[ChrisMarshallNY]

> you hire your friends; which inevitably leads to homogenization.

This is very common, in many industries. Maybe moreso, with journalism (I am not very familiar with that industry).

Also "you hire people that don't make you uncomfortable."

I strongly suspect that this also happens with software development. "Cultural outsiders" (like me), have a very hard time getting in the door. I am quite sure that one reason that many older folks don't get hired, is because CEO <= 30, and doesn't want people around, that make them even slightly uncomfortable. Since they're the boss; what they want, they get. In "classic" corporations, CEOs are generally in their 50s, or older, and don't feel particularly challenged by older folks. They have to hire younger folks; even if it makes them uncomfortable.

I've learned the value of a "heterodyne" workplace. There is definitely friction, caused by clashing cultures, but the product is often wonderful.

[ghaff]

>This is very common, in many industries. Maybe moreso, with journalism (I am not very familiar with that industry).

I am somewhat familiar being on the board of a student newspaper. And it's extremely true in journalism. The students who went on to being journalists (or editors etc.) all did it through connections. You probably don't get a job on something like the editorial page of the WSJ by sending your resume around.