The Politics of Diversity

Everybody wants TV to become more diverse – but is there the political will to act on it?

There is a scene in the HBO comedy series Flight of The Conchords in which Murray, the hapless manager of the titular band, warns the group against singing an “anti-AIDS” song as it might alienate all the people who are “pro-AIDS”. When the band members tell him that’s ridiculous, he tries to find someone, anyone, who is “pro-AIDS”. Obviously, he fails.

Talking about diversity in the television industry can feel like this, but in reverse. It’s almost impossible to find anyone who does not want a more diverse workforce both in front and behind the camera – and for good reason.

Between 2009 and 2012, more than 2,000 Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) people have left the creative industries. At the same time, the industry has grown by 4,000.That effectively means that for every BAME person who left their job in this three year period, more than two white people have been employed.

Against this backdrop, the BBC is currently negotiating its charter renewal with UK politicians. The charter outlines the six official purposes of the BBC, the fourth of which (or purpose ‘d’ to be precise) is focused on diversity. The BBC, it says, should be ‘representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities’.

The last charter renewal clearly set out guidelines on how the BBC should represent the first three of these. To represent the UK, there should be a clear number of primetime hours of news and current affairs television. For the nations (Wales, Scotland, England and Northern Ireland), there should be a set number of programmes produced in each nation, and similarly it set out criteria for the regions (or outside of London at least). The specific details of these guidelines are determined by the BBC Trust.

But on the fourth group, ‘communities’, the charter is strangely silent. The question is whether the next charter renewal will tackle this issue, specifically for BAME communities?

Put another way: do the politicians negotiating the next charter with the BBC need to step in and legislate, in the same way they previously legislated on how the BBC should represent the UK, nations and regions? Everybody wants diversity – but will the politicians have the political will to act?

On 17 November, the Royal Television Society will be holding the first ever political hustings on TV diversity. Ed Vaizey, minister of media and culture, will be going head-to-head with his Labour and LibDem counterparts Helen Goodman MP and John Leech MP. All of them will be stating their case for how they would increase diversity in the television industry – and why if you want to increase diversity you should vote for them at the General Election in May 2015.

Charter renewal is unlikely to decide the hue of the next government but the details of the negotiation will make a difference. Knowing what the possible ministers think of diversity might affect the future on BAME people in television for the next twenty years.

I would be surprised if any of the politicians take a stance equivalent to the “pro-AIDS” line. They will all be for diversity, but to get the diversity vote, they might just need to go further and set out exactly how their approach to achieving diversity will deliver.

(This article originally appeared in Broadcast on 14th November)