Last week the BBC announced massive redundancies in the World Service with 650 jobs to go. The announcements came hot on the heels of equally painful redundancies being announced at BBC Online. And at work I’ve gone to several management meetings to discuss how BBC Scotland will meet its 20% “savings” requirements (I’m sure similar meetings are being had all over the country). One of my biggest concerns is that these cuts, (if not handled properly) will result in an industry version of gentrification, rolling back the slim advances made by BME and diverse talent over the last twenty years across television.
Gentrification in Britain is a funny beast. I work in Scotland but a split my time between the West End of Glasgow and Brixton. As a Brixtonian I have witnessed the south London neighbourhood undergo a transformation in the last few years, some for worse and some for better. The overall trend however has been one of gentrification with more white middleclass families moving in as the established West Indian community moves out.
While some people might bemoan the decline of an established black British community it is very hard to find the villain of the peace. Property prices in Brixton have increased in line with the increased gentrification. Many black families have sold the homes they previously purchased under the “council right to buy scheme”. They have received a massive windfall, while white middle-class families get to live in the neighbourhood of their choice. Every individual is happy with their side of the bargain. The end result however is that a once vibrant black community is under threat. Working in Glasgow, I can’t exactly point a finger at a West Indian home owner and say “don’t sell, stay where you are, think of the community, think about the neighbourhood”.
When the BBC makes redundancies we first look for volunteers – hoping that we won’t need to make anyone compulsorily redundant. My fear is that BME and diverse talent will be the people first in line to take, what is very often, a financially attractive redundancy package and leave the BBC.
Two weeks ago one of the few Asian directors at BBC Scotland told me she wanted to take redundancy. She is incredibly talented, is able to deliver quality films on time and on budget, every exec’s dream. I took her for a coffee to try and persuade her not to go. But as she talked through the reasoning for her decision I realised it was like trying to persuade someone not to sell their house in Brixton. Taking redundancy makes perfect sense; she feels she has hit a glass ceiling, is frustrated and the BBC is offering her a big wodge of money. It’s hard to argue against that kind of logic.
But the end result will be that BME representation in her department will decrease by 25%. I cannot blame her, I cannot tell her “to think about the BME targets” anymore than I can tell someone selling their home in SW2 “to think about the historical importance of a black community in Brixton”.
Individuals should be allowed to freely choice where they work and where they live regardless of their race, colour, creed or religion. Anything else would be a perverse inversion of the racism that many of our parents fought against when they were confronted with signs saying “No Blacks, No Dogs, No Irish”.
We can argue the merits or otherwise of neighbourhood gentrification but Brixton is still a great place to live in and you will see me in my favourite West Indian takeaway as often as you will see me in the new Australian coffee shop. “Gentrification” at the BBC though is a different story. As more redundancies take hold, BBC management needs to make sure that they don’t disproportionately affect BME and diverse staff. As the first trench of voluntary redundancies goes through, the challenge for BBC management will be to ensure the corporation is a better place to work than the financial redundancy packages being offered.
(First published on TheTVCollective.org on 01/02/2011)
No comments:
Post a Comment