BBC To Spend £2.1M Fast Tracking Ethnic Minority Onto Screen

[Teddy Bear]

If the BBC understood their charter properly they would be concerned about the content and quality of their output, and the talents of those featured, not their colour or race.
The elements of this story shows just how manipulative they see their role - fabricating society instead of reflecting it.

BBC to spend £2.1million of licence fee money fast-tracking ethnic minority talent onto the screen...but first they're setting up a 'diversity' committee

• BBC plans to spend licence fee cash on new 'diversity creative talent fund'
• Director-general said it had 'to do more' to increase minority representation
• Tony Hall said ethnic minorities should account for 15 per cent of on-air talent in the next three years

By Emma Glanfield

The BBC plans to spend £2.1million of licence fee money on fast-tracking ethnic minority talent onto the screen with a new ‘diversity’ committee.

Director-general Tony Hall said the corporation had ‘to do more’ to increase ethnic minority representation both on and off camera.

He said the ‘diversity creative talent fund’ would help ‘fast-track’ certain shows onto the screen and create a series of development programmes aimed at encouraging future commissioners and executives from ethnic minority backgrounds.

The director-general said he wanted to see ethnic minorities account for 15% of air talent in the next three years and said he would also set ‘local targets’ in London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leicester to reflect the population of those cities.

He also said he wanted those from ethnic minority backgrounds to account for 15% of senior staff by 2020.

He said: ‘I want a new talent led approach that will help set the pace in the media industry.

‘I believe in this and want our record to be beyond reproach.

‘That won’t be achieved overnight, but the package of measures I’ve put in place, alongside the support we’ll get from leading experts, will make a tangible difference.’

Actor Lenny Henry, who has criticised the TV and film industry in the past for not providing a ‘fair and honest reflection of our society’, has signed up to the committee to help advise the corporation on its representation of ethnic minorities.

The star joins other names including Paralympian Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, former footballer Jason Roberts and TV presenter and Liberal Democrat peer Floella Benjamin.

The BBC said they would ‘advise and support the BBC on diversity’.

[Teddy Bear]

The Commentator makes some very valid observations about this story.

BBC needs more political, not ethnic, diversity
How marvellously illustrative that the BBC should be focusing on the politically correct non-problem of an alleged lack of ethnic diversity, while ignoring the real diversity problem of its blatant liberal-Left bias

The Commentator

Trust the BBC to launch a major new drive to solve the politically correct non-problem of an alleged lack of ethnic diversity within its ranks while continuing to ignore, and thus tacitly condoning, the shameful (and possibly unlawful) violation of its own charter in the form of the broadcaster's almost total subservience to liberal-Left ideology.

If we assume that around half of the British population (add up the percentages recorded in opinion polls for Conservative and UKIP voters for a rough and ready guide) are on the political right, the kind of diversity agenda the BBC applies to ethnic minorities would, if applied to political outlook, mean that half the presenters, producers and senior reporters came from a right-leaning political background.

If the real figure is 20 percent, we'd be astounded. And even if it's as high as that, the critical mass of ideological Leftists means that those of a right-leaning disposition are keeping very quiet about it.

As dissident insiders will tell you, to put it mildly you're not going to do your promotion prospects any good if you start privately professing admiration for, say, Margaret Thatcher or George W. Bush, or question the prevailing orthodoxies on climate change, the State of Israel, or Islamic extremism. And that's just the kind of conversation you might want to beware of having in the BBC canteen. Heaven help you if speak from a perspective that challenges liberal-Left thinking while on air.

Now that's a diversity problem. The BBC Charter (See Incorporation and Purposes, The Independence of the BBC, subsection 1) says:

"The BBC shall be independent in all matters concerning the content of its output, the times and manner in which this is supplied, and in the management of its affairs."

But it just isn't, and we believe that constitutes a misuse of public funds.

With this in mind, the latest plan for greater diversity in the BBC's ethnic make up is yet another slap in the face. The real diversity problem is being buried underneath a fake one. Because there isn't a lack of ethnic diversity at the BBC.

According to the Guardian -- a tellingly reliable source where BBC matters are concerned -- BBC Director General Tony Hall has,

"...set a number of new targets including increasing the number of senior-level BBC staff coming from BAME [Black, Asian and minority ethnic] backgrounds from 8.3% to 10% by 2017, and then 15% by 2020. The BBC wants to "see on-air BAME portrayal increase from 10.4% to 15%" over the next three years."

But if the proportion of senior staff from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds is already over 8 percent then, taking into account demographic and sociological factors associated with communities which include a greater proportion of first generation immigrants than among the wider population, the figures are not much out of sync with what one would hope for in a meritocratic environment.

According to most estimates, the proportion of people from BAME backgrounds in the population as a whole is around 14 percent. Taken at face value, that would suggest that, though hardly a desperate state of affairs, there's still some way to go.

But you need to dig into the figures. For example, within that 14 percent, a far greater proportion than in the wider population is under 18. Obviously, they're not going to be eligible for senior jobs at the BBC. Also, while it is true that the BAME community is not synonymous with the immigrant community, there will be significantly more first generation immigrants in their number than in the population as a whole.

First generation immigrants have to grapple with linguistic issues, for example, that will make a difference in an industry whose core business is communication. Nor would one expect immigrants to have the kind of social networks available to them that help people get prestigious jobs.

Matters such as these will skew the figures. Intuitively -- just switch on the BBC -- we believe there could well be a case for watching out for exclusionary practises that harm the prospects of members of the black community. But does anyone seriously believe there are significant barriers to entry at the BBC for Asians?

There was a time when major institutions such as the BBC did pose problems for people from a BAME background. But, thankfully, those days are largely gone.

How marvellously illustrative that the BBC hierarchy should now be embarking on a strategy drawn straight from the bible of liberal-Left prejudices, while conspicuously ignoring the real diversity problem that, all across the Western world, increasingly defines its character.

[Teddy Bear]

Nick Hallett at Breibart enters the fray with this indictment of the BBC proposal.

BBC PROMISE TO HAVE 1 IN 7 STAFF FROM ETHNIC MINORITIES SLAMMED AS 'COMPLETELY RACIST'

by NICK HALLETT

A new BBC policy of positive discrimination has been criticised as “completely racist” and “PC tokenism that makes people’s blood boil”.
According to the Telegraph, Conservative MP Philip Davies, who sits on the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, said that a new target to get one in seven presenters on the state-owned corporation to be from ethnic minority backgrounds was “absolutely ridiculous” after Director General Lord Hall unveiled the policy yesterday.

The BBC boss said that under the new policy, 15 percent of on-air staff at the state-owned corporation will be from ethnic minorities by 2017, along with 10 percent of behind-the-scenes managers.

Speaking at the corporation’s Elstree Studios, Lord Hall said the BBC should be “beyond reproach” on diversity. He said: “The BBC gets much right on diversity, but the simple fact is that we need to do more. I am not content for the BBC to be merely good or above average.
“I want a new talent-led approach that will help set the pace in the media industry. I believe in this and want our record to be beyond reproach.
“That won’t be achieved overnight, but the package of measures I’ve put in place, alongside the support we’ll get from leading experts, will make a tangible difference.”

He also announced the creation of a new group of “diversity” advisors, including comedian Lenny Henry, who has previously criticised the BBC for not doing enough to promote ethnic minority talent, paralympian Tanni Grey-Thompson, and broadcaster Floella Benjamin.
MP Philip Davies, however, was scathing of the policy. "I think it's absolutely ridiculous,” he said. “It think it's political correctness. This is the sort of PC tokenism that makes people's blood boil.

"Tony Hall should be colourblind when it comes to recruitment. The only people who are racist are people like Tony Hall who see other people in terms of race.

"All recruitment should be irrespective of race, religion and sexuality - none of these things are relevant. It should all be done on ability.
"If that means every single person is black, then so be it. It's the best people for the job.”

[Teddy Bear]

The bullshit continues. Now the acting head of the BBC Trust, Diane Coyle, has come out with the need for the BBC to have more ethnic parts in Eastenders. Frankly, I've never watched it, and I never will, so I don't care what they do with it, but I resent having this ceaseless PC crap, as if this is their purpose.

Coyle says
She said it would be 'daft' for the show to be a 'perfect replica' of the real world, but said it was 'important to ask whether the BBC can do more in its popular output to provide an authentic portrayal of life in modern Britain'.

Life in modern Britain? The BBC will never come close to show life in modern Britain. They don't even report the actual news that represents life in modern Britain, let alone portray it in drama.

The government needs to stop publicly funding this madness, and then the BBC can do what they like.

EastEnders is too white says BBC Trust boss as she calls for 'authentic portrayal of modern Britain'

• Diane Coyle said flagship soap is 'almost twice' as white as real East London
• BBC 'compares population of Walthamstow in East London with Walford'
• Comes after Lenny Henry and director-general Tony Hall announced a series of quotas for staff from ethnic minority backgrounds last week

By Amanda Williams

EastEnders has been branded 'too white' by the head of the BBC Trust who claims the corporation should do more to 'provide an authentic portrayal' of modern Britain.

Acting head of the BBC Trust Diane Coyle said the flagship soap is 'almost twice' as white as the real East London.

It comes after actor and comic Lenny Henry and director-general Tony Hall announced a series of quotas for staff from ethnic minority backgrounds last week.

Ms Coyle, who is in the running to replace Lord Patten as head of the trust which is the corporation’s governing body, said the BBC’s Audience Council for England 'compared the population of Walthamstow in East London with Walford - the fictional home of EastEnders'.

She said: 'The Audience Council figures suggested that there are almost twice as many white people living in fictional E20 as in real life E17, while the population of EastEnders tends to be younger than their real life counterparts and more likely to have been born in the UK.'

She said it would be 'daft' for the show to be a 'perfect replica' of the real world, but said it was 'important to ask whether the BBC can do more in its popular output to provide an authentic portrayal of life in modern Britain'.

In her speech at the London School of Economics, which will be widely seen as an application to replace Lord Patten who stepped down in May, she said the BBC’s independence was 'not as secure as it might seem' and that it had 'become more and more entangled with parts of the machinery of government, Parliament and the State in all sorts of other, more or less obvious ways'.

She said there needed to be 'clearer terms of engagement' over what parliament has scrutiny over, otherwise 'there is a real risk that the BBC could in the future end up looking over its shoulder trying to please politicians rather than focusing on licence fee payers'.

Ms Coyle, an economist by profession whose husband is a BBC journalist, said there was 'every reason' to think the licence fee was 'sustainable' and called for a 'full, open public debate' about funding.

The BBC plans to spend £2.1million of licence fee money on fast-tracking ethnic minority talent onto the screen with a new ‘diversity’ committee.

Director-general Tony Hall said the corporation had ‘to do more’ to increase ethnic minority representation both on and off camera.

He said the ‘diversity creative talent fund’ would help ‘fast-track’ certain shows onto the screen and create a series of development programmes aimed at encouraging future commissioners and executives from ethnic minority backgrounds.

The director-general said he wanted to see ethnic minorities account for 15 per cent of air talent in the next three years and said he would also set ‘local targets’ in London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leicester to reflect the population of those cities.

He also said he wanted those from ethnic minority backgrounds to account for 15 per cent of senior staff by 2020.

Actor Lenny Henry, who has criticised the TV and film industry in the past for not providing a ‘fair and honest reflection of our society’, has signed up to the committee to help advise the corporation on its representation of ethnic minorities.

The star joins other names including Paralympian Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, former footballer Jason Roberts and TV presenter and Liberal Democrat peer Floella Benjamin.

The BBC said they would ‘advise and support the BBC on diversity’.

[charmbrights]

Let's face it - the next head of the BBC Trust has to be Asian or Afro-Caribbean, female, unable to speak fluent English, a criminal, and disabled, since none of those groups has ever been represented in that post.