Guardian cover work

Guardian Article:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/sep/15/bbc.television

The BBC will only survive by understanding its diverse consumers

Peter Salmon
The Guardian, Monday 15 September 2008

A snail could crawl the entire length of the Great Wall of China in just slightly more time than the 200 years it will take for women to be equally represented in parliament. That was just one of a series of striking statistics from the Equality and Human Rights Commission in their Sex and Power report published last week.

It added that women hold just 11% of FTSE directorships, with the judiciary and others also strongly criticised. At the BBC, the figures are a bit better - almost 38% of all senior managers are women - but it does bring into sharp focus the challenge the whole media industry is facing to improve diversity among its workforce.

Tomorrow's Guardian Ethnic Media Summit is a chance to debate what is arguably our most pressing diversity issue - ensuring more talent from ethnic minority communities reaches the upper echelons of broadcasting. The growth particularly of young ethnic minority audiences, is soaring - way above the population average - making them a critical cultural and business challenge for everyone in our sector.

Things are definitely changing but still not quickly enough. The whole media industry needs to look afresh at what more can be done.
So why does a white, middle-aged bloke like me feel compelled to write about this? As the BBC's chief creative officer, overseeing our programme production made in-house, I believe passionately that only by drawing on the talents of every part of society can we best reflect the lives and concerns of our diverse audiences on screen.

We must do more and the BBC is certainly redoubling its efforts. And though ethnicity is very important, it is only one part of this story. We must also think in terms of age, disability, gender, social class and regional difference.

That is why I think the historic changes to move a significant proportion of BBC network production out of London to places such as Glasgow or North West England over the next decade might be key to all this.

We will transfer large numbers of staff from London but we will also recruit many new faces - a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to add something substantially new to our gene pool of talent, to change the BBC's DNA a little.

We seem to be moving in the right direction, increasing opportunities for people from ethnic minority backgrounds at most levels.

The proportion of our staff from ethnic minorities is 11.5% - again comparing very well with both public and private sector organisations including the civil service, health service and the police. But as the Edinburgh Television Festival heard, still not enough people make it into senior management roles, particularly as controllers and commissioners.

The BBC has looked closely at the barriers to progress and announced new schemes to tackle them - costing £3m over three years.

Firstly, we need to change the way we recruit. We are dramatically increasing the outreach work we do - in community groups, colleges, schools and through open sessions across the UK - to encourage under-represented groups to apply to the BBC. I recently worked with an energetic bunch of young students, mainly from ethnic minority backgrounds, who were introduced to the BBC by the University of Central Lancashire - from the former mill towns of Blackburn and Preston, not places we'd traditionally think to look for the next generation.

Then we need to be better at retaining talented individuals and supporting them in reaching their full potential and moving into senior roles. Our new mentoring and development programme, which offers greater one-to-one and intensive personalised support, is so important. In addition, our new trainee production scheme, which has just kicked off, and our journalism trainee schemes, have a strong diversity focus, so we are providing clearer pathways into all parts of the BBC.

On screen, we must constantly strive to reflect as accurately as possible the rich cultural mix of the UK.

Earlier this year BBC non-executive director Samir Shah criticised what he called "inauthentic representation" of ethnic minority communities, citing the Ferreira family in EastEnders.
It is unfair to highlight one five-year-old example from a drama series that remains the most popular programme on television among ethnic minority audiences. This example fails to reflect many other aspects of our work, particularly our in-house drama output. Our continuing drama series, including Holby City and Casualty, have led the way in casting diverse talent, in leading roles as well. Though we do not always get it right, overall we have much to be proud of.
The BBC set up the Writers' Academy, under John Yorke, four years ago, increasing the number of writers from diverse backgrounds working on our biggest programmes, including some of our continuing drama series.

In addition, programmes such as Criminal Justice, No1 Ladies Detective Agency, Life Is Not All Ha Ha Hee Hee, Shoot the Messenger, the entertainment series Last Choir Standing and a lot of our children's output have also been praised for the way they have represented diversity or addressed issues faced by communities from different backgrounds.

Part of this is ensuring we get closer to audiences when making programmes. For example, White Girl - part of BBC2's groundbreaking White Season - told the story of a white family relocating from Leeds to a predominantly Asian community in Bradford. Here the production team worked very closely with the community to ensure a sensitive and accurate portrayal.
In an increasingly globalised creative economy where competition will intensify, it is only by understanding our diverse consumers that we can stay relevant and survive. The BBC prides itself on keeping in touch with its audiences - to do so successfully we'll need to keep making changes, and fast.

3 Articles on Media Guardian: Race and Religion:

1. Nick Griffin to lodge formal complaint with BBC over Question Time

BNP demands BBC give Nick Griffin second Question Time appearance, 'in correct format', outside multicultural London

Mark Sweney
guardian.co.uk, Friday 23 October 2009 12.53 BST

BNP leader Nick Griffin is to lodge a formal complaint and freedom of information request to the BBC over the way his appearance on Question Time was handled.
He will argue that the format of the show was skewed to focus almost solely on the BNP, not wider issues, that the makeup of the audience was primarily anti-BNP and that a broader range of questions were not fielded, a spokesman for the party said.

The BBC has fielded more than 400 calls and emails about Griffin's appearance on Question Time last night – with more than half complaining that the show was biased against the British National Party leader.

BBC online forums were flooded with support for Griffin and attacks on the BBC, the other panellists and the anti-fascist demonstrators outside Television Centre yesterday. However, there were also comments supporting the BBC for its decision to invite Griffin on to the Question Time panel.

Question Time attracted 7.9 million viewers, half the total TV audience for its 10.35pm slot – which is thought to be a record figure for the show.
The BNP spokesman said: "He was not treated the same as other elected politicians [who appear on the show]; it was a completely unfair showing.

"Question Time changed the whole format of the programme. The BNP will be putting in a freedom of information request to the BBC and programme makers to ask about the process of changing the format of the whole programme. [We want to know] why they felt they had to break with the usual format."

He said that the BNP wanted a second outing on Question Time to be "re-run in the correct format". "If people want to be critical, fair enough – they should not dominate the whole programme."

The spokesman added that Question Time had a history of moving locations and that London was too "multicultural" to be fair to the BNP and that perhaps a location like the northwest of England would be an option.

"It is logical: that is where he was elected and an audience would contain a representative cross-section of voters, some of whom may have voted for the BNP," he said. "It would make for a more balanced programme."

Griffin is also keen to challenge Jack Straw, the justice secretary, to a one-on-one debate over Labour policies.

Griffin himself said today he was planning to make a formal complaint to the BBC about last night's show, telling Sky News: "That was not a genuine Question Time; that was a lynch mob."
The media regulator, Ofcom, said it had received a "small number of complaints" about the show – understood to be less than 100 – and was considering whether to launch a formal investigation of whether Question Time breached its broadcast code.

BBC Information, the corporation's call centre, had fielded a total of 416 calls on the controversial show by about noon today. Of these, 243 were complaints of bias against Griffin.

Question Time was filmed late yesterday amid chaotic scenes outside BBC Television Centre as anti-fascist protesters clashed with police, and attracted a record audience of almost eight million viewers.

The BBC also received 114 complaints about Griffin being allowed to appear on the Question Time panel at all. There were a further 59 calls applauding the BBC's decision to have the BNP leader on the show.

Ofcom is understood to have received fewer than 100 complaints and will now make a decision on whether to investigate. The complaints fall under the broadcasting code section on harm and
offence.

An Ofcom spokesman said: "Ofcom has received a small number of complaints which are currently being assessed against the broadcasting code."

Under the BBC's complaints procedure, the corporation will respond to the calls after the issues have been discussed with the Question Time programme team. Those who remain unsatisfied with the response can refer their complaint to the BBC's editorial complaints unit.

If they are still not happy with its decision, complainants can take their grievance to the editorial standards committee of the BBC Trust, the corporation's regulatory and governance body.

2. Cartoon row claims Swedish minister's job

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2006/mar/22/race.pressandpublishing

Nicholas Watt, European editor
The Guardian, Wednesday 22 March 2006 08.21 GMT

The row about cartoons of the prophet Muhammad yesterday claimed the career of Sweden's foreign minister, who resigned after allegations that she shut down a far-right website for soliciting new caricatures. Laila Freivalds, who succeeded the popular Anna Lindh after she was stabbed to death in 2003, said she could no longer continue in the face of intense media criticism.
Opponents said Ms Freivalds, 63, broke Sweden's strict freedom of speech laws when her department allegedly took steps to close down a website that was trying to publish fresh cartoons of Muhammad.

The site was closed on February 9 after a foreign ministry official contacted the firm that hosted the website. No orders were issued to the company, according to the ministry, which said the official had merely pointed out that the website was endangering the lives of Swedes.

The website took the step of soliciting cartoons at the height of protests across the Muslim world against a Danish newspaper which ran cartoons of Muhammad last September. Any depiction of the prophet is offensive to Muslims.

Ms Freivalds insisted she did not order the official to contact the web company. But opposition politicians accused her of lying after a foreign ministry report said she was involved in the decision.

"The reason I have decided to request my dismissal is that it is impossible to carry out a serious job, and that is damaging for the government, the party and not least for the foreign ministry," she said.

3. Rising UK anti-semitism blamed on media

Chris McGreal in Jerusalem
The Guardian, Tuesday 25 January 2005 07.14 GMT

Britain suffered the sharpest rise in anti-semitic attacks of any country last year, and British press coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a leading cause, according to an Israeli government report.

Natan Sharansky, the cabinet minister responsible for the diaspora, said the report found that violent attacks on Jews in Britain rose by almost half.

The government's global forum against anti-semitism, which wrote the report, said France again topped the list of anti-semitic violence with 96 attacks, but the number in Britain rose sharply to 77.

The total number of incidents in Britain rose to 304 from 163 a year earlier when verbal assaults, damage to property and swastikas daubing were taken into account. The report has been relased as Israel focuses on anti-semitism to mark the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

Mr Sharansky attributed the British figures to "years of hostile reporting and commentary about Israel in the British press now spilling into the streets".

His officials singled out the Guardian and the BBC, accusing them of "likening Israel to a Nazi state". The Independent was also criticised.

David Weinberg, coordinator of the forum and an adviser to Mr Sharansky, said the report found that most acts of anti-semitism in Britain were carried out by Arabs or Muslims, but press coverage of Israel, and the actions of some politicians created a climate that encouraged such attacks.

"Among west European countries there is a red flag flying over Britain and it's particularly disturbing because Britain is a country friendly to Israel and the British government takes anti-semitism seriously."

He added: "Sharansky believes you have to look at the intellectual environment that has developed toward Israel in Britain and the effect that has on the broader public."

He singled out the coverage of the Israeli army assault on Jenin refugee camp in 2002, in which 58 Palestinians were killed, mostly armed men.

The attack was characterised as a "massacre" by some of the media. He said this was demonisation of Israel and anti-semitism.

Tehila Nahalon, an adviser to Mr Sharansky on anti-semitism, said: "You can't brainwash people for four years that Israel is an illegitimate country and that Israelis are like the Nazis and that Israelis are monsters and expect that nothing will happen to Jews."

The Board of Deputies of British Jews, which is publishing its own statistics next month, supported the report's conclusions. Its spokesman, Jason Pearlman, accused the BBC of "unrelenting anti-Israel bias".

"The British media has portrayed Israel in a very unfair light," he said. "It's what's not said as much as what's said: the fact that most Palestinian attacks on Israel are not reported in the British press, and the fact that almost all the attacks on the Palestinians are reported."