Programmed For Success
Focus On: Ailes Drives Mentoring At Fox News Channel
by R. Thomas Umstead -- Multichannel News, 3/23/2008 8:00:00 PM
Fox News Channel has quietly sought to increase its minority employee base through an apprentice program spearheaded by the network's most senior executives.
CEO Roger Ailes created the network's Apprenticeship Program in 2003 in an effort to provide minorities at entry-level positions with an opportunity to gain valuable behind-the-scenes experience working at a cable network that otherwise wouldn't be available to them.
“I didn't think enough minorities were getting access to the system,” Ailes said, whose own Fox News Channel employee base is nearly 20% minority. “If there aren't a lot of people they know inside, then they don't necessarily have the same access as others.”
Candidates for the apprentice program are usually chosen from college graduate interns or entry level Fox News employees who are looking to move up the ranks. But rather than apply for a potential job, would-be apprentices are recommended by Fox News staffers for positions, according to vice president of human resources Maureen Hunt, who handles the day-to-day operations of the program.
But the executives' role in the program goes beyond just making recommendations. If their choice is accepted, the nominating executive officially become a mentor to that apprentice for one year's time, according to Hunt. The network creates and fully funds a 12-month paid position for the apprentice, during which the candidate has to prove worthy of a permanent position at Fox News. Thus far, the network has allotted $900,000 for apprentice positions.
Among the many executive mentors is The Fox Report anchor Shepard Smith, who said the program is a great way to find and nurture talent.
“This seemed like a perfect way to keep people who would be in demand everywhere else and really train them to be tomorrow's leaders,” he said. “A lot of people talk about diversity and they make shows about diversity, but here it's about the future of our company.”
Since 2003, 16 apprentices have graduated from the program and moved on to more high-profile positions, ranging from guest booker for shows such as Studio B With Shepard Smith to guest hair and makeup stylist to news writer.
Hunt said one of the program's first graduates, Francisco Cortes, has ascended from a production assistant for Fox Reports to overseeing on-air graphic design as head of Fox News's graphics production unit.
And not everyone actually remains with Fox News. Hunt said former apprentice Tisha Lewis left the cable news channel to pursue an on-air reporting career. She's now a general assignment reporter for an NBC affiliate in South Florida.
Ailes said on-air talent is the toughest role to fill, given the experience reporters traditionally must gain in smaller markets.
“The hardest one to fill is on-the-air because [as reporters] you have to go out and make your bones in a small market, but even in those cases we help them,” he said. “I'm still in touch with some who have gone to small stations and hopefully, one day, we'll bring them back as on-air talent.”
Whether minorities stay with Fox News or move onto other opportunities, Ailes said his main goal is to open the door of opportunity for people of color. “This is such an important part of our future,” Ailes said. “You will hear more and more from them because they will take on mentoring roles and leadership positions within the industry.”
Apprentices such as Korean-born Iwook Song — one of four in this year's class — said the program offered him an opportunity to break into the telecommunications industry that otherwise would not have been available.
“Even if I were to go to Harvard graduate school, I could not get this great a lesson in [television],” said Song, who through the program has written news scripts for such shows as Fox Report Weekend and has even offered voiceover translation for a Fox News Channel-produced Korean-based documentary.
While Ailes says the program is progressing, the network and the industry still has a lot of work ahead of it with regard to diversity. But he feels at least Fox is moving in the right direction and hopes that one day that the Apprenticeship program won't be necessary.
“More and more, you're seeing more opportunities for kids, but I think for a while its better to have a program that can connect [minorities] with executives they don't automatically know,” he said. “I'm trying to fill the gaps of kids who don't have access.”
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The only problem I have with your program IS that it is only for minorities!! I am sad that my granddaughter, who is NOT a minority, will not have the chance to join your team at Fox News channel. How is she to get a mentoring or apprentice position?
Diane Newgard - 9/30/2008 6:42:00 PM EDT -
It is very encouraging indeed to learn that my favorite news channel,
Fox News, has this mentoring program.
I remember how lost I felt after I finished undergraduate and graduate
school. I majored in political science and minored in history. To my
disappointment, there weren''t many jobs for political science
graduates.
What help me land my first job was that I demonstrated a flair for
writing as a Northwestern undergraduate. I even won the Edwin
Shuman Literary Prize at the end of my junior year, which came with a
full tuition scholarship for my senior year. It was awarded by the
Department of English for several essays I had written that year.
My first writing job was with Institutions Magazine in Chicago, a
leading hotel and motel trade magazine. I was hired as features editor.
I learned a lot about interviewing and writing and editing and
magazine
production on that job. It was a terrific experience for me. Institutions
nurtured aspiring young writers and editors.
My boss, James Ward, eventually left Institutions to head editorial
services at R.R. Donnelley & Sons. He took me with him. I wrote and
edited travel magazines and a variety of other editorial materials,
including an owner''s manual for Plymouth automobiles.
I didn''t know anything about cars, but I learned quickly. I also wrote
travels articles about places I had never visited. What I learned most of
all was how to write authoritatively about topics I knew next to
nothing.
Those were good years for me. I''ve remained interest in politics all of
my life, but I''ve been happy with my experience as a writer and editor.
It is a career where you know you can always do better, where you
always keep trying. I imagine working in television news is very similar.
I wish all of the Fox News employees in the mentoring program and
the
Fox News interns all the best in their careers. I congratulate Fox News
for being so concerned about these young people as they begin their
careers.
George Spink
Los Angeles
George Spink - 3/25/2008 12:18:00 PM EDT -
Great Job FOX
Theresa R - 3/25/2008 10:25:00 AM EDT
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