Love him, (or) hate him, Jason Whitlock of The Kansas City Star and FoxSports.com creates dialogue with his columns. I find Jason on the wrong-side of the fence on subjects such as Don Imus, The Jena Six, and Hip-Hop’s ruining of the black community, but his opinions cause others to exchange ideas, something that can’t be said for the majority of sportswriters.
I caught up with Whitlock earlier in the week for a brief interview. He discusses his Pulitzer quest, his Reverend Wright, and gives some advice to Pacman Jones after the jump.
HG: Buzz Bissinger set the blogosphere on fire with his comments during Bob Costas’ Town Hall Meeting. He has since backed away from some of the things he said on HBO, but why is the old guard so angry with/afraid of blogs, and why can’t newspapers and blogs co-exist without beef in the future?
JW: The old guard is losing jobs and being second-guessed and questioned in a manner we’ve never experienced. Losing jobs and being held accountable are going to tweak our insecurity. But it will pass and we will co-exist. We have no choice.
HG: With newspapers dwindling in size, and quality jobs harder to find, what route would you tell an aspiring journalist to take?
JW: Develop a niche. The Internet is all about finding specifically what you want. Don’t be a generalist. You look foolish trying to know everything. Be the best at something specific. And learn how to report. Information is still the driving force.
HG: I was critical of you for your takes and timing with the Don Imus situation. It seemed to me you were pushing Jason Whitlock’s agenda and using the opportunity to “make a name for yourself” with people that didn’t know your work. You’re on the record as saying you wanted to win a Pulitzer for your Imus commentary but did you jump into the Imus flap thinking media circuit and bright lights?
JW: Hell, no. I didn’t write anything in the Imus column that I haven’t been writing for years. You can find that sentiment in columns I wrote in the Ann Arbor News in the early 1990s. People don’t get my honesty. They mistake it for overwhelming arrogance. That’s fine. I can deal with that. I initially ignored the Imus controversy. A friend called me during Vivian Stringer’s press conference/recruiting rally. It offended me and provoked me to write. It was totally organic. It wasn’t until much later in the year that I looked back at what I wrote about Imus, the Jena Six, Michael Vick, Barry Bonds and a few other things that I reached the conclusion that I had a body of columns worthy of Pulitzer consideration in my opinion. So I had no problem saying it. That’s what I believed. I’ve been writing columns regularly since 1992. I’ve believed that twice in 16 years. I’m not out chasing the Pulitzer. I want(ed) to win one because Mike Royko won one. He’s my idol. But the dream is pretty much over. I doubt I’ll ever write another column as pervasive and influential as the Imus column. It’s tough to write a newspaper column that lands you on Oprah. I’ve satisfied my journalism awards dream winning the Scripps Howard Foundation National Journalism Award for commentary. That was quite an honor. Royko won one, so that’s my link to Mike Royko. Plus, David Simon took a lot of the shine off Pulitzers for me.
HG: You’re often critical of Hip-Hop’s influence on black culture, but do you consider any other factors (socioeconomic, lack of funding for education, the government aided crack epidemic) before you decide what ails the black community?
JW: I just wrote a 5,000-word piece for Playboy that addresses a gigantic problem within our community. Now Playboy is trying to sabotage the message with a ridiculously, sensational headline. But if you read the piece, your question will be answered. The piece comes out this Friday.
YBB Note: I haven’t had a chance to read the Playboy piece and didn’t know about it until Jason mentioned it in his answer, but the fine folks at Playboy pissed off Whitlock by changing the title of his story. The piece was originally titled “All America’s Crisis” and was advertised as such by Playboy.
Here’s a small part of Whitlock’s take on Playboy’s editorial decision:
Chris Napolitano, editorial director of Playboy magazine, is committed to stirring a racial controversy in the next issue of Hugh Hefner’s favorite publication.
Napolitano, No. 2 behind Hef at the magazine, intends to use a 5,000-word column I wrote challenging the wisdom of America’s drug war, world-leading incarceration rate and brutal prison system as an excuse to fan racial flames and distract readers from the real issues raised in the piece.
So on May 9, this headline will greet Playboy readers on the cover: “Jason Whitlock, The Black KKK.” On the inside of the magazine over my column, the headline will read: “The Black KKK.” A subheadline will state: “Hip Hop is killing Black America, and it’s time to do something about it.”
I’ll have to save my full opinion until after I read the story, but at least it seems that JW is starting to acknowledge factors other than Hip-Hop. End YBB Note
HG: Considering your stance on Hip-Hop and the state of the black community, are Tech N9ne and the 57th Street Rogue Dog Villains potentially your Reverend Wright?
JW: You damn skippy they’re Reverend Wright, and I’ll never disown Tech N9ne, Big Krizz Kalico and Cutt Kalhoun and the RDVs. You can add Dr. Dre and Tupac to the list, too. I’ve never denied being a fan of rap music. I know why it touches people and where the gangsta element comes from. Look, I’m overweight and I would tell people McDonald’s is freaking horrible and should be outlawed. But that don’t mean you’ll never see me creeping through a Mickey D’s drive-thru at 2 a.m. and grabbing a Filet-O-Fish. Just because I acknowledge my hypocrisy doesn’t mean my criticisms are inaccurate. We all fall short of the glory from time to time.
HG: One thing we agree on is that The Wire is one of the greatest television shows of all-time. If they were to make a Wire movie, what angles or storylines would you like to see covered?
JW: More of Kima’s love life. There was a lot of time wasted on McNulty’s catting around when we could’ve seen what Kima was up to.
HG: Finally, if you could give Pacman Jones advice, what would it be? What about Roger Clemens? Jason Whitlock haters?
JW: Pacman: Listen to Jim Brown and embrace the Amer-I-Can program.
Clemens: Move to Montana and disappear.
Whitlock haters: There are no Whitlock haters. There are only people who don’t know me.
