Washington Post columnist Mike Wise is “leaving the paper to help ESPN launch a new site focused on the intersection of sports, culture and race” led by columnist Jason Whitlock, according to Dan Steinberg of the WASHINGTON POST. Wise was “most known for his columns -- and for his radio show” -- which ran on WJFK-FM for more than three years. Wise in recent years “likely became best-known locally for columns about issues that went beyond sports.” Such issues “likely will be a part of the mission at Whitlock’s site, which is expected to debut” sometime in ’15 (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 11/17). DEADSPIN's Greg Howard wrote Whitlock hiring Wise is "interesting not just because of what he is -- this is supposed to be a site bursting with young, up-and-coming minorities, and Wise is the precise opposite of that -- but because of what he does." Howard wrote Wise over the past year has "attempted to engage in a dialogue on race in America ... that has consisted mainly of him lecturing black people about how they should listen to him and do as he says" (DEADSPIN.com, 11/18).
OTHER NEW HIRES: ESPN also announced the addition of Jesse Washington, Danielle Cadet and Ryan Cortes to Whitlock’s site. Washington joins as senior writer and will be based on the East Coast. Cadet, a former writer & editor for The Huffington Post Black Voices, will be a senior editor based in L.A. Cortes will be an L.A.-based staff writer (ESPN).
