White Men Can Jump

As Hearst-Argyle veteran Terry Mackin brushes up on his Spanish to take the stations president job over at Univision, one reader laments the notion of yet another white guy jumping to a big job at a Spanish-language media company

"Once again, Spanish Language media keeps hiring non-hispanics to the top posts," writes Jesus Perez. "The names you hear at Telemundo and Univision are: Don Brown, John Lippman, Terry Mackin, Tim Schultz… Same goes for other cable companies: Chris Calcinari, Russell Wolf head ESPN Deportes…" 

Mackin, for one, is no stranger to running broadcast properties that operate in a language other than English; prior to Hearst, he ran the 7-station Russian broadcaster StoryFirst. “I was about as skilled in cross-cultural communication as I was in nuclear science,” he told us about his first trip to Moscow.  

Interesting issue. What’s more important for such a candidate, job experience or cultural experience?

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.