Is "Racism" A Dirty Word In TV?

Broadcasters have to be very careful with some of the language we use in our programmes. Just last week the BBC Radio4 programme “Thinking Allowed” was heavily reprimanded for running an item on Cambridge University rowers losing their cox. The presenter playfully described them as “cox-sackers”. A listener complained and the BBC Trust judged it to be “a grossly offensive play on words”, which was broadcast at 4pm, “when children might be listening”.

I have worked in broadcasting for over twenty years including the BBC and commercial radio and I am acutely aware of the strong opinions viewers and listeners have about language; Whether the ‘N’ word should be beeped out of rap records, when you can use the word ‘F---‘ and if it is ever acceptable to use the word ‘C---‘ in any circumstances.   

Over the last twenty years I think broadcasting in general and the BBC specifically have become more relaxed about language and words that may have been cut from drama scripts previously or beeped in documentaries increasingly find their way to our screens and radios. But recently a new word seems to have become forbidden: “Racism”

Last week Panorama broadcast a programme with Sol Campbell investigating the fact that the unemployment rate for young black men is almost 50% (more than double that of their white counterparts). It is a shocking statistic and I think it is critical that flagship current affairs programmes like Panorama explore these issues.

The programme wanted to find out the reason for this shocking statistic. What I found interesting was that throughout the programme they never once mentioned the word ‘racism’. At the very start of the film Sol Campbell asked “Is it the bosses fault that they don’t understand the young black male or is it the young black males who has to sharpen up how they conduct themselves?” Never once did anyone say that young black men might be the victims of ‘good old fashioned’ racism.

The fact that racism might be a problem hung awkwardly in the air but was never addressed. Like a bad swear word it was the ‘R’ word that dare not speak its name.

But this isn’t a problem just for Panorama. “Racism” has almost become a dirty word in polite society. The word has been banished to the preserve of describing ignorant east European football fans or UKIP candidates making Nazi salutes. But “racism” is rarely or ever used to describe “ordinary” employers who fail to employ young black men.

I experience the same problem on the raft of committees and panels I sit on to try and increase diversity in the media. Black and BAME people are under-represented in the media generally and we virtually become an “endangered species” the higher up the career ladder we climb. Invariably media organisations discuss how we can address this issue; we talk about championing best practice, mentor schemes and entry level bursaries. Many of these initiatives are great and they play a useful role in addressing under-representation of diverse communities in the media.

However I think we do black people, and people from diverse communities, a disservice if we do not acknowledge that many of us are victims of prejudice and have overcome prejudice to achieve what we have achieved.

We will never be able to solve the problems facing black people (whether they are unemployed young black men or black people hitting glass ceilings in the media) unless we can actually identify all the issues involved. Using the “R” word would be a good start.