Image Courtesy of NFL
By Julio Rodriguez
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell tried to sideline journalist Jim Trotter.
Others have picked up his torch.
Chula Vista’s Trotter, a former San Diego Union-Tribune NFL columnist and Sports Illustrated football writer, lost his job with the NFL Media Newsroom last year after he publicly challenged Goodell over the league’s hiring practices and lack of diversity. It was the second year in a row Trotter had questioned Goodell during a high visibility pre-Super Bowl press gathering about the NFL’s scant roster of minority employees.
At this year’s Super Bowl briefing, KLKC Sports Radio host Darren Smith used his time to honor Trotter and challenge Goodell on the continued lack of diverse hiring practices in the NFL Newsroom.
“As of this press conference, the NFL Media Newsroom still employs zero Black managers, zero Black copy editors, zero full-time Black employees on the news desk, and your only full-time Black employee, Larry Campbell, passed away over the weekend,” Smith said. “How does knowing this sit well with you? After two years of being asked this question, why has there not been any change or hirings in that area?”
Goodell was visibly upset by the question.
“ Well I disagree completely,” he said. “ I’m happy to get your data and share it with our people and make sure that we get an answer for you. I don’t have all the data. I will tell you that (for) the first time, 51 percent of our employees across the league, across the network, across all of our media platforms, not including players, are either people of color or women. First time ever. So progress is being made. And there are areas where we still need to work and we still need to improve, whether it’s offensive assistants or maybe people within our media newsroom. We will continue to do that, and make significant progress, as we have.”
Washington Post sports columnist Jerry Brewer, questioned by The Sun at the recent Associated Collegiate Press convention in San Diego, said Trotter is a “courageous voice” for underrepresented journalists of color and “a man I admire very much for taking a stand.”
“Jim lost his job because he twice brought up this issue,” said Brewer. “He is objectively right. The NFL Newsroom has no Black people even though the league is majority Black players. Jim Trotter is a man of principle and he paid a price for speaking truth to power.”
Brewer said he worked alongside Trotter on the board of the National Association of Black Journalists and has a “deep respect for him.”
Trotter lives near Southwestern College and his daughter attended. He has been a frequent guest as a member of the San Diego Association of Black Journalists day-long workshop “Pro for a Day.” He was honored as Grand Marshal of the Bonitafest Parade for his decades of work to diversify America’s news media. He is not backing down in his quest for minority representation in the NFL.
In a four-post thread on X (formerly Twitter) Trotter reemphasized his message to the NFL.
“The data is what it is: the NFL newsroom has zero Black managers, zero Black copy editors, and zero fulltime Black employees on the news desk. Those are facts. Nothing (Goodell) says changes that.”
“Another fact @nflcommish refuses to acknowledge: outside of the reporters in the NFL newsroom, there are ZERO fulltime Black employees. In a league whose player population is majority Black. Let that marinate for a minute.”
“I didn’t ask @DarrenSmithNFL to pose that question, but I thank him for challenging @nflcommish and seeking to have Goodell’s actions reflect his words.”
“I can’t believe what you say because I see what you do.” — James Baldwin.”
NABJ has challenged Goodell’s assertion that the employment of people of color and women is at an all-time high. In May 2023, Attorneys General Rob Bonita of California and Letitia James of New York released a joint statement announcing an investigation that alleges the NFL violated state and federal pay equality and anti-discrimination laws. Allegations had surfaced in early 2022 in the New York Times claiming that more than 30 women interviewed — a majority of which were women of color — said they had experienced some form of harassment during their employment.
A week later NABJ released a statement outlining the lack of diversity in the NFL’s sprawling media and communications departments. NABJ officials said they raised these concerns with NFL Executive VP and Chief Administrative Officer Dasha Smith. Brewer said Smith simply waved them off and gave them “the typical PR spiel the NFL has been using regarding these situations.”
A year later, days after Smith’s questioning of Goodell, NABJ officials said the organization is “disappointed with the lack of progress since their first statement released a year prior” and requested a meeting with the NFL “to discuss why this issue still hasn’t been addressed.”
Trotter filed a lawsuit against the NFL charging the league terminated his employment because he raised the issue of discrimination. Trotter’s case gets a hearing in April to determine whether it can go forward.
Smith’s question startled Goodell and other NFL officials because they thought they had “dealt with Trotter and his pesky line of questioning,” according to Carron J. Phillips of the sports website Deadspin. Smith and other journalists were hand-picked and invited to the NFL Super Bowl press event, Phillips said, in an effort to avoid the kind of questions Trotter asked.
It did not work.
Smith said he was happy to pick up the torch for Trotter and will ask the same question next year if hiring practices do not change – and if the NFL invites him back.
“I’ll ask the question next year and every year until changes are made,” Smith said on social media. “You matter to me Mr. Trotter, and your issues matter to me as well and to a number of people.”
