Episode 39 - Finding Our Humanity with Siddhartha Mahanta

Diversity Hire

Hello and welcome to Episode 39. To all the new listeners who found our podcast from Camille Bromley’s CJR profile, welcome. To our Day Ones, welcome back.

Today we talked to Siddhartha Mahanta, who is an editor at the New York Times Opinion section. We talked about the oft-ignored humanity of journalism, the journalist’s commitment to be humane, why publications need to stand up to bullies, why writers hate the dreaded ‘nut graf,’ the fine art of editing, corny Indian-Americans, and much more.

Kevin and Arjun talked about their recent profile in CJR and the spate of incredibly nice weather in NYC. Thanks for listening!

Sid’s editing and writing:

The story of Jamal Khashoggi's murder and how the world looked the other way, Evan Ratliff, Business Insider, 2019

There Are Two Asian-Americas, and One Is Invisible, Claudine Ko, The New York Times, 2021

Journalism Under Siege, Samanth Subramanian, Rest of World, 2021

When It’s Time to Say Goodbye to the Old House , Longreads, 2017

This is your brain *picture of your brain*. This is your brain on Diversity Hire *it’s the same picture of your brain, but this time it’s wearing Issey Miyake trousers*. Any questions? If so, email us at [email protected]. We’ll read your questions in an upcoming Q&A episode. Also, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. You can use your review to share anonymous experiences of working in corporate media, and we will read those on the pod as well.

Thanks,Arjun & Kevin

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit diversityhire.substack.com