a diverse anchor crew. Also, you have to consider the fact when discussing multiculturalism, particularly Toronto, is that part of the cultural diversity is a wide array of various different Caucasians. For example, there's Italians, Greeks, Portuguese, Ukrainians, Slavic, Spanish, Polish, etc. Depending on how you look at it, one might say 'Oh look, they hired another White person'. Comparatively, others will say they're not "White-white" and be like this person is Italian (Matthew Scianitti), Polish/Eastern Euro (Evanka Osmak, Natasha from TSN), Portuguese (Sid Seixeiro), etc. I really started noticing it with the female anchors, because they weren't getting a generic blonde/brunette white girl to tick off the woman anchor category - they were all various backgrounds.

With that said, there are still many more white anchors. Hockey it's mainly white, although they do have reporters like John Lu and Farhan Lalji. I remember CBC hiring Kevin Weekes was a huge deal, when he was the first black hockey analyst. I can forsee PK Subban getting a job when he retires too. More diversity is really needed in hockey.

[maternal85]

I just wrote an angry letter to the South African Government complaining about the lack of white representation in public sector jobs. 8.9% of the population is white so why don't they have 50% of the jobs! #disgusting

Make sure to write them about the 8.9% population owning 70% of the wealth as well