Lisa Wilson of The Athletic, ESPN’s Michael Eaves, Rana Cash of Savannah Morning News and Sportsnet’s (Canada) Donnovan Bennett

Episode 102 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features a conversation with four guests. First up is Lisa Wilson, the NFL editor for The Athletic and a former sports editor for The Buffalo News. She is followed by ESPN SportsCenter anchor Michael Eaves. He is followed by Rana Cash, the executive editor of the Savannah Morning News who was just recently the sports editor at the Louisville Courier-Journal. She is followed by Donnovan Bennett, a host, podcaster and writer for Sportsnet in Canada (where I work as well in addition to The Athletic).

In this podcast, Wilson discusses how she is processing what she has watched this week in the United States following the death of George Floyd; serving as the nation's only black female sports editor at a major metropolitan daily when she worked at The Buffalo News; howshe would evaluate sports media in 2020 on issues of race, institutional racism and hiring practices; how the pipeline of hiring needs to change regarding sports media staffers of color; the impact of athletes speaking out right now in America, and more. 

Eaves discusses how he is processing what he is seeing in the United States right now; his experiences growing up black in Kentucky; how he views the sports media business at large on issues of race and institutional racism; the conversations he is having with his colleagues at the National Association of Black Journalists; how much freedom ESPN affords him professionally right now on social media to discuss and express issues involving race; how he views athletes speaking out right now and more. 

Cash discusses how she is processing what she is seeing in the United States right now; her experience growing up in Sanford, Florida; being the nation’s only African-American female sports editor at a major metropolitan daily; how the hiring pipeline in sports media can change; Lisa Wilson's influence on Cash; working in the city of Louisville right now; athletes speaking out and not speaking out; the words of Drew Brees; what she wants to do heading forward in journalism at the Savannah Morning News, and more. 

The podcasts concludes with Bennett on how he is processing what he is seeing in the United States and Canada right now; his experience growing up Black-Canadian in Toronto; why Canadians may want to frame this as an American issue but the reality of racial injustices in Canada; his piece on a particularly difficult month to be black in North America, the role of white athletes speaking up; whether sports has a role to play in bridging the racial divide in North America and much more. 

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