A veteran NFL journalist who asked the league’s commissioner questions about racial diversity announced Monday that the league had decided to not renew his contract.
Jim Trotter, who has covered football nationally since 2014 and worked for NFL Network since 2018, took to Twitter to break the news about his departure.
“This will be my final week with the NFL Media Group. I was informed over the weekend that my contract is not being renewed,” Trotter tweeted. “I thank NFL Network and NFL.com for the lessons learned and affirmed over the last five years.” (RELATED: Charles Barkley Calls Out NFL: ‘We’re Gonna Have A Black Supreme Court Before’ There’s A Black Head Coach)
Jim Trotter ethers Roger Goodell about lack of diversity in media , NFL is composed of 70% black athletes pic.twitter.com/9h8PMaNo9u
— Breaking Trends News (@btrendsnews) February 9, 2023
Trotter became known for grilling NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on issues related to diversity and inclusion within the league. Trotter asked Goodell why the NFL media was overwhelmingly white in 2022. Trotter lamented that although the league is 60-70 percent black, the media class and upper management have virtually no black people. The next year, Trotter told Goodell he hadn’t seen any improvement in racial diversity and asked him, “When will we have a full-time black employee on the news desk?”
Goodell reminded Trotter that he doesn’t run the media arm of the league and that the league has made concerted efforts to improve racial representation in media coverage.
“I am not in charge of the newsroom,” Goodell said.
“We are looking from everything from vendors that we’re working with, to partners that we’re working with, to ownership where we’ve seen significant changes in diversity just this year,” Goodell added. “We want to make progress across the board, and that includes in the media room.”
Trotter’s peers praised his talent after he broke the news of his departure from NFL Network.
“Jim Trotter’s one of the wisest and best people I’ve ever worked with,” tweeted Fox Sports senior columnist Bruce Feldman.
“This is a travesty. Jim Trotter is one of the best truth tellers in all of journalism,” wrote senior Andscape writer David Dennis Jr.
“Jim Trotter is one of the best NFL reporters ever,” senior ESPN NFL writer Jason Reid tweeted.