A year after a wave of major representation commitments by the UK’s biggest broadcasters, there is still much to do
The major broadcasters have set a wide range of targets to tackle ethnic diversity – but how much progress has been made in making the industry more representative?
Broadcast’s assessment of the pace of change over the past 12 months shows a mixed picture, with some gains, but more to do if long-standing issues are to be corrected.
Representation is changing faster on screen than behind the camera, a trend that has been noticeable for the past few years. Internally, the make-up of the majority of the broadcasters’ senior leadership remains a cause for concern and most are struggling to hit their targets.
There is also a renewed focus on disability from almost all the broadcasters, which are turning their attention towards a group that represents around 20% of the UK population, but is significantly under-represented in the industry.
We took a look at how each broadcaster is performing on its diversity commitments.
BBC
2020 commitments A £100m ‘diverse content fund’ to be spent over the next three years (with a separate £12m fund for radio) and a mandatory expectation that all shows achieve 20% representation of BAME, disabled and working-class off-screen talent on all shows coming into effect in April this year. All departments to start working towards 50/20/12 representation of women, disabled people and ethnic minorities.
What’s been achieved Work has begun on commissioning shows for the £100m fund, which need to meet two of three criteria: diverse stories and portrayal on-screen, diverse production leadership or diverse company leadership.
A BBC spokeswoman said it is too early to say how much has been invested in such shows but it is currently “identifying programmes that are expected to meet the criteria at the point of commission”, and will report back in next year’s annual report.
BBC creative diversity partners Michelle Matherson and Iyare Igiehon are currently acting as go-betweens for commissioners and indies to help drive through the commitments by “identifying potential opportunities, initiatives and interventions”.
The BBC says suppliers have “reacted positively” to its broad diversity commitments, although some of those Broadcast has spoken to over the past few weeks based outside of London report being hampered in their attempts to meet the target by their relatively low minority ethnic populations.
In terms of internal efforts, director general Tim Davie has said that progress towards meeting the 50/20/12 target has been mixed, with some departments moving more quickly than others. No overarching deadline has been set, but the DG indicated that the slowest divisions have been given five years to reach the target.
The latest annual report sets out the scale of the challenge, showing the proportion of black, Asian and minority ethnic senior leaders to have risen by only 0.3 percentage points over the prior financial year to 12.6%, while progress on disability went backwards.
In February, Davie unveiled a gold-standard Workforce Diversity & Inclusion plan that includes the biggest-ever growth in entry-level opportunities, a recruitment overhaul and the introduction of a high-potential leadership programme with significant diverse membership. Elsewhere, former CBeebies presenter and Doctors star Cerrie Burnell recently became the BBC’s first disability ambassador to champion authentic on-screen portrayal.
ITV
2020 commitments A Diversity Acceleration Plan with on- and off-screen targets, alongside initiatives for 60 people from under-represented backgrounds to secure their first senior editorial or production role - 40 apprenticeships and 20 roles in middle-management. Plans for commissioning to become “much more diverse” within a year.
What’s been achieved ITV has exceeded its Step Up 60 target, with 62 opportunities created for talent from under-represented groups in more senior production positions on shows such as The Voice UK and Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway.
With a focus on black, Asian and minority ethnic representation, the broadcaster boosted this group’s proportion of on-screen lead roles by one-third to account for 26%, well up on national average.
Gains were smaller internally, with 12.9% of staff from an ethnic minority background as of December 2020, up from 12.1% the previous year. Representation among its senior leadership team is 11.2%, leaving ITV some way short of its 15% representation target by the end of 2022, with the impact of the pandemic on recruitment cited as having slowed progress.
ITV director of television Kevin Lygo said last August that the broadcaster’s “commissioning and opinion forming” would be considerably more diverse within six to 12 months, and that ITV would be creating commissioning editor posts to be filled with minority ethnic candidates with broad remits “not just to make shows for black people”.
This has failed to happen – Broadcast Intelligence’s Commissioner Index shows ITV has not hired a single commissioner since Nana Hughes joined as head of scripted comedy in July 2020, prior to the commitment being made. The restructure that created ITV’s media and entertainment division is thought to have slowed recruitment overall during the period.
The second year of the Diversity Acceleration Plan (2022) will focus on improving representation of disabled people, with five action areas including improvements in senior editorial positions and boosting commissioning so that disabled people’s lives are better reflected on screen.
Channel 4
2020 commitments A pledge to double the number of black, Asian and minority ethnic-led indies commissioned by 2023 and an Accelerator Plan to nurture diverse producers, along with internal and external targets and a commitment to being an anti-racist organisation.
What’s been achieved C4 head of creative diversity Babita Bahal tells Broadcast it has been a “year of urgent acceleration”, with September’s Black to Front programming day set to create “lasting change”.
The event emerged from the industry reckoning after George Floyd’s death and Bahal is hopeful it can advance the careers of a multitude of black talent, having worked with the Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity on commitments for the day.
“It has been a year of urgent acceleration. Our Black to Front event is set to create lasting change”
Babita Bahal, Channel 4
She declined to reveal how many black, Asian and minority ethnic-led indies C4 has commissioned so far in 2021, but says it is making “good progress” towards its target of doubling the number of businesses of that type that it works with from just eight in 2019 to 16 by 2023.
She adds that more greenlights from minority ethnic-led indies will be revealed soon and cites gold-standard offerings such as Proper Content’s The School That Tried to End Racism and Acme Films’ Damilola: The Boy Next Door.
C4’s workforce is 17% ethnically diverse, flat with last year, as it eyes a 20% target by 2023. The proportion of ethnically diverse talent in its top 100 best-paid staff slipped from 14% to 12% in 2020.
C4 achieved its wider target of spending half of its development money on black, Asian and minority ethnic-led nations and regions and small indies last year, but Bahal stresses her team is “not taking our foot of the gas”. The broadcaster also focused on disability during the year, signing Ally Castle as its first creative diversity and disability lead and supercharging its Paralympics coverage.
ViacomCBS (Channel 5)
2020 commitments A ‘no diversity, no commission’ policy spearheaded by C5 programmes boss Ben Frow in a drive to improve on- and off-screen representation, along with several other initiatives.
What’s been achieved The ‘no diversity, no commission’ policy has been imposed on all UK suppliers and “underpins our approach to commissioning”, according to a spokeswoman, though it is not totally clear whether every single show ordered by C5 meets a diversity threshold, or what that threshold is. In October, ViacomCBS firmed up the policy by announcing it would dedicate 30% of its budget to commissioning content related to under-represented groups and issues. It is yet to give an update on this.
Elsewhere, ViacomCBS UK’s New Faces New Voices on-screen project has identified 84 underrepresented contributors to work with, of which 19 are contracted on shows including Tesco 24/7, Body Of Evidence and You Are What You Eat. The Promotion Opportunity Project has also helped blood mid-level freelancers on primetime commissions.
Sky
2020 commitments A £30m racial injustice fund to be spent over the next three years on improving representation, highlighting racial injustice and making a difference in communities affected by racism.
What’s been achieved The pay-TV giant has started spending the £30m on projects including a partnership with anti-racism charity Kick It Out worth £3m over three years. It has also become the official presenting partner of national art education project The World Reimagined.
A few months after revealing the racial injustice fund, Sky unveiled a set of internal representation targets, led by an aim to have 20% of employees and 20% of senior employees come from a black, Asian or minority ethnic background by 2025.
Sky declined to reveal if it has made any progress as of July 2021, but in January the breakdown was 14.7% and 9% respectively, meaning that representation in the senior team will need to more than double within the next four years.
A year ago, managing director of content Zai Bennett committed to “changing the diversity of [Sky’s] senior commissioning” over the next 18 months, describing this as “imperative and essential”, but the company is yet to update on this. More broadly, progress will be measured annually and reported in Sky’s Bigger Picture Impact Report.
Sky has also recently appointed chief talent, diversity and inclusion officer Denise Peart and forged a Diversity Action Group and Diversity Action Council.
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