Memorandum by Kevin Johnson, Director,
Regional Affairs, ITV Central (SOC 76)
ITV Central is committed to modernising the
portrayal of black and Asian people on screen and developing the
diversity of its workforce. For the last two years, we have published
an action plan detailing specific initiatives, with the 2004 Plan
to be published in our Annual Public Statement on 2 February.
A Diversity Panel, with professionals drawn from the public and
private sectors (including Ted Cantle), advises the Company on
diversity issues and monitors progress against the Plan. Diversity
is also reported to the Central licence Board.
Key projects include:
Schools Tour: Targets Year 10 students
in schools with a high proportion of pupils of minority ethnic
background. The purpose is to raise awareness of career opportunities
available in broadcasting and the media in response to the lack
of minority ethnic youngsters actively pursuing such careers.
Around 500 14 and 15-year-old students have participated at schools
in Birmingham, Leicester and Derby this year, following a Tour
in 2002. Local newspapers and radio stations have provided elements
of the day, with Connexions also giving support.
Students are given the opportunity to produce
their own school version of CENTRAL NEWS. A purpose-built version
of the CENTRAL NEWS set together with broadcast standard studio
cameras and full production gallery is installed in each school
hall. The students are split into groups and two CENTRAL NEWS
reporters and crews work with pupils throughout the day to help
them compile a total of six reports. Students act as reporters,
camera, lighting and sound operators, VT editors as well as presenters.
The Tour is complemented by a programme of managed work placements
at our studio centres in Birmingham and Nottingham.
Broadcast Monitoring/Commissioning Clause:
On a monthly basis we analyse the category of each news story
and in turn whether there is any `ethnic diversity' element. The
pure existence of the system is having a positive impact on editorial
staff, with more pro-active consideration of diversity in newsgathering
and production. Over the first two-thirds of 2003, 11% of stories
across the three CENTRAL NEWS services contained some form of
minority ethnic community representation. Meanwhile, Regional
Programme producers have to provide details of how a series will
reflect diversity; input diversity data for each programme on
who appears (age, gender, ethnicity and disability) and then complete
an end of series report assessing whether objectives laid down
have been met. 14% of the top three portrayal categories (presenter,
reporter, key contributor) for people appearing in Regional Programmes
were non-white, compared to 8.7% for the population as a whole.
Post-graduate Broadcast Journalism bursaries:
Among our 12 recipients, three are black students, two mixed race
(Black/White) and one mixed race (Asian/Black). In making the
2003 round of awards, a new challenge was to find fresh ways of
improving the impact we have on our cultural diversity objectives
and to take into account findings from Skillset research of journalists
in the UK:
"96% are white . . . Journalism is increasingly
becoming middle and upper-middle class in its composition with
only 3% of new entrants coming from families headed by someone
in a semi or unskilled job".
To this end, we ran an experimental campaign
of advertisements on the Leicester Asian RSL channel MATV to promote
awareness of our bursary schemes. The 30-second advertisement
was the first to be approved featuring working journalists, with
special dispensation from the ITC.
All three of our news services have produced
special strands on the Asylum debate. While reflecting concerns
of people living near three proposed Asylum Centres, CENTRAL NEWS
tried to get behind the headlines (and the hysteria) to examine
the plight of asylum seekers and the contribution many are making
to their communities.
Employment Targets: Over a three-year
rolling period, we monitor the proportion of minority ethnic staff
recruited. Targets are set on a sub-regional basis in line with
workforce statistics: West Midlands—10%; East Midlands—5%
and South—3%. There remains generally low turnover in the
regional business; industry conditions are keeping recruitment
to an absolute minimum and production staff regularly move around.
In Programmes 7% of staff are from a minority ethnic background;
9% in Administration and 6% across the business.
Media Workshop pilots. Understanding
the Media brought together representatives from small business,
community and faith groups for a practical training session on
media relations. Whilst concentrating on the methods and approaches
of CENTRAL NEWS, it also included sessions from local radio and
newspapers. We also staged a TV Advertising workshop with the
Institute of Asian Businesses. 30 companies attended the session
to help de-mystify the advertising buying and commercial production
processes. We targeted Asian-owned enterprises enjoying significant
growth and those developing into the mainstream.
Kevin Johnson
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