Diversity Hire

Hello and welcome to Episode 39. To all the new listeners who found our podcast from Camille Bromley’s CJR profile, welcome. To our Day Ones, welcome back.

Today we talked to Siddhartha Mahanta, who is an editor at the New York Times Opinion section. We talked about the oft-ignored humanity of journalism, the journalist’s commitment to be humane, why publications need to stand up to bullies, why writers hate the dreaded ‘nut graf,’ the fine art of editing, corny Indian-Americans, and much more.

Kevin and Arjun talked about their recent profile in CJR and the spate of incredibly nice weather in NYC. Thanks for listening!

Sid’s editing and writing:

The story of Jamal Khashoggi's murder and how the world looked the other way, Evan Ratliff, Business Insider, 2019

There Are Two Asian-Americas, and One Is Invisible, Claudine Ko, The New York Times, 2021

Journalism Under Siege, Samanth Subramanian, Rest of World, 2021

When It’s Time to Say Goodbye to the Old House , Longreads, 2017

This is your brain *picture of your brain*. This is your brain on Diversity Hire *it’s the same picture of your brain, but this time it’s wearing Issey Miyake trousers*. Any questions? If so, email us at [email protected]. We’ll read your questions in an upcoming Q&A episode. Also, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. You can use your review to share anonymous experiences of working in corporate media, and we will read those on the pod as well.

Thanks,Arjun & Kevin

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit diversityhire.substack.com

Hello and welcome to episode 38!

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Today we talked to Delia Cai, who is the proprietor of the wonderful Substack Deez Links and a growth and trends editor at Buzzfeed. We talked about go-to orders at Dimes, content strategy, why she’s optimistic about the future of the media, the pernicious feeling of needing to catch up to your peers, knowing when things reach their natural end, what it’s like to be in the Substack game, and much more. Arjun and Kevin also had the debate of the century: Vaccine posting etiquette. Thanks for listening.

Delia’s work mentioned in this episode:

The Small-Town America I Love Is The One I See At Football Games, Buzzfeed, 2017

Subscriptions start working for the middle, Neiman Lab, 2020

Newsletter internships = the new foot in the door?, Deez Links, 2021

finding asian joy on (duh) tiktok, Deez Links, 2021

>> Diversity Hire Links:

* Tammy has a new labor story about the PRO Act

* Lauen has been writing about the Amazon piss situation

* Hua wrote about basketball podcasts

* Marie wrote about rent control

* Doreen wrote about Michelle Obama’s new TV show

* Rachelle has a cool new podcast

* Isabelia covered women in the Brazilian grime scene

* Bijan’s latest video game column

* Here’s a video Arjun made for Vanity Fair

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit diversityhire.substack.com

Hello and welcome to episode 37 of Diversity Hire.

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Today’s guest is Doreen St. Felix, who is the New Yorker’s television critic. We have been looking forward to this conversation since we first started the pod, and we think you guys will enjoy everything we talked about, which ran the gamut from the art of ambiguity and ambivalence, when we figured out what a critic even was, finding a place in white-dominated spaces, the concessions we make to do the work we want to do, and is Virgil Abloh actually cool?

This was a super fun episode and if you are a new listener who caught this on Montez Press Radio, WELCOME! Kevin and Arjun also talked about the week in brutal media news and why it feels like 2016. Thanks for listening.

Doreen’s work mentioned in this episode:

December 19, 2015 Part I, Enormous Eye, 2015

KARA WALKER’S NEXT ACT, Vulture, 2017

On the Street in Brooklyn the Morning After the Police Shooting of Saheed Vassell, The New Yorker, 2018

Virgil Abloh, Menswear’s Biggest Star, The New Yorker, 2019

Queen Latifah Obliterates Trumps n’ Musks in “The Equalizer”, The New Yorker, 2021

The Embarrassment of Democrats Wearing Kente-Cloth Stoles, The New Yorker, 2020

———

This is your brain *picture of your brain*. This is your brain on Diversity Hire *it’s the same picture of your brain, but this time it’s wearing sunglasses and an Eckhaus Latta lapped t-shirt*. Any questions? If so, email us at [email protected]. We’ll read your questions in an upcoming Q&A episode. Also, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. You can use your review to share anonymous experiences of working in corporate media, and we will read those on the pod as well.

Thanks,

Arjun & Kevin

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit diversityhire.substack.com

Hello and welcome to P̶o̶p̶u̶l̶i̶s̶t̶ ̶T̶i̶p̶s̶ Episode 36 of Diversity Hire.

It has been a tough and trying week and we weren’t sure if we should even do an episode this week. But we’re so happy that our guest, Chris Gayomali, was down to talk with us.

Chris is an articles editor at GQ. Fifty weeks ago, Chris wrote an article for GQ titled “The New Fear for Asian-Americans Going Out in Public.” It’s surreal to think about what has and, sadly, hasn’t changed since March 2020. In today’s episode, we spoke about identity, invisibility, and the interstitial space that Asians occupy in America. We also talked about basketball, Steven Yeun, Filipino food, “menswear”, and shopping tips.

Thanks for listening. Thanks for subscribing. Thanks for being here for us.

Chris’ work:

The New Fear for Asian-Americans Going Out in Public

Steven Yeun’s New Frontier

Errolson Hugh Sees the Future

Inside the NBA Bubble by Taylor Rooks

The Phrase "People of Color" Needs to Die by Damon Young

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit diversityhire.substack.com

Hello and welcome to episode 35 of Diversity Hire.

Today’s guest was Tommy Craggs, and we had a rollicking conversation about an era of media we are still trying to understand: the reign of Gawker. We dove into Tommy’s time as the editor Deadspin and later the executive editor of Gakwer and what both of those sites contributed to what we now call THE DISCOURSE. We also talked about the halcyon days of NY media, why blogging sucks, arbiters of bad faith and the climate around cultural politics, and finally a question I’m sure you guys have been thinking about for ages: What even is journalism?

Kevin and Arjun also talked about Ben Smith’s EXPOSÉ of the downtown scene and the difference between scolding and clowning people.

Thanks for listening.

Articles:

What’s the Matter With Cultural Politics? (written 1 month after the 2020 election)

This Election Was About the Issues (written 2 days before the 2016 election)

Journalistic standards in reporting of the Te’o hoax: Q&A with Deadspin’s Tommy Craggs

An Exclusive Interview With Tommy Craggs About The Bill Simmons "Grantland" Project

2 Gawker Editors Resign Over Article’s Removal

The Sideshow

Dark Side Of The Locker Room: Stephon Marbury Is Puzzled By My Godlessness

We’re gonna skip doing timecodes this week because I (Arjun) just got back from Rhodora and am a bit too tipsy to find the topics in the episode. Maybe I’ll edit it tomorrow. Maybe not. Let us know if the timecodes are useful.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit diversityhire.substack.com

Hello and welcome to Episode 34 of Diversity Hire. Today’s guest was Emmanuel Felton, who is an investigative reporter at Buzzfeed. We talked about his experiences covering education and segregation in the South and in Boston, why the identity and biases of journalists matter, especially when covering race and education, what it was like to talk to Black police officers who fought back rioters at the capitol on 1/6, abolishing Ivy League schools, and much more. Kevin and Arjun also talk about their favorite snacks and the revenge of FOMO that spring will bring. Thanks for listening!

* Kevin and Arjun talk about early-onset FOMO (0:00)

* Emmanuel Felton leads us through his career timeline (8:43)

* On the diploma factory, aka Columbia Journalism School (12:48)

* How Emmanuel began covering education (15:03)

* Emmanuel’s writing a book about the Boston school desegregation program (17:42)

* The new mainstream media interest about desegregation (20:50)

* How are people rationalizing resegregation (re: “The Department of Justice Is Overseeing the Resegregation of American Schools,” The Nation, 2017) (23:17)

* Who “gets” to tell the story about school segregation? (25:00)

* Being a justice-oriented reporter (27:45)

* Will the media start ignoring stories of injustice under Biden? (29:50)

* Joining BuzzFeed and covering race and racism (33:19)

* Reporting on Black cops at the insurrection (re: “Black Police Officers Describe The Racist Attacks They Faced As They Protected The Capitol,” BuzzFeed News, 2020) (36:20)

* Coving Black police officers in the aftermath of last year’s protests (42:30)

* On living in SoHo (47:10)

* Arjun’s Feelings Don’t Have Facts Corner (49:07)

* The Diversity Tribunal (55:03)

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit diversityhire.substack.com

Hello and welcome to episode 33 of Diversity Hire.

No guest this week, so go ahead and 30-second-fast-forward through this entire episode. Kevin and Arjun ramble incessantly about how you can’t mourn the loss of something that was already dead (Dimes Square), the problem with “diversity” in the New York Times Diversity Report, how white people need to stop telling other white people what is and isn’t cultural appropriation, and more. If you like this episode please tweet at us about it because we are very self-conscious and shy.

* Arjun’s Twitch Obama impersonation (0:58)

* The Drunken Canal, the death of little New York, and the problem with little magazines (3:58)

* The New York Times Diversity Report (12:03)

* TNYGuild’s unrecognized work

* Bari Weiss’s does it again! (19:14)

* TTSG’s episode with Jaeki Cho (24:22)

* Daft Junk? (28:27)

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit diversityhire.substack.com

Hello and welcome to our longest episode of Diversity Hire yet!!

On our 32nd episode, we were honored to have a conversation with Asian America's foremost tastemaker, the one and only Hua Hsu. This barnburner of a conversation covered Julius Randle and the Knicks, how campus politics has changed since Hua was in college, what it was like to teach one of our podcast co-hosts, being washed and making zines, being a public school person, West Coast vs East Coast aesthetic and intellectual experience, can representation still matter???, what does it mean to be an activist, and MUCH MUCH MUCH MORE.

Kevin and Arjun also talk about the Reply All controversy and how darkly ironic it is. Stick around and listen to this full episode, you won’t regret it ;) Thanks for listening!

* Arjun & Kevin talk about Reply All [this was recorded before the hosts stepped down] (0:00)

* We’re joined by Hua Hsu, a dedicated Diversity Hire listener (6:40)

* Quick Take! (9:45)

* Hua leads us through his career timeline (11:22)

* Why east coast kids feel like they’re a step a head of everyone else (17:39)

* What was it like to teach Kevin at Vassar? (26:30)

* How has teaching the youth shaped Hua’s views of idpol and progress (re: “Corky Lee’s Photographs Helped Generations of Asian-Americans See Themselves", The New Yorker, 2020) (31:36)

* Being an “activist” (36:52)

* What is diversity? (re: “The Rise and Fall of Affirmative Action”, The New Yorker, 2018) (47:11)

* Why do Asians act like that? (49:52)

* Who is winning the narrative of Asian America? (re: “Are Asian Americans the Last Undecided Voters", The New Yorker, 2020) (57:27)

* Can we organize via a cross immigrant identity? (1:02:07)

* How did hustle become an excuse for labor exploitation? (re: “How Can We Pay for Creativity in the Digital Age”, The New Yorker, 2020) (1:09:04)

* What place does the critic occupy in a world where art is infinitely accessible? (1:18:10)

* Reminiscing on the good ol’ Warriors (1:21:00)

* Arjun’s Feelings Don’t Care About Facts Corner (1:24:10)

* The Diversity Tribunal (1:41:43)

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit diversityhire.substack.com

Hello and welcome to episode 31 of Diversity Hire. Today’s guest was Osita Nwanevu a staff writer at The New Republic. We talked about why we are all sick of talking about cancel culture, the shitty incentives of the online writing economy, reactionary liberals, the ups-and-downs of elite media, and much more. Kevin and Arjun also talk about one podcast host’s grievous injury and why you should go to urgent care when you get hurt.

Thanks for listening!

* Arjun & Kevin talk about Arjun’s finger injury and mid-century modern furniture. (0:00)

* Osita Nwanevu walks us through his career timeline (11:00)

* Osita on his political evolution (16:25)

* Osita on the influence of 2010s policy political blogs (21:00)

* Osita on Substack, platforms, and the rise of reactionary liberalism (22:00) (re: The Willful Blindness of Reactionary Liberalism, The New Republic)

* Osita on the echo chamber of the commentariat. (re: It’s Time to Stop Yammering About Liberal Bias, Slate) (25:55)

* Osita on the pitfalls of the freedom of speech beat and campus politics. (29:00) (re: Political Writings, Harpers)

* Osita on the loosening grip of the anti-woke commentariat on public opinion. (38:30)

* Osita on what the elite media can offer and what it cannot. (41:30)

* Osita on Rick MacArthur’s soft ball game (47:00)

* Osita on how his own politics have functioned in his various media workplaces. (49:30)

* Osita on the terrible incentives of the online writing economy (53:00)

* Osita on the value of debate (59:00)

* Arjun’s Feelings Don’t Care About Facts Corner (1:00:02)

* The Diversity Tribunal (1:00:13)

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit diversityhire.substack.com

Welcome to the 30th episode of Diversity Hire! Today’s guest was New York Times critic-at-large Maya Phillips. We talked about the pleasure and terror that comes with fandom, the perils of colorblind casting, the role a critic’s identity and politics play in the way they evaluate art, why there need to be more editors of color, and much more. Kevin and Arjun also talk about the novel the media elites are all reading and the media elites who are listening to the podcast.

You can buy Maya’s first book, Erou, here, and be on the lookout for her second book, NERD: On Navigating Heroes, Magic, and Fandom in the 21st Century, dropping in 2022.

Thanks for listening!

* Arjun & Kevin talk about viral novels and bluechecks (0:00)

* Maya Phillips talks about her recent move (7:07)

* Maya walks us through her career timeline (8:19)

* What Maya thinks about colorblind casting and the discourse around representation in film and TV (re: “‘Hamilton,’ ‘The Simpsons’ and the Problem With Colorblind Casting,” The New York Times, 2020) (15:30)

* On having to deal with assignments where you’re asked to translate Black art to white audiences (re: “August Wilson, American Bard,” T Magazine, 2020) (20:40)

* How can we change the critical lens to account for the lack of racial analysis of white-led films? (24:46)

* What does Maya make of the kind of anxiety editors have about making sure the identity of the critic lines up with the art? (28:13)

* It feels like we’re constantly having to explain ourselves (re: “The Smithsonian’s Black-History Museum Will Always Be a Failure and a Success,” The New Yorker, 2019) (31:09)

* Maya’s experience with working with editors of color (33:20)

* How does Maya’s political diet affect her role as a critic? (re: “Black Women Are the Superheroes the World Needs,” The New York Times, 2020) (35:45)

* What’s Maya watching? (40:56)

* How has writing about theatre, film, and television affected Maya’s consumption (43:03)

* On fandom (re: NERD: On Navigating Heroes, Magic, and Fandom in the 21st Century, 2022) (45:58)

* Do fans misunderstand the place that criticism is supposed to inhabit in our society? (49:33)

* Arjun’s Feelings Don’t Care About Facts Corner (52:58)

* The Diversity Tribual (1:00:42)

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit diversityhire.substack.com