Diversity and the power to say what you really think

OK before reading this blog post make sure the children have been put to bed and people of a delicate disposition may want to skip this one – there’s bad language.

If you're still reading, here's why there is bad language.

Almost every Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic person (BAME) working in TV I know at some point complains of TV commissioners and executives simply “not getting” their editorial vision or watering down “diverse” elements of their programmes.

People might not want to say it openly, but over a drink or in quiet conversations people will tell you what they are really thinking. And to put it quite simply they want to say “f--- off", but they know they can't without losing the commission and even jeopardising their careers.

But being able to say “f--- off” can actually be the right decision in the end and may increase diversity.

Let me explain with an example of a time that I did say "f--- off", and exactly how I was able to do so and increase diversity.

For 8 years as the head of investigations and current affairs programmes in Scotland I was at the very heart of the BBC trying to increase regional diversity. When I moved up to Glasgow in 2007 the BBC had just started to increase the number of programmes it made outside of London with £38.9 million of the network budget being spent in Scotland by the time I left more than £90 million worth of network programmes were being made in Scotland.

The effect of such a large change in such a short period of time cannot be overstated and the experience has informed much of my thinking when it comes to all sorts of diversity.

And one of the most important lessons I learnt occurred in a meeting down in London when I was pitching a film to a commissioner.

The film was a current affairs documentary with excellent journalism behind it. But importantly it had some elements which were specific to Scotland with one of the major characters of the film being Scottish.

The meeting in London was going well and it was obvious that the commissioning editor in London wanted to commission the programme but he was still umming and ahing - something was clearly troubling him.

Finally he said it: can you take out the Scottish element? It would be perfect for us without the Scottish bit.

Now bear in mind Scotland is part of the UK and if we want to increase regional diversity we need to show Scotland and Scottish issues across the UK. But for the London based commissioner he just felt it would be better if we “took the Scottish part out”.

He “kindly” conceded that we could recut the film with the Scottish part in and transmit that up in Scotland but “let’s keep it out of the version which is broadcast across the rest of the UK”.

Now my Scottish bosses and I had anticipated that this might happen and so I had been instructed that whatever happens we keep the Scottish element in and we tell London to “f--- off”. (Yes - unlike my BAME colleagues I mentioned at the start  my white Scottish colleagues were not afraid to mince their language).  

And the reason we could do that so confidently is because we could find the money to make the film ourselves in Scotland. We might not get a UK wide network audience but we were confident in our own editorial judgment and taking out the Scottish part would weaken the whole film.

We were also confident that even if it only played in Scotland other people in the UK would be able to find it via the iPlayer.

Having the money behind me enabled me to say “f--- off” in the politest BBC exec to commissioner type way, and the knowing I had the full weight of BBC Scotland’s money behind me made the commissioner know I was not bluffing.

After a little more umming and ahhing the commissioner relented, we kept the Scottish element in and the film went on to win a fistful of awards.

Today I look at the vast majority of diversity initiatives to increase the number of women, BAME (Black Asian and Minority Ethnic) and disabled people behind the camera and in key positions.

I go to seminars and hear top television execs saying that people from disadvantaged groups should be able to have their editorial vision on screen, and all I can think of is one thing:

Have you given them enough money so they can tell you to “f--- off”?

Have you given them enough independence so that when they have an editorial vision which is different from yours can they implement it anyway and not jeopardise their careers?

True diversity can be a little scary because by definition true diversity behind the camera is about making editorial judgments which are different from the one’s a non-diverse person would have made.

The BBC has made tremendous progress in regional diversity. I just hope that like me, the BBC and other broadcasters, can take those lessons and apply them to how they increase other types of diversity.