100 Years of BBC Diversity

We have been set a challenge. And for everyone who is interested in increasing diversity in the media it is one of those “once in a lifetime” challenges that we have got to take on.

Two weeks ago the new Director General of the BBC Tony Hall asked a simple question:

 “What do we (the BBC) want to be in 2022, when we are 100 years old?” 

It was a question he posed to BBC staff but in these days of mass communication these sort of questions always have a number of different audiences and it would be naïve to think he wasn’t also asking people outside of the BBC for their views on the future of the corporation.

 

So how do we want Britain’s largest media organisation to look like in twenty years’ time?

What would a “diverse” broadcaster ideally look like? Is it just a case of meeting different diversity targets? A simple question of meeting the different percentage goals to accurately reflect the different diverse communities in the general population? Does it matter where in the BBC the people from diverse backgrounds work?

 

When the BBC is 100 years old do we want it to have the same structure it has today? (In the ever changing media landscape the chance of that happening is remote). In its recent history to ensure the BBC more accurately reflects the Nations and Regions it serves structural changes were need. New buildings were built in Glasgow and Salford, network commissions were guaranteed to N.Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Salford and entire productions were relocated. Are structural changes necessary to achieve better representation of diversity behind and in front of the camera if we are to achieve the diversity we want in 2022? And if so what are those structural changes? 

When it comes to indies how do we encourage more diversity in the independent sector? Should we be seeking out BME owned or female owned indies for example? Commissioning editors have been placed in the different Nations and Regions to encourage network commissions for non-London based indies, do we need “diversity commissioners”? What does the BBC’s commissioning structure look like in 2022 to encourage the most diverse ideas getting through?

 

Culturally the BBC is nothing like it was at its birth in 1922. One only has to hear the clipped voices of the broadcasts and know a little bit of broadcasting history to know that it took a minor revolution for women to read the news to realise how far the BBC has come culturally. But culturally how would we want the organisation to feel like on its 100^th birthday?

These are all big questions and I’ve only just scratched the surface. But if we are really committed to increasing diversity not only in the BBC, but throughout the industry, we not only need to think of the right questions but need to start coming up with answers.

 

In the few public speeches Tony Hall has given since becoming DG he has stressed two things; the first is that programmes, the output, are more important than anything else, the second is the importance of working in teams. 

In those two simple priorities he has captured the challenge for all of us interested in diversity. What do we want the BBC’s output to look like and what do want the teams that make this output to look like?

 

Tony Hall has asked us the question, now is our chance to provide some answers.