Just Say Yes

Working in BBC Glasgow I spend a lot of my time travelling back and forth to London to see genre commissioners, series editors and other key BBC figures based in London. The BBC might be pushing programmes out to the regions but most of the big money decisions are still made in our glorious capital. All of which means I spend a lot of time on the train.

The other day I was sat beside a young couple with a very noisy small toddler. Working away I was studiously trying to ignore the toddler but could see the young child was definitely not happy…his favourite word seemed to be “no” and his parents were struggling to figure out what their “little bundle of joy” wanted.

It was during this time that I received an email on my work blackberry inviting me to the launch of the BBC’s Chairmanship of the Cultural Diversity Network (CDN). When it comes to the question of diversity in TV one of my biggest worries is that I am like that young toddler: I know exactly what I don’t want but have trouble articulating exactly what I do want.

I know I don’t want business as normal. I don’t want BME and disabled people to be under-represented both in front of and behind the camera. I don’t want pledges that are easy to sign up to but require no action to be taken. And I don’t want a lack of accountability when no action is taken to improve diversity.

As you can see, like the toddler, I am very good at saying “no”. But unless we can state clearly what we are saying “yes” to, people working in the TV industry from diverse backgrounds will be forever passive recipients of initiatives that large media organisations role out “on our behalf”. With the BBC preparing to take over the Chair of the CDN we have a rare opportunity to influence diversity initiatives and make our “Yeses” heard – not just our “No’s”.

So for the rest of the train ride to Euston I decided to try and make a “Yes List” – things I want the television industry to adopt in regards to diversity…

My Yes List

1. More transparency. All companies who receive more than £250,000 worth of work from broadcasters signed up to the CDN pledge (BBC, ITV, Sky, Channel 4, 5 et al) should be made to publish their employment diversity statistics, disaggregated by grade. These statistics should be easily accessible to everyone.

2. Sharper Diversity Measurement: Diversity should cover six broad areas: race, class, gender, disability, religion and sexuality. Progress in these areas should be quantifiable and therefore measurable This will avoid “Diversity” meaning all things to all people and essentially becoming meaningless. The hardest one of these six areas to measure would be class – I’d suggest we measure it in terms of employment of non-private school educated people. A rough measure, but better than none at all.

3. Clearly Defined Terms: There should be an industry-wide definition of BME as visible non-white minority. The idea that employing white Americans and Australians should count towards combating prejudice and racism in the industry makes a mockery of our statistics (NB: Don’t get me wrong – I think there is a need to look at culturally excluded white groups – but simply broadening the definition of BME only confuses matters.)

4. Real Penalties: As previously suggested by Pat Younge, there should be real penalties for managers who do not meet set diversity targets in large media organisations.

It’s not a definitive list and I’m not expecting everyone (or anyone) to agree with all of it. I should also add that this “Yes list” is just my personal opinion, having worked in the TV industry for almost twenty years. It’s not the opinion of the BBC.

But I think everyone should have their own personal “Yes List”. In fact, I hope that people will reply to this blog with their own “Yes Lists” so we can all start influencing the BBC and its Chairmanship of the Cultural Diversity Network. It is only by saying “Yes” that we will get what we want… As my train pulled into Euston the toddler was still saying “No” and neither he nor his parents were looking any happier.

(First published on TheTVCollective.org on 07/03/2011)