What Does BBC's Restructure Mean For Diversity?

Confession: I am a “running bore”.

I have run 11 marathons on 5 different continents and I have lost track of how many half marathons I have taken part in.

Running influences almost every part of my life. When I plan a holiday I make sure the hotel has a running machine in the gym or I work out a running route near where I am staying. Running weighs heavily when deciding what to order at restaurants; pasta and rice the night before a long training run, protein after doing a series of sprints. And it was definitely the deciding factor in which pushchair I recently bought for my newborn son.

Running is definitely not the most important thing in my life but its influence can be felt in almost every part of it.

And I can talk about it all the time, given the opportunity.

There’s no doubt about it, I am a “running bore” and I am proud of it.  

BROADCASTERS NEED TO BE “DIVERSITY BORES”

But if I am a “running bore” I want broadcasters to get to the point where they are “diversity bores”. Where diversity influences everything that they do and they can’t help but talk about it all the time. And judging from an important announcement last week, even though there is no denying that broadcasters are taking diversity, seriously they haven’t achieved the title of “diversity bore” yet.

Last week the Tony Hall announced a major restructure of BBC management.

The restructure is important and is seen by most media observers as critical as the corporation enters the new Charter period. There’s little doubt that the restructure will have a big effect on TV diversity, the concern of many media observers is that no one at the BBC seemed to think it was important enough to mention it.

DIVERSITY AND THE NEW BBC CHARTER

Diversity was a major part of the recent Government White Paper on the BBC Charter Review with it being written into the Charter for the first time. So how will the BBC’s restructure address this central part of its charter requirements?

A quick ‘control f’ for the word “diversity” of the press release put out by the BBC’s Media Centre press office of Tony Hall’s announcement of the new leadership structure comes up with zero results.

But that does not mean that the restructure will not have a major impact on diversity in the organization.

GENDER WOMEN

The most obvious impact of the restructure is on gender diversity at the top of the organisation. Women have landed arguably three of the most important jobs in the BBC.

Anne Bulford has become the BBC’s Deputy Director General with many newspapers now tipping her as the next Director General when Tony Hall leaves office. Charlotte Moore will become Director of Content - arguably the most powerful position in British television. And Helen Boaden is unquestionably the most powerful person in British radio as she now, not only oversee the BBC’s radio output, but will now have responsibility for 5Live as it moves into BBC Radio. 

REGIONAL DIVERSITY

Some BBC watches have expressed concern that the restructure might harm regional diversity as the directors for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – Ken MacQuarrie, Rhodri Talfan Davies and Peter Johnston – will no longer be part of the executive team. Instead a single role of Director of Nations and Regions has been created and will effectively take their place on the new streamlined board.

It is also unclear how important this new person will be in overseeing diversity. The BBC has previously talked about the importance of BBC Birmingham in promoting diversity throughout the corporation. With this in mind whoever is in charge of the Nations and Regions could be the most important person in the BBC when it comes to diversity.

IN PRAISE OF BOREDOM

There is no doubt that the restructure will affect diversity in other ways, many of which may not become clear for months or even years to come. But the most surprising aspect of the announcement regarding the restructure so far is the fact that diversity was not mentioned at all.

When it comes to marathon running I cannot help but bore the people around me talking about as I it has some kind of impact in most areas of my life. I look forward to the day when broadcasters can be as boring about diversity.

Oh and by the way I will be running in the Budapest Marathon in October.

#BlackJournalismMatters

Yesterday I watched the video that may well have changed race relations in America for a generation. But the video also reminded me of the power of journalism and the importance for diversity in our journalism. 

I am sure everyone is familiar with the video by now.

But for those who have not yet seen it, a black man’s head slumps backward in a car slowly dying, while next to him in the passenger seat a woman looks into the camera and explains that a Minnesota police officer just shot her fiancé four times. The black man is Philando Castile and the woman is Diamond Reynolds.

The video is shocking and its repercussions have only just started to be felt. Many people - from heads of state to international celebrities - have been suitably moved, and the hashtag #blacklivesmatter has grown in prominence - it’s even been used by the Chinese State Broadcaster CCTVNews.

I was moved too. However, when I watched the video I saw one of the most powerful and most professional pieces of journalism I have ever seen in over twenty years of working in television.

In the immediate aftermath of her fiancé being shot Diamond Reynolds becomes a journalist broadcasting to the world what has just happened. She remains calm, she captures all the right shots and describes the events in a clear linear narrative. 

Essentially, she uses all the basic principles and tools of journalism that are taught to student journalists all around the world: The 5 W’s: Who, What, Where, When and Why (and How).

And it’s this that is powerful. What the video demonstrates is that it is not simply the truth that changes the world - it is strong journalism that changes the world. Philando Castile’s killing was far from unique - it comes in a long line of black deaths at the hands of US police, and there have been videos of some of those deaths previously - a few even catching the shooting as it occurred. But there has never been this quality of journalism covering a death before.

And what should not be lost is the fact that it was a piece of journalism by a black woman.

In newsrooms across the US, and here in the UK, there are far too few black journalists working in them.  And the latest data from American Society of News Editors show that things are getting worse. The number of black journalists working at U.S. daily newspapers dropped 40% between 1997 and 2013 - that is almost 1,200 journalists who no longer write about events from a non-white perspective.

Diamond Reynold’s journalism proves the need for black journalists to tell news from their own perspective. The perspective of a reporter literally at the barrel of a gun is fundamentally different from the perspective of a reporter standing behind a policeman that is using or has used that gun.

If we want strong powerful journalism that can change the world we need to embrace diversity and the range of different perspectives that can give us.

#BlackLivesMatter is a globally trending hashtag that has become a defining political movement for millions of people. I hope that the editors of newsrooms and journalists around the world will start to realise that #BlackJournalismMatters too.