Last night I put on my best suit and tie and attended the Cultural Diversity Network Awards. There were some very worthy winners and it was a great opportunity to meet different people in the television industry. However as the last award was handed out I was unsettled when I realised not a single person of African or Caribbean decent had won an award.
About a year ago I received an email from a colleague trying to staff up a documentary on race in Africa. The email asked me if I could “recommend a diverse Assistant Producer” (my italics). Of course to use the word “diverse” as a singular noun doesn’t actually make any sense. But I knew exactly what she meant. I am sure anyone who works in television today knows what she meant.
My colleague wanted a black Assistant Producer. “Diversity” in this context meant “black”. It is game of double talk that we are all used to. A young urban researcher is not a researcher who lives in Kensington (although far closer to the centre of London than Tottenham or Brixton) nor does it mean a researcher living in the heart of Glasgow.
We have grown used to these euphemisms. Think nothing of them. So what if we use “BME” when we mean black or “urban” or “diverse”? A rose by any other name is still a rose right? (to misquote Shakespeare).
But language does matter. If we use the word “diversity” when we really mean “black” we should not be surprised when other people use the term correctly and black people find themselves going home empty handed.
The BBC for example has BME targets for its staff. Most people who use the term BME use it to mean “black and Asian” or at least “non-white”. The BBC however sometimes defines BME as “non-white British”. So white Americans, Canadians, Poles and French could all tick the BBC’s proverbial diversity box.
A year ago I sat on a non-BBC bursary panel responsible for handing out money to help increase the number of students from diverse backgrounds entering journalism. The only problem is every student I saw claimed they were diverse. I even had a white male Marxist-Anarchist argue that we should give him the money because if he worked in journalism he would increase the diversity of political opinions currently working in the media. The trouble is he was right. I rarely meet Marxist-Anarchists at the BBC (despite what the Daily Mail says).
“Diversity” can mean all things to all people. And while increasing the different types of people working in television is a worthy goal if we don’t define exactly what we mean and define our terms very clearly it may not lead to an increase in black people working in the media. (Declaring a self-interest I am more interested in seeing more black people working in television than Marxist-anarchists)
“Diversity” should be an umbrella aim but it is meaningless unless we set out specific goals under the umbrella. I believe we should take the BBC’s regional diversity strategy as a model. The BBC has a specific goal to increase the number of productions made outside of London (an umbrella goal) but they then break it down into specific goals for Scotland, Wales, N. Ireland, Salford etc (specific goals).
As black people working in television we should wholeheartedly support the Cultural Diversity Network. The work it has done since its inception has been invaluable. But if we want it to develop and become more effective we should make sure we define our terms more clearly and set specific targets so no group feels underrepresented or goes home empty handed after what was in many other ways a very inspiring award ceremony.
(First published on TheTVCollective.org on 01/12/2010)
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