Less than a week after the BBC announced its intention to make savings through redundancies, the Corporation has earmarked £100m towards new measures to make its programmes more diverse.
The BBC is the latest organisation to reflect on its culture and practices in the wake of the death of George Floyd in Minnesota.
A BBC press release said: "The BBC's Creative Diversity Commitment - the biggest financial investment to on-air inclusion in the industry - will prioritise £100m of our existing commissioning budget over three years (from 2021/22-2023/24) towards diverse and inclusive content. This will be supported by a new mandatory 20% diverse-talent target in all new network commissions from April 2021.
"With this commitment, the BBC is throwing open its doors more widely than ever to diverse stories and diverse storytellers. The media industry is not changing fast enough. The BBC has been committed to creative diversity and inclusion for 100 years; but we now want to go further. The measures announced today are designed to accelerate the pace of change in increasing diversity and inclusion both on and off air. And to demonstrate change is being delivered, the BBC will report on progress in its Annual Report."
The BBC has said it will focus its diversity efforts on three priorities:
- Diverse stories and portrayal on-screen;
- Diverse production teams and talent;
- Diverse-led production companies.
Outgoing BBC Director General Tony Hall said: "The senseless killing of George Floyd - and what it tells us about the stain of systemic racism - has had a profound impact on all of us. It's made us question ourselves about what more we can do to help tackle racism - and drive inclusion within our organisation and in society as a whole.
"This is our response - it's going to drive change in what we make and who makes it. It's a big leap forward - and we'll have more to announce in the coming weeks."
June Sarpong, Director of Creative Diversity, said: "I came to the BBC as an outsider. Before joining I had an idea of this being an organisation that did not want to change. What I found was something different: an organisation that had ambitious goals for diversity and inclusion but didn’t know how to reach them. This commitment will help to drive real change that will be felt by all audiences. It will also create a strong framework to help diverse storytellers succeed at all levels of the industry.
"As Director of Creative Diversity, I'm pleased that we're announcing this fund as the first of a series of bold steps that will help make the BBC an instrument of real change. As a black woman, I feel and share in the pain that so many are feeling worldwide. It makes it all the more important that we show up now not just with words but with meaningful action."
A new 20% diverse-talent target will apply to all new network commissions from April 2021, so expect to see a surge in overtly diverse BBC programming!
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1 comment:
"A new 20% diverse-talent target will apply to all new network commissions from April 2021, so expect to see a surge in overtly diverse BBC programming!"
As if the current BBC programming wasn't already "Overtly diverse" enough. I hope when the new round of TV Licensing threatograms goes out to the old biddies who no longer qualify for a free TV license that they remember this and make their ire heard in the halls of Broadcasting House.
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