By Donnovan Bennett

There is no manual that explains how to break into the world of sports journalism as a minority. The usual route through university and internships is there, and I took it. But as I learned the craft and looked for a foothold in the industry, there were very few minorities I had access to that I could ask for guidance. This series, presented in four parts over the course of Black History Month, is an attempt to address that. I reached out to seven established black journalists to get their perspective on the complexities of being a minority journalist. I also offered some thoughts of my own. The panelists were told they could pass on questions and their responses could be as short or long as they desired.

David Amber has been an anchor and reporter for NBA TV Canada, ESPN and CBC. One of the best sideline reporters in the business, he can currently be seen on Hockey Night in Canada.

Morgan Campbell is a sports and business writer for the Toronto Star and a co-host of Fight Network’s Boxing Weekly.

Rosey Edeh made a name for herself working for CNN, MSNBC and NBC’s Early Today. Before her broadcasting career, she represented Canada in the hurdles at three straight Olympics. She’s now back home working for Global.

Jay Harris is an award-winning host for ESPN who has appeared on Sportscenter, Outside The Lines, NFL Live, Baseball Tonight, First Take and Fri-day Night Fights. Canadian viewers maybe most familiar with his work hosting ESPN Sports Saturday on ABC.

Eric Thomas spent time doing sportscasts for TSN 690 and working as the sports anchor for CTV Montreal. He’s now an anchor on Sportsnet Central.

Perdita Felicien is a retired world champion and Canadian record-holding hurdler. Her broadcasting career began with CHCH and now includes work on CBC’s Pan Am and Olympic Games coverage.

Jason Whitlock has written for ESPN, The Kansas City Star, AOL Sports and Foxsports.com. The award-winning columnist is currently an on-air personality for Fox Sports 1 and blogger for J.School.

Here is part one of their responses.

Have you experienced racism in your career?

David Amber It’s difficult to really know. Clearly, some people have preconceived ideas about you because you’re black, but whether that has affected how they behave towards me is hard to tell. I’ve been pretty lucky to work with intelligent and open-minded people. I can honestly say I haven’t faced any overt racism in my career.

Morgan Campbell Yes. One incident in particular that’s too involved to detail here, but a columnist at a national paper tried to belittle me in print. The story was about a black NHLer, and the columnist decided to highlight my race to make a point. The point was erroneous, and bringing me into the story was out of bounds. The next time I saw him I let him know—politely yet sternly—that I wasn’t having it.

Jay Harris Nothing overt. Except for when I was trying to interview a KKK member when I worked in Pittsburgh, and he wouldn’t talk to me because of the color of my skin.

Eric Thomas Luckily, I don’t feel as though I’ve ever experienced any overt racism over the course of my career but rather, instances of ignorance. It’s important to recognize the difference between the two. In my mind, ignorance (for the most part) isn’t intentional. It comes from a lack of understanding. When I think about racism, I see it coming more from a place of prejudice and hate. And, thankfully, we now live in a culture that doesn’t tolerate those viewpoints in the same way it did in the past, and doesn’t allow those thoughts circulate as freely throughout society. Like I said, most negative comments come (in passing) from a place of ignorance, and are mostly along the lines of, “I expected you to like [or dislike] something, because you’re black.” But, at the end of the day, I feel as though my individual interests (sports or otherwise) should be dictated more by my own personal preferences than my race.

Donnovan Bennett I’ve been accused on Twitter of making things racial or having a pro-black agenda. I’ve heard some other reporters use interesting terms to characterize me and my work, but by and large I’ve been fortunate to not have to deal with anything vicious.

Jason Whitlock I’m sure I have. Racism is part of the world’s history and present. But mostly I feel—like most people—I’ve experienced unfairness. Life is unfair. Human beings are flawed. Some of the unfairness I’ve experienced is due to race, I’d assume. But much of it is due to jealousy or competition or ego.

Do you feel your career has been hindered because you are black?

Harris I’m not sure. I’m sure I experienced hidden racism. If I was applying for an anchor job, and the co-anchor was black, then depending on the market, I most likely wasn’t getting that job. On the flip side, my ESPN opportunity came during a time when there was a conscious decision to get more brown on the air, because someone saw the need. So while I may have been hindered on one hand, I was helped on the other.

Whitlock Hinder means to cause delay. So, yeah, I’d have to say my road has been slowed by America’s long discomfort with an outspoken black man. But I’ve also had an incredible amount of success and a blessed career. So many people have helped me along the way. You have to focus on the road ahead.

Amber It’s a double-edged sword. I believe some opportunities have arisen for me be-cause I’m black. Networks have started to make a concerted effort to make sure the ethnicity of their broadcasters truly reflects the audience and community they are presenting to. This is a great thing and we still have a ways to go. However, I also firmly believe some of the biggest media opportunities aren’t generally available to black males and females. When you look across the Canadian media landscape, very few people of colour populate what are considered the No. 1 roles.

Bennett Maybe it’s my football background, but I’m a big “control what you can” and “trust the process” kind of guy. It isn’t something I spend time thinking about. I’ve been asked that by colleagues before and the truth is you’ll never know for sure either way. There is wide-ranging data that shows that across the board minority candidates in all fields suffer from discrimination when it comes to career advancement. So it stands to reason journalism isn’t any different. However, unless you have overt examples, it’s probably best to give the benefit of the doubt and not fixate on it.

Campbell I’ll put it to you like this: Black people in journalism often face the same shifting expectations black athletes do, and get saddled with the same labels. It’s the same double standard that says Drew Stanton’s touchdown dance is cute but Cam Newton’s is a problem, or that Bret Boone’s bat flip is his signature but Jose Bautista’s is “disrespecting the game.” My job requires confidence, but you show confidence and people call you cocky. A good journalist has a strong backbone and doesn’t take crap, but when a black person does that, they risk being labeled hostile or standoffish. You need to show initiative and creativity, but thinking independently can signal to some people that you have “issues with authority.” All of these descriptors should sound familiar because we’ve heard them all in connection with black athletes who are otherwise productive players and good teammates. This doesn’t describe my current job situation at all, but I will say I’m familiar with how this dance is done, and talks with my black journalist colleagues let me know I’m far from the only person to go through this.

Rosey Edeh Yes.

Why do you think we don’t have more black sports journalists?

Campbell See above.

Thomas For me, it’s the same reason there aren’t more black quarterbacks in the NFL, or there aren’t more white rappers. No matter how many one-off examples you give, people still don’t feel as though there has been enough consistency across the board to break down those barriers. As a society, we get so used to the status quo that we treat everything that breaks the trend as an anomaly, rather than the beginning of something new and exciting culturally. I think it’s also a bit of perception versus reality. There are still plenty of incredible black journalists out there, but if they’re not given the proper acknowledgement, it doesn’t mean much. It’s a sad truth, but the good news is that it seems like things are slowly starting to turn.

Amber My guess is there has been a lack of role models to pave the way. Countless times I have been approached by strangers who say that it’s great to see me—someone who looks like them—on TV. For the Millennials I think this could change. We have more diversity in television, especially in sports television, than 20 years ago. I’d like to think more black kids will identify with who they see on TV and will in turn think to pursue sports broadcasting as a career.

Bennett There’s also the fact that we are still in an era where the baby boomer generation sets the agenda and is in upper management. For the most part there aren’t minority broadcast executives. Over the next two decades many of the second and third generation minority Canadians will be in the workplace long enough to ascend into upper management. Once that happens the hiring practices will start to change.

Harris There are so many potential reasons. It’s a tough field, and the economics of jobs that start out relatively low-paying don’t help. In many cases, if you’re the first or second person to go to college in your family, and you have loans, you need something more secure and potentially higher-paying from the beginning. You may not have the luxury of being able to invest the time in this field.

Whitlock Tough, complicated question. The industry certainly struggles to support black talent. But you also have the fact that the industry doesn’t attract America’s best and brightest. When you’re a first-generation black graduate from college, you often choose a career more financially rewarding than journalism. Our best and brightest are in high demand in other, more lucrative industries. A lot of my friends from college would’ve made great sportswriters. But they chose more lucrative career paths. Journalism is a “calling.” When you get in, you never imagine making more than $80,000 a year. The current crop of young people are really the first that looks at sportswriting as a potentially financially rewarding profession. My generation, we answered a calling.