The BBC Trust has been accused of changing the goalposts over the corporation’s record on diversity by emphasising on-screen representation of black, Asian and ethnic minority staff and neglecting levels of employment behind the scenes.
According to the Campaign for Broadcasting Equality the BBC’s governing body “appears to be modifying its former expectations to fit the underperformance of the BBC on diversity”.
In a submission to the House of Lords communications committee’s inquiry into the BBC charter, the CBE pointed out that in 2014 the BBC Trust’s review of network news and current affairs said that “audiences need to recognise their own lives, perspectives and concerns duly reflected in the BBC’s programmes” and that “in part this will be achieved by developing a workforce, on and off-air, of greater diversity. We expect to see concrete proposals from the BBC to achieve this, and further progress in terms of both gender and ethnicity.”
CBE chair Simon Albury asked the BBC Trust, through a freedom of information request, what had happened since.
The Trust said it had discussed the issue with executives in May 2015 and concluded that “while we have seen some very good examples of of greater diversity and storytelling we have asked the executive for a full assessment, with particular regard to on-air diversity in autumn 2015”.
The CBE submission notes there was “no reference to concrete proposals” and concluded: “Over the past year the BBC Trust has demonstrated an increased emphasis on on-screen representation and a declining interest in off-screen employment. The trust appears to be modifying its former expectations to fit the underperformance of the BBC on diversity. That kind of regulatory capture cannot be right.”
It says progress on on-screen BAME representation is “superficial” and added: “The BBC approach is so unbalanced that it could be said to be to all tip and no iceberg.”
BBC chair Rona Fairhead was challenged on the issue by Lady Benjamin while giving evidence to the Lords recently.
Fairhead’s response seems to be at odds with the Trust’s FoI response as she said that, “as far as the trust is concerned, we want to encourage both on and off-air talent. We have been challenging the executive, who I know you also work with, who are saying, ‘How can we help both on and off screen?’ in terms of gender diversity and ethnic diversity. We have been focused on both on and off.”
“The BBC has some very clear targets within the organisation to reach 15% BAME representation by 2017. It is on track. We pull out that as an objective ‘to serve all people’.”
A BBC Trust spokesman said that the BBC has a specific annual objective on diversity, and the trust measures progress on this.
They pointed out that in this year’s annual report the BBC Trust said: “While we understand that this change will not happen overnight, we expect the executive to continue to make it a priority to measure and improve performance in this area. All the major UK broadcasters have jointly developed a new tool for monitoring on-screen diversity, which we will use over the course of the next year to measure progress and identify areas for further improvement.”
