The big story
Project Diamond is, after a number of hiccups, finally launching at the Edinburgh TV Festival this week. As the Guardian reports, the project is going even further than expected by monitoring individual shows such as EastEnders to see how representative they are of the UK public.
The TV industry is actually doing a better job on diversity than many sectors, but then it needs to be leading the way. What we see on our television screens has a huge impact on how people see society and themselves so it’s especially important that it reflects the UK’s diverse reality.
Project Diamond is a step in the right direction, even if it has taken more than three years since Lenny Henry first gave the industry a kick up the backside for it to get off the ground. Whether its findings lead to action being taken to make sure that people from different backgrounds get the chances they need, is down to the industry as a whole.
MediaGuardian will be reporting from the Edinburgh TV festival for the rest of the week, so stay tuned for all the big developments, trends and announcements from the UK’s biggest TV event.
MediaGuardian’s top stories
Tory peer Michael Grade defends expanded BBC role for former Labour minister
WPP’s profits rise 10% but UK growth slows over Brexit worries
Facebook and other platforms ‘will rob UK news industry of £450m by 2026’
Strictly Come Dancing 2016: full lineup revealed
Ex-Python Eric Idle and Brian Cox to take on The Entire Universe for the BBC
Impress’s charter recognition deferred after publishers’ objections
Vic Reeves goes gaga over Dada for BBC4 conceptual art season
New gags for old lags: Porridge and Are You Being Served? return in BBC’s classic sitcom season
Best of the rest
What Ailes ya: Fox News is facing another lawsuit, this time from Andrea Tantaros who claims she was harassed by Ailes and presenter Bill O’Reilly, reports CNN
Dancing in the sand: Half of the most-shared Olympic ads of all time are from Rio, says Campaign
Computer says yes: David Walliams will front the Christmas special revival of Blankety Blank, says the Mirror
And finally...
It only seems appropriate on that the day MediaGuardian descended on the Scottish capital the National produced a front page that, despite the serious nature of its lead story, had some questioning whether it was a Fringe-based stunt.
Tomorrow @ScotNational Scientists warn of bagpipe lung after death of piper linked to fungus build-up in instrument pic.twitter.com/ttrlAFGY9a
— The National (@ScotNational) August 22, 2016
