COJMC Diversity Series: Bob Ray Sanders
Description
Vice President, Associate Editor and Metro columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Bob Ray Sanders has been a professional newspaper, television and radio journalist for 40 years. Bob Ray worked many years at the Dallas/Fort Worth PBS affiliate, where he served as reporter, producer, station manager, and vice president. A 1969 graduate of North Texas State University, Sanders is past president of the Press Club of Fort Worth. He is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists, the National Association of Black Journalists and the Dallas/Fort Worth Association of Black Communicators. He currently serves on the board of the Mental Health Association of Tarrant County, the advisory board of the AIDS Outreach Center in Fort Worth and the advisory board of Goodwill Industries. He also is Professional in Residence in the Journalism Department of Texas Christian University, where he teaches the course, “Race, Gender and Mass Media”.
Searchable Transcript
- [00:00:04.409]We're here at the UNL College
- [00:00:05.789]of Journalism and Mass Communications
- [00:00:07.899]to talk with Bob Ray Sanders,
- [00:00:09.899]vice president, associate editor, and metro columnist
- [00:00:13.319]for the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
- [00:00:15.464]We're talking about diversity in the media workplace
- [00:00:18.069]but before we get started, give me a little
- [00:00:19.969]description of your experience over a 40 year career.
- [00:00:24.189]Well understand that when I came into the business,
- [00:00:26.769]I was one of that first wave of people
- [00:00:28.589]of ethnic minorities who were coming in.
- [00:00:30.369]Before that, no paper in Texas
- [00:00:32.779]had a black or Hispanic reporter.
- [00:00:34.669]Most papers of the country didn't.
- [00:00:36.349]And part of what my job was, after I got in, obviously,
- [00:00:40.139]was to try to help other people get in as well
- [00:00:42.479]so that we could actually make a difference
- [00:00:44.409]and have that voice within the newsroom.
- [00:00:47.509]So I've had a long,
- [00:00:50.283]long, long journey
- [00:00:52.862]here in this business but it's been great.
- [00:00:55.169]I've been able to do things that
- [00:00:56.729]I never thought I'd be able to do.
- [00:00:57.961]I've been able to address injustices
- [00:00:59.661]and talk about issues that matter to me.
- [00:01:02.351]The death penalty, social issues that were important,
- [00:01:06.241]the politics of it all.
- [00:01:07.781]So I've had a long, long career, and it's all been good.
- [00:01:10.181]And see a lot of changes as well.
- [00:01:11.831]Without a doubt.
- [00:01:13.131]Whether we're talking about the newsroom
- [00:01:15.491]or the college classroom,
- [00:01:16.991]why is it important to encourage diversity?
- [00:01:19.441]It may seem obvious,
- [00:01:20.541]but maybe we need to look at that first.
- [00:01:22.721]Well, yeah, and sadly we've reached the point again today
- [00:01:25.981]where there are people who don't want inclusion anymore.
- [00:01:29.101]So we need to talk about it again,
- [00:01:30.541]and we're at a point where a lot of newsrooms
- [00:01:32.071]have gotten away from diversity.
- [00:01:33.671]We used to wear the word 'diversity'
- [00:01:35.888]on pins on our shirts and jackets,
- [00:01:40.531]and suddenly it started going away.
- [00:01:43.401]The voices are needed.
- [00:01:45.101]We need the people who know how to go in
- [00:01:46.821]and deal with communities that are like them.
- [00:01:49.741]Not that they're the only ones who can do that.
- [00:01:51.541]I mean, Anglos can go to a black community
- [00:01:53.921]and cover a story as well.
- [00:01:56.041]But you gotta have people who know
- [00:01:57.241]how to gain trust of communities.
- [00:01:59.271]You gotta have people who can bring a different voice,
- [00:02:01.371]bring a different perspective
- [00:02:03.621]to important issues of the day.
- [00:02:05.461]So our newsroom should reflect our country.
- [00:02:09.786]And the American Society of Newspaper Editors
- [00:02:12.801]had a goal at one time that we would have newsrooms that
- [00:02:16.181]equal the number of minorities as were in the country
- [00:02:19.281]and in our circulation areas.
- [00:02:21.081]We never reached that goal, by any means,
- [00:02:24.271]but we made progress for a while.
- [00:02:26.421]Sadly, some of that's going away again.
- [00:02:28.361]So we have our work cut out for us.
- [00:02:30.081]Yes.
- [00:02:31.081]What are the challenges to diversity?
- [00:02:32.671]The biggest challenge, I guess.
- [00:02:34.541]Well right now we've seen a change in media.
- [00:02:36.501]I mean, we've seen a decline in circulation and, certainly,
- [00:02:40.301]in circulation and advertising for the newspapers.
- [00:02:42.941]We've seen a decline in the number of people employed.
- [00:02:46.151]That's one of the reasons diversity took a blow.
- [00:02:50.301]It's hard work.
- [00:02:51.751]You have to go out, you have to recruit,
- [00:02:53.301]you have to be in a...
- [00:02:55.321]have that pipeline going where you have
- [00:02:57.141]people at colleges helping them to
- [00:03:00.501]find their road to the professional path.
- [00:03:04.661]But at the same time, because it's hard,
- [00:03:08.361]people say, "We can't do it."
- [00:03:10.081]Because reporters and editors now have more to do
- [00:03:12.561]than they've ever had in years,
- [00:03:15.661]diversity has taken a back seat.
- [00:03:17.761]And I think the whole coverage of news media
- [00:03:21.141]has taken a back seat because we're not getting those
- [00:03:23.571]kinds of washes that we ought to have in there.
- [00:03:26.331]How can employers do better?
- [00:03:29.421]First of all, they've gotta make the commitment.
- [00:03:31.761]Once they make the commitment they've got to
- [00:03:34.291]provide the resources to do this.
- [00:03:36.341]You've gotta have time for people
- [00:03:38.321]to spend time in high schools and colleges.
- [00:03:41.021]You've gotta have recruiting once again.
- [00:03:43.641]You've gotta have an atmosphere within the newsroom
- [00:03:46.441]that once you get somebody in
- [00:03:47.921]they're not run off immediately.
- [00:03:50.951]You can't do it just by saying, "OK, we're open."
- [00:03:54.621]What we did back in the old days when...
- [00:03:57.128]and they're saying it again now,
- [00:03:58.561]employers are saying, "We can't find any."
- [00:04:01.281]Well we had groups that we had identified
- [00:04:03.757]who knew where they were.
- [00:04:05.417]And when an employer said, "We can't find any."
- [00:04:07.817]we presented them with a list of names.
- [00:04:10.377]80, 100 names of people from around the country.
- [00:04:13.317]Well, we found them.
- [00:04:15.387]We gotta get back to having those relationships
- [00:04:17.987]with organizations and individuals
- [00:04:20.597]who can help us find the right people
- [00:04:23.097]who can fit in our departments.
- [00:04:24.907]And how can universities do better?
- [00:04:27.697]Universities, in a way, have to do the same thing.
- [00:04:30.297]Now, depending on where you're located
- [00:04:31.917]you may not have that pool that you can draw from.
- [00:04:34.957]But they gotta do some of the same things.
- [00:04:36.477]They've got to do the recruiting.
- [00:04:38.707]They've got to have an atmosphere that welcomes
- [00:04:41.357]people of different diversities.
- [00:04:43.887]They've gotta have faculty who can
- [00:04:46.197]encourage diversity among people.
- [00:04:48.117]And I mean all kinds of diversity
- [00:04:49.237]just not ethnic minorities but diversity of thought,
- [00:04:52.537]diversity in ways that I can't see just by looking at you.
- [00:04:57.067]We've got to make that happen.
- [00:04:58.477]And I've talked about that a lot
- [00:05:00.057]while I was here over the past two days.
- [00:05:03.277]They've gotta do it again, it's back to commitment.
- [00:05:05.937]You can't say, "We're too understaffed,
- [00:05:08.647]"we're too tired, we don't have the budget."
- [00:05:10.757]You gotta make the commitment.
- [00:05:12.597]And how do you counter that...
- [00:05:16.137]you talked a little bit about...
- [00:05:18.277]It's seems to be that things are
- [00:05:19.647]going back the way they were.
- [00:05:21.157]How do you counter that?
- [00:05:22.557]Maybe there's an attitude of
- [00:05:24.217]"Well, we're just, this is too much political correctness.
- [00:05:27.737]"Why do we need to worry about this?"
- [00:05:29.697]Well the thing you do is that you
- [00:05:31.177]don't give in to that negative thought.
- [00:05:33.217]That minority, but a very vocal minority,
- [00:05:36.337]that does not like the idea of people coming together.
- [00:05:40.257]They foster
- [00:05:43.356]divisiveness.
- [00:05:45.087]They foster an attitude where
- [00:05:47.635]I can look at you and say that
- [00:05:49.226]because you are different from me
- [00:05:51.916]something must be wrong with you,
- [00:05:53.766]and something must be right with me,
- [00:05:56.466]that if something is wrong with me it's your fault.
- [00:06:01.103]That if somebody is getting an opportunity
- [00:06:04.446]that the reason they got the opportunity
- [00:06:06.846]is because someone else didn't get the opportunity.
- [00:06:09.446]We've gotta change that attitude.
- [00:06:11.006]Sadly, a lot of that attitude, it's coming from our leaders.
- [00:06:14.696]People in Congress.
- [00:06:16.846]One of the ways we do...
- [00:06:19.116]Don't elect some of those crazy people
- [00:06:20.646]that we keep electing to Congress
- [00:06:22.366]who have those crazy thoughts.
- [00:06:24.706]But it's gotta be a commitment from us, as individuals,
- [00:06:28.626]that we won't allow people to shape our minds
- [00:06:31.546]in these negative ways, that we have,
- [00:06:34.956]that makes me divided from you just based on how we look,
- [00:06:39.091]our economic status, or whatever.
- [00:06:42.166]It's up to the individual to make that happen.
- [00:06:46.846]Well thank you so much for sharing your insight.
- [00:06:48.826]Oh, you're quite welcome.
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