Cultural Diversity Advisory Group to the Media

*Proposed Agenda Thursday 30th April 2009

2009-04-29T11:19:00.000-07:00

MIKE HAPGOOD (BBC South)

IAN MURRAY (News Quest)

ROBIN BRITTON, Sangeeta Bhabra (ITV)

QUARTERLY MEETING – THE SOUTH’S MEDIA & GROUP

Thursday 30^th April 2009 -12.00 noon to 16.00 hours (approx)

Hosted by ITV Meridian, Forum One, Solent Business Park, Whiteley, PO15 7PA

Chair of the meeting: Parvaneh Farid

1. Welcome & apologies

2. Matters arising from last meeting (5^th February 2009)

3. Media Output reports: BBC, News Quest, ITV & Newspaper Editors

4. General discussion and advice provided by the group on diversity

5. Acknowlegement of the Contribution of Soldiers of the New Commonwealth

6. Coverage of stories to be proposed by the group (if any)

7. AOB & next rota meeting

Honorine Djenaba-MacDonald

Hon. Secretary

*CULTURAL DIVERSITY ADVISORY GROUP TO THE MEDIA MEETING MINUTES

2009-04-29T11:14:00.000-07:00

Date: Thursday 5^th February 2009

Location: Southern Daily Echo, Redbridge, Southampton

Host: Southern Daily Echo

Time: 1300 – 1600

Present:

Parvaneh Farid (chairperson) Sangeeta Bhabra (ITV Meridian)

Jayanti Shah Annamarie Ewing

Anna Lindsay (BBC South) Keith Redbourne (Hampshire Chronicle)

Ping Hua Andy Lai

Marie Costa Don John

Munni Lamb Mo Blake (Salisbury Journal)

Robin Britton (ITV Meridian) Anver Jeevanjee

Mike Hapgood (BBC South) Stephen Bailey (Bmth Echo)

Honorine Djenaba-MacDonald Arif Nasser

Ian Murray (Soton Echo) Palo Almond

Apologies:

Charles Curry (New Milton Advertiser/Lymington Times)

Mark Jones (Basingstoke Gazette) Soraya Hamed Nasirizadeh

Michael Beard (The Argus, Brighton) Nashreen Issa

Toby Grant (Dorset Evening Echo) Yuri Layhe

Joe Scicluna (Andover Advertiser) Kiki Maurey

Alan Marriott (Isle of Wight County Press) Mohammed Riyami

Brien Beherall (Newbury Weekly News) Khatra Roles

Mark Waldron (The News, Portsmouth) Amarjit Singh

Graeme Moir (Reading Evening Post) Veena Spratt

Wangui Wan Goro

Matters arising from Last Minutes:

Parvaneh welcomed everyone to the meeting at the Southern Daily Echo offices in Newspaper House, Test Lane, Redbridge.

Anver mentioned that the election of Barack Obama In the United States owed a debt to Martin Luther King, and whereas the report of his election had been widely covered there had been no media attention paid to the anniversary event of Martin Luther King's death held at Westminster Hall and Abbey, which Anver had attended.

Minutes of Last Meeting and Book Launch were Accepted

AGENDA

Item 1 - Media Output Reports

BBC South

Mike reported that BBC annual savings set a target of 3%, which made it difficult to recruit new staff and in fact they were losing staff through voluntary redundancies and retirement. There were further problems for the BBC in the regions where talented staff from ethnic backgrounds were snapped up and taken to London. However, locally in the south BBC has two new weather presenters and one is from Pakistan. Other staff have been recruited from ethnic backgrounds and the BBC in the South has exceeded its targets for members of staff from ethnic backgrounds

Mike mentioned BBC coverage of Black History Month, Zimbabwe and also Barack Obama's stepmother. A large screen has been created in Portsmouth which was working well, however Southampton City Council have turned down a similar offer.

The BBC decision not to broadcast the appeal for Gaza had led to demonstrations in Oxford, a small demonstration at Caversham, but nothing in Southampton.

The group raised questions on Gaza, more local appeals for foreign disasters in general, the new BBC Persian TV Service, more representation of ethnic minorities at higher levels in BBC, the Obama election and its local impact, Carol Thatcher, coverage of human rights abuse in Iran, and the internal structure of culture of the BBC.

Southern Daily Echo – Notes taken by Honorine

Ian reiterated that he does not give a list of what Southern Daily Echo has done in terms of diversity. He acknowledged that they do make errors. He asked that people should raise issues as we go along, including ideas and suggestions, rather than storing them up to bring to such meetings – it is a learning process.

He mentioned that the challenges papers face are the serious credit crunch, a reduction in papers sold, lack of recruitment. His paper faces a similar situation to the BBC in terms of BME staff that are trained but subsequently ‘poached’. He is very conscious that the newsroom and the whole of the Echo do not fully represent the community they serve but have an open-door policy not a quota system. For example, the echo is involved with other media in recruitment, placement programmes for 15 year olds and above to get experience, going to schools to open youngsters’ eyes to the world of journalism, etc.

The other challenge is how to continue to provide coverage to the whole community in “shrinking” paper internally and externally. However, he is not giving up. The group asked questions on who to contact in papers, not enough take-up of local issues, questioned why newspapers were not up-front about the chances of getting items used, concerns over letters to newspapers appearing too right wing.

ITV Meridian

Robin explained changes to presenting at Meridian. Sangeeta will co-host Meridian with Fred Dinenage. Sangeeta explained how ITV are working to ensure coverage of diversity in the region by focusing on the drawing up of Diversity Contracts. Sangeeta explained how diversity is ingrained in the company including the appointment of a Diversity Manager. Meridian ITV are drawing up a strategy that all newsrooms will adhere to and there will be ITV fixers - campaign to show how people from communities are working to improve their communities. Meridian have introduced monitoring on ITV of diversity and diversity training is on-going as well as addressing ageism and disability (visit Diversity Forum at ITV.com). The group asked that ITV present more positive images of cultures and not just controversial issues.

Around the Table

The following issues were raised as possible stories or items for considerations by the CDAGM:

v Munni: The anniversary of the Iranian revolution and its history, and how we came to the present day situation. Coverage of the Iranian New Year.

v Munni: Focus on Crime Stoppers as a group - non-police

v Palo: Focus on the United Nations Association - she is giving a talk on global health issues affecting women at 12 noon on 21st February, Baptist Church, Bedford Place, Southampton.

v Palo: Health and inequalities of post-natal depression - difficulties in getting access to services for minority groups.

v Anver: Derogatory language (Paki/Golliwog) is an imprisonable offence - careful it does not creep into newspapers.

v Keith: Called on members to contact him for Hampshire Chronicle with good news as well as the negative.

v Annamarie: In September the school curriculum for secondary schools will widen to look more at diversity issues.

v Steven: Found the meeting very interesting. Agreed to talk to his editor about topics raised.

v Barbara: List of ideas for the communities she works with:

(1) Cross-cultural love stories - five years of young people in relationships, and how love overcame barriers. Club and baby club now formed.

(2) Polish returning home, turbulent relationship with Polish Government - Prime Minister calling them home - not many going. Polish Consul to visit Southampton.

(3) Exploitation of Polish women - light at the end of the tunnel.

v Don: Headlines on stories can cause inflammation - care needed.

v Ian: Voiced concerns over xenophobia as recession bites. Agreed to supply name of Communities Reporter to group contacts.

v Maria: African Women's Forum, Portsmouth - looking to stage a series of African films made in Africa. Coverage needed to provide support.

v Africapella singing - includes people from all backgrounds singing in the community - all are volunteers.

v Call on schools to give more coverage to United Nations and how it was founded.

v Andy: Chinese Association happy to liaise with other groups. China earthquake 12th May anniversary - he may visit to donate money raised.

v Don: One in every ten families is of mixed race - Southampton has a higher number compared to other cities.

v BBC: Now using their production shows - Big Question - showing other ways of becoming involved with the BBC.

v Jayanti: Must take a lesson from the election of Obama in America - everyone considers themselves American. In Britain the media decides that people are minorities when we are all British.

v Parvanah: Although we live here and are local, we are affected by what has happened at home. Issued open letter from Iranian academics and journalists.

*Agenda 2nd February 2009

2009-02-02T12:48:00.005-08:00

MIKE HAPGOOD (BBC South)

IAN MURRAY (News Quest)

ROBIN BRITTON & SANGEETA BHABRA (ITV)

QUARTERLY MEETING – THE SOUTH’S MEDIA & GROUP

Thursday 5^th February 2009 -12.00 noon to 16.00 hours (approx)

Hosted by Southern Daily Echo, Newspaper House, Test Lane, Redbridge, SOUTHAMPTON SO16 9JH - Tel: 023 8042 4536

Chair of the meeting: Parvaneh Farid

Matters arising from minutes of the last meeting (10^th April 2008) hosted by BBC South and the Southampton launch of ‘Diversity in the Media’ by the Group (3^rd July 2008 - photos & video by Parvaneh)

Proposed Agenda

1. Media Output reports: BBC, News Quest & ITV

2. General discussion and advice provided by the group on diversity

3. Newspaper Editors (13) of the region introduced by Ian Murray as our new partners

4. Coverage of stories to be proposed by the group (if any)

5. AOB & next rota meeting

Honorine Djenaba-MacDonald

Hon. Secretary

*Notes of CDAGM Book Launch

2009-02-02T12:44:00.002-08:00

Notes of the ‘Diversity in the Media’ Book Launch

3^rd July 2008 at the Southampton Solent University Conference Centre

Sir James Matthew Building, 157-187 Above Bar Street, Southampton

Welcome & Opening Remarks

The launch was attended by CDAGM members, local media and invited guests and was opened with welcome remarks by Parvaneh Farid, CDAGM Chair.

Anver Jeevanjee, President of CDAGM, also welcomed everyone present and thanked the committee. He mentioned that the CDAGM was a unique, diverse and wholly independent, voluntary, self help group that has ‘shunned’ public funding in order to maintain its autonomy. He explained that the book was in line with what a variety of well-established visible minority role models in the British media are saying about the shortcomings in the output and portrayal on the screen, print media and radio.

Speakers

This was followed by speeches and presentations by the main speakers, Pauline Brandt, former BBC South newsreader, Sangeeta Bhabra, ITV Meridian, Mike Hapgood, Head of BBC South and Ian Murray, Editor, Southern Daily Echo.

These are summarised in these notes. However, you can listen to and read the speeches on our blogspot at http://cdagm.blogspot.com/

In her speech, Pauline Brandt emphasised two-way communication in engaging with diverse audience. She clarified that the gains for the Media to ‘mirror the community’ has been hard won in America but the task is far from completed and must not be taken for granted. She thanked Anver for documenting the history of the Cultural Diversity Advisory Group to the Media so that its history does not become hearsay.

Mike Hapgood gave some of his thoughts on the media’s portrayal of the diverse community we live in, and why solving some of our problems has proved so difficult. He mentioned that he was heartened to report on increased numbers of women journalists and correspondents (e.g. Anna Lindsay, Senior Correspondent at BBC South). He believes that the difference between what the ‘power-brokering elite’ think and what audiences think is important. He finds it extremely difficult to change the fact that there has not been much change behind the camera despite diverse portrayal on screen. Equal opportunity policies to deal with this are not always effective mainly because of the ‘recognise yourself’ and ‘replicate’ factor. Issues of equality and access are more far-reaching and complex.

Ian Murray gave the background to his relationship with the CDAGM and mentioned that he was happy to support this event. He admitted that while it has been difficult to represent correctly and properly ethnic minorities, newspapers pander to the majority in order to sell papers. Although the initiatives have not worked, there is a need to look into best practice in order to move forward. He will not be giving up and his ambition is to bring more colleagues from the print media to attend CDAGM. He agrees that the CDAGM is unique and is privileged to be part of it.

Bryan Gibson, Waterside Press, spoke briefly to give his best wishes on the launch and book sales. He mentioned that it was unusual for his company to publish this book as they normally publish books on the criminal justice field. Publishing the book was a lesson in persistence in order to make headway. There is a flow in the book that illustrates the gains Anver made despite periods when he was deflected.

Sangeeta Bhabra, spoke about her involvement with CDAGM and what it has meant to her as a journalist. She has found the group an invaluable tool which has helped her be more valuable to her work organisation. Through the group she has set up contacts within communities; diverse people from different backgrounds, walks of life and interests. She has met people in the safe and informal environment at CDAGM meetings who are passionate about diversity and been able especially to have debate about subjects such as race.

This has opened up stories in communities, unrelated to ethnicity and educated her organisation on what is happening in the world and the relevance to their viewers. It has given them a fresh look and different ways of looking at subject matter.

ITV publish a policy document that examines how to make programmes better (as well as how to raise revenue for the organisation) ITV regional news now has a formal structure to make sure that diversity is part of what they do on a daily basis. Sangeeta recognises that there is still a lot of work to be done although the South is slightly ahead. She hopes that through the relationship with CDAGM and the group continuing to challenge what ITV put on screen they will continue to improve.

There then followed a showing of extracts of the book launch in London.

Question and Answers

A coffee break was followed by questions and answers to a panel of CDAGM members and the local media. The questions and discussions focussed on the portrayal of BMEs in the media and the need for fair and positive stories as well as representation of culturally diverse audiences.

‘What The Future Holds For Us’

Don John, CDAGM member, mentioned that the quality of the work in which we have been involved is measured by progress. The Media has come to diversity by commercial imperative. We have made progress as some people in the media are working to make a change. The record in the South is better. He suggested Black and Minority Ethnic people need to organise ourselves in such a way as not to be ignored. They should use opportunities, contacts and the ‘bother factor’ to get their voices heard. They need to invest in young people too and recruit them to work on the bother factor.

Closing Remarks & Book Signing

Parvaneh closed the event thanking the audience, active CDAGM members as well as Adam Jeevanjee, photo editor for the book.

Those present continued to mingle while some had their books signed.

Anver proposed a vote of thanks to Parvaneh and Dennis proposed a vote of thanks to Anver.

*Meeting Minutes Thursday 10 April 2008

2009-02-02T11:59:00.000-08:00

Notes of the ‘Diversity in the Media’ Book Launch

3^rd July 2008 at the Southampton Solent University Conference Centre

Sir James Matthew Building, 157-187 Above Bar Street, Southampton

Welcome & Opening Remarks

The launch was attended by CDAGM members, local media and invited guests and was opened with welcome remarks by Parvaneh Farid, CDAGM Chair.

Speakers

These are summarised in these notes. However, you can listen to and read the speeches on our blogspot at http://cdagm.blogspot.com/

There then followed a showing of extracts of the book launch in London.

Question and Answers

‘What The Future Holds For Us’

Closing Remarks & Book Signing

Parvaneh closed the event thanking the audience, active CDAGM members as well as Adam Jeevanjee, photo editor for the book.

Those present continued to mingle while some had their books signed.

Anver proposed a vote of thanks to Parvaneh and Dennis proposed a vote of thanks to Anver.

Black History Month 2008

2008-10-04T01:29:00.000-07:00

Say it loud ..........
BLACK HISTORY
MONTH
Southampton
Guide 2008

60th Anniversary of the Docking
of The Empire Windrush

Black History Month 2008

Southampton is a "City of Diversity" and becoming increasingly more diverse as the years go by. It is self evident that the city is richer because of the varied cultures and backgrounds of the different peoples who contribute to the culture and life-style of the city. The black communities are part of that culture and Black History Month again provides the opportunity for the city
to celebrate this.
This year, the 60th Anniversary of the arrival of the "Empire Windrush” is a special time for Southampton, and even though the "Windrush" itself did not bring many Caribbean people to this city , it has become an international symbol of post-war immigration from the Caribbean and was the vanguard for many other ships that came to Southampton from the many islands of
the Caribbean. History tell us that a substantial number of people who settled in the UK from the Caribbean; came through Southampton.
Black History Month 2008 offers a wide range of events and activities from Theatre to Fashion Shows to Football Matches and also a number of ways to further examine the historical and social impact of black people in Southampton past and present and their contributions to the history of the city.
Black History Month also presents opportunities for a further appreciation of African/Caribbean people that goes beyond what is generally known and also helps to counteract unhelpful myths and stereotypes that contribute to misunderstandings, at best and racism, at worst. It is my hope that Black History Month 2008 in Southampton will play its part in this national and International acknowledgement and celebration of Black Culture
When the story of Mary Seacole is as well known as that of Florence Nightingale in the history of the Crimean War and the development of nursing we will have achieved the aim of Black History Month.
Dr John Beer
Executive Director of Communities and Regeneration Southampton City Council
The objectives of Black History Month are to:
Promote knowledge of black history and experience.
Disseminate information on positive black contributions.
Heighten confidence and awareness of black people in their cultural heritage.

Don John

Black History Month Launch
Wednesday October 1st
By the Right Worshipful Mayor of Southampton Councillor Brian Parnell Black History Month will, for the first time, be launched at Southampton City Art Gallery to herald a month of activities over October. These will include exhibitions about the presence of black people in Southampton over the last 500 years, the "Back to Black fashion Show", looking at black women's fashions from the 1940s to now, A special football match between Southampton v Watford alongside the Southampton black footballers exhibition ,variety of presentations and contributions from schools and young people from the city and music concerts
and plays.
.
For further details please contact Black History Month Co-ordinators:

Don John

02380 832274 or
don.john@southampton.gov.uk

Jayanti Shah

02380 235280
jayanti@positivemessage.co.uk

*changing the date of our next meeting

2008-09-26T11:44:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

I am afraid, we have to re-schedule the meeting of 2^nd October to another date in October as the Daily Echo’s rooms will no longer be available for that day. I will let you know the new date once I’ve received confirmation about when the venue will be available.

I apologise for the inconvenience.

Many thanks,

Honorine Djenaba-MacDonald

Hon. Secretary

Cultural Diversity Advisory Group to the Media

*Sangeeta Bhabra at CDAG book launch

2008-08-16T02:08:00.000-07:00

Sangeeta Bhabra

Speaks at Diversity in the Media, book launch,
Southampton 3rd July 2008

* OFCOM FINE

2008-08-12T04:07:00.000-07:00

Cultural Diversity Advisory Group to the Media (est. 1992)
President & National Coordinator: Anver Jeevanjee.
Regional Vice President: Parvaneh Farid.
Hon. Secretary: Honorine Macdonald.
7^th August 2008

We have been consistently opposed to the BBC being funded out of licence fees and being wholly regulated by OfCOM over its lack of diversity within its top management. See ‘Diversity in the Media’ (ISBN 978-1-904380-42-9) Hence, we welcome this salutary punishment imposed on it by OFCOM.

We agree with the National Voice of Listener and Viewer that the fine ought not to be at the licence fee payer’s expense. The ‘old boy network’ which caused this mess ought to get together and chip in to pay this small sum of £400,000 out of their fat pay packets and bonuses’s or resign to make way for some new blood. Paying this out of the public purse would provide no incentive to put the house in order for the future. The BBC trust if it is worth its salt ought to ensure that happens.

Yours etc.
Anver Jeevanjee
President,
Cultural Diversity Advisory Group to the Media

* Pauline Brandt at CDAG book launch

2008-08-06T10:50:00.000-07:00

Pauline Brandt

Speaks at Diversity in the Media, book launch,
Southampton 3rd July 2008

Coming to Southampton all those years ago to work at BBC South was a big step for me. Over the years I learnt a lot and developed some firm friendships. It was not always easy. There were times when I wondered what on earth I was doing here, like the day a received a letter from someone who suggested that our southern screens should be vacated by the likes of me – and this is the polite précis – that I head back to London or the jungle and take with me another black journalist working at BBC South. A close friend put a comic spin on this and asked if my husband had been informed! Of course, they were my southern screens too and thankfully, there were many more people who did not hold such views. I always had a vision that I was probably the only black friend to the little old lady who lived on her own in a remote part of Dorset. I was also thankful for the support of the Cultural Diversity Advisor Group to the Media.
In the 1970’s the businessman Milton Friedman said: “The business of business…is business.” Well, I would say that the business of media is…much more than just media. It’s about forming relationships and creating dialogue with key stakeholders. It is widely being recognised that an excellent model of communication involves a two way flow of information. In addition, crucial factors such as accountability, responsibility and reputation come to the fore.
The media needs to fully engage with a range of audiences on a myriad of platforms. Engagement needs to be more than a mere box-ticking exercise. I once heard an analogy that our media organisations need to act like a mirror, reflecting the community that they serve. I have visited America several times and I am fascinated by their TV output – if only for the fact that there are many more people on screen that look like me. I recently saw such a mirror in operation, during the recording of the breakfast show at NBC TV studios in New York. The programme was presented by the distinguished and broadcaster Bryan Gumble, who is black and his co-host was the razor sharp journalist Katie Kouric who is white. (Echoes of News at Ten). I also noticed that behind the camera, there were a range of professionals representing a diverse range of communities, representing the City of New York. I could not help but think why the same does not operate here. If people from global majority communities are not represented in the mainstream media, there is no reason for them to watch, listen or read. However, it must be said that what I witnessed in America is the result of much struggle. The gains have been hard won and the task is far from completed.
An American journalist called Soledad O’Brien recently conducted a series on CNN titled: “Black in America”. She concluded that:
“Most African-Americans aren’t out there selling crack on the street corner. They get up, they go to work, come home and go to bed. Those people are invisible in the media.”
I would add that those from black and minority ethnic communities doing extraordinary things are also often overlooked. What happens over the pond and elsewhere in the world can often be applied here too.
Sociologists have recently created a new discourse by the name of Glocalisation. The local is the global – especially in the age of the internet and 24 hour news. Media relationships with communities locally can have an impact around the world – (The Shilpa Shetty Big Brother racist incident on channel 4 is but one example).
On a local level, I would like to thank Anver for having the vision and tenacity to create and publish this book, documenting the history of the Cultural Diversity Advisory Group to the Media. If this does not get done, then history becomes hearsay.
Great strides have been made, but I think there is still much left to do in terms of recruitment, progression and retention. I think the key lies in meaningful conversations between committed individuals like you in the media and in the community, who want to see and implement change. We need to make it our business to work for equality to ensure a more just future.

* Ian Murray at CDAG book launch

2008-08-05T12:02:00.000-07:00

Ian Murray

Daily Echo
Speaks at Diversity in the Media, book launch,
Southampton 3rd July 2008

* Mike Hapgood at CDAG book launch

2008-08-05T04:14:00.000-07:00

Mike Hapgood
Head of the BBC's South region
Speaks at Diversity in the Media, book launch,
Southampton 3rd July 2008

When I spoke at the launch of Anver Jeevanjee’s book, Diversity in the Media, in July, I was simply speaking extemporarily. So what follows isn’t the text of what I said then, but some thoughts on the media’s portrayal of the diverse community we live in, and why solving some of our problems has proved so difficult.
I sat down the other day in the sunshine on the South Bank outside the The National Theatre. The flagged forecourt has been covered with artificial turf, There’s a variety of garden furniture – deckchairs and the like – some giant hedges you can climb on and a background of eclectic music. There were a few lovers laying on the grass, some older couples, and individuals, who like me, nursed a cup of tea and blinked happily at the prospect of not having much to do for the next 20 minutes or so. A small girl of maybe 8 was doing cartwheels and backflips in front of her family. A few kids with ice creams. One or two people buried in books. An elderly couple, Indian I think, taking the weight off their feet. A young black guy, who’d emerged triumphant from the box office to his girlfriend. £1.50 it cost me to be part of a very pleasant, utterly modern English occasion. We don’t always seem to do inclusion so well.
On the other hand, I wonder if you looked hard, would you discover that this too was a segregated occasion. After all, who gets a cup of tea at the National Theatre? Who feels at ease plonking themselves down in that sort of artistically contrived space? Who buys NT tickets and waves them at his girlfriend?
This thought was in my head probably as a result of Samir Shah’s lecture to the Royal Television Society earlier this year, but a lot of other people have been thinking it too. For some years the talk in political circles and in universities seems to have been dominated by gender or race; there doesn’t seem to have been much room for thinking about class in our new meritocratic Britain. As a consequence, it has become quite hard until recently to suggest that the fortunes of most people could be limited by their origins. But there’s growing evidence to suggest, for instance, that the most excluded group in Britain are low income, white men, so it’s worth asking the question, as Shah did, If most Afro-Caribbeans arriving in the UK in the fifties did so as members of the working class, was their route to prosperity and equal rights any different from other members of the working class at the time? Of course, they faced nasty, crude racism, too, and because that was so obvious and urgent, we may well not have realised they faced another prejudice as well, one they shared with a large number of indigenous British people, and one that was all the more damaging and hard to fight because it was and is unseen.
Samir Shah makes this point, while arguing that 30 years of equal opportunities, tick-boxing, diversity initiatives and so on have had no effect at all in the Media. Well, up to a point. Portrayal – the sound of diverse voices on the radio, and the sight of black and brown faces on screen – has changed. Shah thinks it’s been overdone. He thinks black and brown people being introduced into TV drama with artificial scripts and plotlines is damaging; it looks like propaganda. I’m not qualified to have a view on that, but I don’t agree with him as far as news is concerned, which is the bit of the media where I work. In news it could well be true that a bright, attractive person from a diverse background will have the edge over someone from a white one. here’s a statistic that doesn’t prove it conclusively, but is suggestive: in English Regions – the quite big bit of the BBC that runs regional TV, radio and online up and down the country – the rate of turnover of staff is 10%. But if you look at just BME staff, it’s 20%, and they aren’t leaving the industry; they’re moving on up.
If that’s a sign of a kind of positive discrimination at work, you might ask if it’s a bad thing. I can remember, for instance, when it was all but unthinkable to have women in a newsroom, and the few that did make it, were treated as honorary men. There was one in the first newsroom I worked in – she was nicknamed Vic, because you had to be a bloke to be a journo. All in fun, of course. Now no one bats an eyelid at women reporting from all over the world, from war zones, as specialist correspondents; the Head of all BBC TV is a woman, so is the Controller of BBC1, and of the BBC’s most popular radio station, Radio 2. More than half of the BBC’s journalists are women. Equally, I think it’s great that someone like George Alegiah or Trevor MacDonald can emerge as trusted people, trusted for their integrity and journalism. Their colour is unremarkable because, in a world where there are a lot of black and Asian reporters and presenters, there’s nothing particularly special about it. What matters is the story, and how well and professionally it’s handled.
Where Shah is right is that the boards of the big media companies, and the BBC is one of them, have remained completely white. But suppose this isn’t because of racism, but about how class still works in a supposed meritocracy. Actually, I don’t think there’s the slightest hint, not a breath, of racism amongst the BBC’s top management. Quite the reverse. They are, as Shah says, a liberal elite – fundamentally liberal to the core like the letters in seaside rock – a group of people who would be horrified to think anyone might think for a second that they were racist. The problem may lie elsewhere; it may be that the mechanism is something to do with the chattering classes being really quite small - they went to the same universities, sometimes to the same schools. Their careers paralleled one another, they learned to trust one another and to do business together because they share all kinds of minute social similarities, as well as ideas and values. It can often seem that breaking into this charmed circle is tougher than getting into the Chinawhite’s marquee at that polo match if you’re Jordan.
I think, too, we have to look at complexity in prejudice. I read Anver’s book with interest, and was struck by his references to the so-called Mau-Mau emergency in Kenya over half a century ago, when he was a young government official in that country. I read up about it and learned with a sinking heart what a horrible episode this had been in our national history; that despite the British Government being aware of the excesses and criminal violence of its colonial agents, it did nothing – at least, nothing publicly, and nothing useful. But there was opposition at the time to what was going on, some of it loud parliamentary opposition that historians believe made the government of the day determined to get out of its remaining colonies as quickly as possible. The opposition was led in the Commons by two backbench MPs, both of whom were one day going to become famous. One was Barbara Castle, later to be a government minister. If you know about her you won’t be surprised that she would be in the vanguard of anti-colonialism – a young, left-wing MP, committed to social justice, social equality, and what I would guess we’d call now Old Labour. Her colleague in planning the fight is a bit more surprising. It was Enoch Powell. This is the man who became famous some 20 years later for his Rivers of Blood speech about immigration. It made his name synonymous with racism and got him expelled from the Conservative Party. So I read it for the first time. Anver’s book had propelled me on a journey I hadn’t expected to take.
The quotation, rivers of blood, which Powell used in the speech is taken from a poem written over 2000 years ago. It’s The Aeneid, written by the Roman poet, Virgil, around 20BC. Powell had been a professor of Latin and Greek, so he’d have known The Aeneid well, and he’d have known that one of the poem’s themes is about the responsibility of governments to ensure justice and order. The tragic end of the poem is that its hero Aeneas, a warrior marked by piety, courage, wisdom, selflessness and justice, gives in to a moment of blind rage and enmity in killing an enemy, and thus ensures continuing strife between the tribes of Italy, when mercy and forgiveness had been in his power. Powell’s speech is worth returning to. You may well disagree violently with what he says, but I don’t think it’ll be what you expect either. And whatever you make of Enoch Powell or Barbara Castle, you can’t fail to be struck by an alliance of the far left and far right in support of a shared view of right and wrong.
I’ve not come to any conclusion about all this. Nor have I got a prescription for how we make the ownership and control of media and other companies more inclusive, or how we’re to make everyone feel that their voice is welcome on the airwaves and what they have to say is important. But I do think, with Samir Shah, that the past decades of Equal Opportunities policies haven’t delivered, not because they weren’t well intentioned, but because their authors didn’t understand the complexity of what they were dealing with. There are real issues of power in the media, and you’ll be aware if you’ve stuck with me this far, that seeing them only in terms of racial division isn’t enough. Shouldn’t we also be questioning Rupert Murdoch, for instance, not about why he’s white, but what the effect is of his control of an enormous slice of the printed, electronic and film media? Isn’t the presence of a government department apparently attempting to edge into regulation of news and current affairs something we ought to be thinking about? Shouldn’t successive governments’ determination to weight the market away from public service to commercial broadcasting be occupying our minds? And what about that liberal elite of Shah’s? Is that as impenetrable a fortress, even if driven by a value system rather than money, as major media owners? How is an individual, white or black, to get his or her voice heard when such enormous forces are at play? These, I suggest, are some of the questions we ought to address, rather allowing ourselves the luxury of oppositional debate amongst ourselves.

Diversity in the Media at SOAS

2008-07-24T01:20:00.001-07:00

Launch of the book; "Diversity in the Media"
at SOAS in February 2008
Courtesy of Meridian ITV

* CDAGM 2007

2008-07-22T02:35:00.000-07:00

ITV Meridian interviews members of Cultural Diversity Advisory Group to the Media and the representatives of the media in Hampshire, March 2007
Courtesy of Meridian

Diversity in the Media by Anver Jeevanjee

2008-07-15T16:08:00.000-07:00

Anver Jeevanjee

Diversity in the Media, book launch, Southampton 3rd July 2008

Madam Chair, Colleagues and friends - Good afternoon.
I welcome you on behalf of CDAGM to the launch of our ‘Diversity in the Media’. Thank you all for attending.
My very special thanks go to our great regional team, Honorine, Parvaneh and Don for hosting it through the good offices of Southampton Solent University.
You will read more about us in the book, outlining our historical struggle in an attempt to make our media diverse within the mainstream. I believe with a greater sense of pride that we are a unique, diverse, wholly independent, voluntary, self help group who have shunned any public funding - a bit old fashioned in today’s climate and culture yet we are still here after 16 years and enjoy a lot of support from individuals within the media both regionally and nationally. We are still talking with them regularly behind the scenes as we believe in “jaw jaw “rather than “war war”.
The book took a long time to write and collate together. Hence I have almost forgotten what is in it. It was originally over 400 pages but my editor and publisher trimmed it down to less than half its size. I am not sure which half was excised. I must read it sometime.
However, all I need to say about the book is simply this: that it is in line with what Lenny Henry, Samir Shah, Trevor Macdonald, Riz Khan, Henry Bonsu, Shiroma Silva, Moira Stewart, Meera Sayal, Barney Chaudry, Navdip Dhariwal and a very many other well established visible minority role models either working within the British media or externally are saying both privately and publicly. We shall soon hear from Pauline Brandt perhaps of her experiences at BBC South. She has been kind enough to write a foreward to the book and has been wholly supportive, thank you Pauline.
Our institutions of the media in 2008 still continue to remain in-bred by cultural cloning of the existing old boy network.
Not only is there no relative change in past 16 years of our existence but according to those who work within the system, like Lenny, Samir etc., tell us 32 years have gone by without them noticing much.
Andy Burnham, Minister at DCMS told me last week that he is absolutely appalled at the output and portrayal of our regional media and he is determined to change this. But than we have heard this rhetoric before from various former ministers including Chris Smith under whom Andy worked. I reminded him of what Chris Smith the former Minister of DCMS said to us: that he wanted fair portrayal in the front, back and side of the cameras. That still remains a far cry.
In order to address this Andy has now offered to meet my London group every 4 months to assess progress rather than the usual lip service we have endured so far, particularly from the public service media.
I am sorry to be so cynical but I see this as yet another effort at political expediency as I do Harriett Harmon’s proposed bill on equality for women and minorities, as tokenistic and lacking any teeth to enforce it.
As our role models say we are not talking about cleaners, security guys, scene shifters, or anyone wearing a uniform – we are talking about decision makers, producers, directors, and commissioners in the current global context whereby, a black man of Kenyan origin might become the leader of the free world. – therefore, why not a Director General of the BBC. This region in the words of Greg Dyke still remains “hideously white” even for low profile jobs, not to mention portrayal in the mainstream. They have not even bothered to review or acknowledge our book, born out of our local initiative, yet each week we hear white authors receive positive treatment on our public service radio, print or TV.
Despite 30 years of trying, the upper reaches of the media industry, the positions of real creative power, are still controlled by a metropolitan, largely liberal, white, middle class, cultural elite – and, until recently, largely male and of the Oxbridge clan.
I’m also focussing my attention on a specific power-elite or profit orientated individuals who determine what we see and hear on our screens, the print media and our radios.
The so called equal opportunity policies we have followed so assiduously over the last 3 decades simply have not worked. They have produced a forest of initiatives, away days, schemes and action plans and have not resulted in real change.
Our race awareness and now diversity policies carry the excessive baggage of our brutal colonial apartheid heritage. This should have changed now but it has not, except for tick boxing.
It’s not just the visible minorities we should be concerned about. The power-elite in broadcasting excludes not just them but, Irish, Northerners from working class backgrounds, middle England conservatives, people of later years like me, the disabled and many “invisible” minorities like the Europeans seem equally disqualified.
Talented people from here are moving to join the world’s large film and media industries of middle-east, India, China, Africa, USA etc. The European heads of Pepsi and Cocacola are from visible minorities. The financial controller of the BBC is a lady, from my hometown in Kenya, Ms. Zarina Patel and so is the head of IT, but that is where it ends. The vast majority of minorities are in lowly paid menial jobs. The world’s largest steel producer Mital is an Indian and one can go on. Suffice it to say that there is ample talent as regularly demonstrated at the EMMA awards ceremonies, if only media bosses have the foresight to attract them genuinely.
Nevertheless, the tables are fast turning and it may not be long before Beijing and Mumbai bid for our broadcasting / media networks and control them as has happened in many other industries.
Portrayal on our terrestrial channels for which we pay our licence fees will soon become insignificant as most people, particularly our younger generation can already access what they require online or digitally.
I am also rather sceptical of Mark Thompson’s recent offer of technical help to rebroadcast some BBC programmes to its commercial rivals, purely in his quest for avoiding top slicing licence fee income in their favour.
In desperation some sections of the media are suggesting, as I understand it, impose ethnic quotas for the intake of each minority group. This has been tried elsewhere and can only have a negative effect and a back lash just as the government’s current political correctness has – it will not work – it is highly patronising if not illegal. As a group we are not in favour of divisive targeting of programs or recruitment for each of our separate communities. We seek full participation in the mainstream.
Finally, I have some reservations over Lenny’s comical title, “Road to Diversity is closed – seek alternative route”.
I say that we have absolutely no alternative but to strive to make diversity a priority. We have the potential of an existing fine broadcasting service both in the public and private sector that requires a will to go forward, whether that is forced upon us by our own government or external economic power blocks.
Let’s do it now as we have said for many years.
Revitalise or rejuvenate our media leadership and move forward.
Thank you all for listening.

* Diversity in the Media by Barnie Chaudry

2008-07-15T15:31:00.000-07:00

Barnie Chaudry
Diversity in the Media, book launch, SOAS, 25th February 2008

Ladies, gentlemen, academics, guests. Thank you so much for coming to the launch of Anver Jeevanji’s book: Diversity in the Media. When Professor Werner Menski asked me to say a few words I was flattered and my ego immensely satisfied. I’ve known Werner for more than a decade. He’s done so many helpful things for me in the past, that it would’ve been awfully bad form to turn him down.

But as you know, I work for the BBC. And sometimes, like people who write about their underpants, what you say can come back to haunt you. So let me make my position clear: I speak purely as an individual today and my words are my own and these are simply my opinions and observations.
Also it’d be hypocritical of me not to praise my company. After all, I’ve been in the BBC for almost twenty-two years. And you don’t stay in an organisation that long if it’s not good to you.
I’ve read Anver’s book. I agree with some bits and disagree with some bits. But the main thing: thank you for writing it. It is: honest, frank, insightful, incisive, uncomfortable.
Anver writes from a position of frustration born of years of waiting, reflecting the views of many of my colleagues. These are his perceptions and his perceptions to him are a reality. At times, reading this book, I felt as if I were intruding on private grief – two parents about to get divorced. They want to achieve the same thing but are poles apart in the way it should be done. But I need to let Anver know how he and his Cultural Diversity Advisory Group have made a real difference. His group took the industry to task. And one of his main supporters was Andy Griffee. Andy, for those who don’t know, is the man who runs the BBC’s English regions – that’s all local radio stations and regional television stations in the whole of England.
The good news is that – thanks to your persistence, Andy and his team have met their diversity targets. His senior management team has TEN percent ethnic minorities – picked on merit. In the entire English regions diversity is at NINE percent. Two years ago this stood at SIX percent. At BBC London the figure is now a creditable TWENTY-SEVEN percent. But he knows this is only part of the journey – and Anver will know that from past conversations with Andy – that he regards diversity not as a set of targets but something that makes real sense. So when Don John asks in Anver’s book: “What have we achieved?” I can in all honesty say, quite a lot compared to when I first started – but we still have a long way to go before we cross the finishing line.
So what’s been my journey? Well, I’m a working class, immigrant, from West Bengal in

India

, whose father brought him to Coventry. Being sent to Coventry was wonderful because I grew up in a multi-racial city.
I always knew I wanted to join the BBC. And I got in on the first time of asking, as a prestigious trainee. I wondered what the big problem was – until I heard stories of how some black and Asians applied six times before being accepted. Six times. How many other groups would knock on the door and never give up?
But I’ve been very lucky. I have, on the whole, been shown nothing but respect from my white colleagues. Sure I’ve felt frustrated at times. Sure I wondered why I didn’t get a job. I could so easily have blamed it on racist managers who didn’t give me a chance. But there are few slight problems. A couple of times other Asian reporters got the job and on the last but one occasion I really was beaten by someone who’d done it, been there and bought the tee-shirt. And here, I have to make a confession. Since 1998 I haven’t got a BBC job as a result of an interview. I’ve been asked by white managers to do it. My current job is weekend business correspondent. I didn’t apply, I was asked. And boy, has it been a learning curve. I assure you that it’s only a coincidence that there’s been an economic slow down since I took over the brief. And you’ll be relieved to know I give up the brief at the end of March.
So what advice would I give to those who feel they’ve been blocked or snubbed? Well a white mentor told me early on about a saying Confucius said: “When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don't adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.” In other words – there are many ways to skin a cat.
Now, twenty-two years on, I feel I’ve achieved everything I want to, within an organisation which has done pretty well by me. I have a fantastically high national profile. I appear on your television screens most weekends. I get to rub shoulders with top leaders. I’m made to feel important. But that’s nothing to now. I get to meet the people who really pay my wages – YOU. And that is why people like Anver, and his group, are so important. They keep me on the straight and narrow. They are my honesty anchor and integrity compass. If I fail to do my best, be my best, show of my best, then I have let down, not only Anver and his group, but the thirty million licence fee payers. Lest we forget whom we really serve.
So I may have nothing left to prove to anyone – except me. Yet our industry still has a long way to go. Better minds than mine have commented on this recently. Lenny Henry, that Don of Comedians, gave a Royal Television Society speech recently. If you haven’t read it – go to the RTS website and read it. It’s simply brilliant. Humour helps the medicine go down, medicine go done, medicine go down.
He explained his main regret over not insisting on having black or Asian script writers on the hit show “Three of a kind”. He told his audience: “I met some fantastic writers. Even though there were over 200 writers in the room, not one of them was from an ethnic minority. All of those guys were on the starting blocks of their careers, and quite a few of them have ended up working on some of the top shows in TV. Perhaps if we’d been bolder, and included some black and brown faces in that room, they too could have had a career in this business - but they weren’t given a chance. I’m saying – that when I started, I was surrounded by a predominantly white work force. 32 years later… not a lot has changed. I think that’s a great shame.”
Well, here’s the thing Lenny. I talk to a lot of black, Asian and white workers in and out of the BBC. The one thing I’ve found is how united the white folk are. They don’t slag off the competition. They stick together. But black and Asian folk – well, they’re in a class of their own when it comes to dissing their brothers and sisters. I just wish some of us could learn the thing white folk have known for years – strength in unity. If only ethnic minorities would form their own club – and be united in their message – they’d learn how to progress. It’s about networking. We recruit in our own image.
Now a couple of weeks ago Samir Shah, a non-executive BBC director, picked up on Lenny’s theme. Only 4.38% of senior managers are ethnic minority. He told our in-house magazine: “Some years ago the BBC had three hundred diversity schemes, but it’s the outcome that matters.” So I need to ask: what are our diversity units and so called diversity champions doing? Why do they become so defensive, defending an indefensible position?
Now some white colleagues tell me about the unfairness of diversity and black and Asian colleagues complain about – you’ve guessed it – the unfairness of diversity.
I want to complain about diversity too: I just wish I knew what ‘diversity’ meant? How do we measure success?
The dictionary definition of diversity is: to be different and varied. So having a black presenter should have nothing to do with diversity. Employ them because they’re the best candidate. I know how naïve I sound. But does the brilliant Frank Gardiner, the BBC’s Security Correspondent, stop being brilliant just because he’s now in a wheel chair? No, of course not. Do I have insights into certain communities because I know, understand and live among them? Of course I do. In our ways we possess qualities that someone is looking for. So why can’t we employ people for what invaluable skills we possess or am I being too naïve?
Now the BBC is to practise ‘positive action’. This is different from ‘positive discrimination’, Daily Mail readers. The first is legal. The second is not. The BBC’s taken a look at the Senior Management roles and realised it hasn’t enough black, Asian or disabled senior managers. So it’s starting a scheme in the next couple of days to try to address this. Samir, this is scheme three hundred and one. But I’m not going to carp about it. I’m going to apply. And I’d urge all my ethnic colleagues to do the same if they want make a real difference. If you don’t take part, then don’t blame the BBC ever again. Blame yourselves.
I’m often asked by black and Asian audiences I speak to whether the BBC is “institutionally racist”. “No,” I reply “it’s institutionally insensitive.” What do I mean by that? Simple. McPherson defines institutional racism as “unwitting racism”. We, the industry are “unwittingly insensitive”. We just don’t get it. Black, white, it doesn’t matter. If it doesn’t fit our stereotypes or our news agenda or our news angle that particular day – it ain’t going to get on. It is the same with hiring and firing staff. I’ve found that you’re popular for a while and then the love just goes. It’s all too often business not personal. It’s all too often cock up not conspiracy.
Last year Jimmy McGovern called the BBC “one of the most racist institutions in England”. Racism is such a toxic word. It sends people diving for cover. But we should never be afraid to tackle this accusation head on. We need to stop being defensive. I’ve covered numerous Employment Tribunals where companies have been found guilty of racism. No right minded think person wants to be known as a racist. The accusation should be the final bullet in our chamber, not our first. If the industry is racist – institutionally or otherwise – please can we have a litany of cases and show it is racist once and for all? I’m a journalist. Show me the proof.
Or at least can we call for a parliamentary select committee inquiry? The police service has gone through it. The NHS had a ‘festering wound of racism’. I genuinely want to know – what is the extent of racism in my industry. Am I blinkered? Have I been lucky? Or have I simply sold out to my white masters? I want to know.
So let’s stop the speculation, let’s have a real open, honest to goodness debate. I want all sides to engage and give me proof of racism. The BBC is a public service. Under race relations laws we need to make every conceivable effort to prove we’re not racially biased. I’d like to think my bosses know about the dangers of their staff paying lip service to hide a deeper, pervasive problem. That can only be bad for our industry – for they will be found out and will pay the consequences.
So today I want the companies to stop being defensive and engage in this, no matter how painful. For without an honest conversation we can’t lance the racism-accusation-boil. I’m just sick and tired of having to defend our industry to the black and Asian people I meet on the streets. And we need to do this ourselves because if we don’t then such an inquiry will be foisted on us by Trevor Phillips.
I can hear my colleagues now. Choudhury’s bonkers. He’s exaggerating a non-existent problem. I wish I were. I live outside the M25 and Westminster bubbles. And I still listen to people who haven’t been seduced by the trappings of artificial importance. They tell me we – the industry – have lost touch. Please don’t shoot the messenger. Trevor Phillips has the power to unleash a fury of litigation that will make our heads spin. It is not a safety net that I want to use.
Nigel Kay, a former BBC colleague, summed it up, Anver, in an e-mail to you: “Our meetings were sometimes uncomfortable affairs and certainly my colleagues often resented giving up their afternoons to have their ears bent!”
So we need to tell them in a quiet tone that is not hectoring and non-threatening. We need to make them understand the need to over reach their targets; the need to reach out to communities outside their comfort zones; the need to get them young and when they’re impressionable; the need for action and not words; the need to mentor; the need to question what we’re doing to be diverse at every opportunity. I’m not convinced we’ve won hearts and minds yet.
That’s the industry’s responsibility. So what’s ours, as people of colour? Recently I heard recently from one Asian friend how he was made to feel so unwelcome at one BBC station he joined fifteen years ago, that black and Asians walked through a side entrance because they didn’t feel able to use the front. That should never, ever be allowed to happen in twenty-first century Britain. Fortunately, he had enough about him to realise that he was just as good as his white colleagues – in most cases better.
They had probably learned something at Oxbridge he didn’t. Fake it till you make it. But he did not allow himself to be a victim. Now he produces top correspondents and makes his own reports for national television – and he knows his worth. He is an inspiring role model to anyone – and would be an ideal candidate for a Senior Manager’s position.
So what should we, people of colour, do? Here’s where I get into trouble with my black and Asian brothers and sisters. In one phrase: take responsibility and never allow yourself to become a victim. Go out and make it happen for yourselves. Don’t rely on others. If you do, you’ll be waiting a long time. Put your strategies in place. Dream about being the best. Envisage reaching the finish line first. But dreaming and envisaging don’t do it. Put teams in place. Seek champions. Learn from them. Take their advice. And remember the words of Labbi Safri: “the higher you build those barriers, the taller we become.”
If you box clever, be clever, think clever, nothing but nothing will stop you. But fight clever. We are now into our fourth and fifth generations as black or Asian born immigrants. We are part of this country and it is our right to take part and lead. We don’t need anyone’s permission. We don’t need anyone to say we have attitude. We can give orders and expect them to be followed. Equality is our right.
And what if we fail within our chosen industry? Simple. Don’t waste your time becoming a dissident or threatening to leave. Just leave. Go. Set up by yourself. Prove yourself. They will welcome you back with open arms and double your salary – if you’re good enough. And what’s more you’ll have done it on your own terms.
Anver re-prints a number of e-mails in his book. Among them one from Eve Turner, a former head of the South region: “…confrontation is less likely to make long term progress.” But sometimes confrontation is needed.
Yet the lesson is this: it’s how we confront, that’ll single us out. My best friend and first mentor, the late Reg Yeoman, tried to tell a sixteen year old boy: “Son, you get more from honey than vinegar.” Reg, if you’re looking below – I now know what you meant.
Thank you for listening.

*Diversity in the Media by Don John

2008-07-09T11:09:00.000-07:00

Don John
Diversity in the Media, book launch, Southampton 3rd July 2008

The quality of our work can only be measured by how much we have improved and if we find ourselves standing still, it means that we are going backwards. Despite some progress there are places where we are standing still and some places where we have given it up almost completely. The market place and to a lesser extent the moral imperative has compelled the media to come to the table of diversity, primarily because it is good business.

Should we be judging the moral quality of our press and TV by the fact that we do not have raging neo-nazi propaganda masquerading as day time television and we do not have black children running around the home shrieking "mummy mummy there's a black man on television" as we did in the 50s and saw as a mark of progress.

Have we made progress...yes we have made some and there are many committed individuals in the media who are making strenuous efforts and some against all odds to change the complexion of the media in its composition and its portrayal... but many argue that its a bit like football, there are fewer bananas on the pitch...which is commendable, but the boardrooms are still essentially "white".

So what do we do now, responsibilities lie in 2 places:

The Media
During the life of CDAGM we have moved some way from the crude racist stereotyping we accepted as the norm many years ago and the days when the ink used in our papers could not deal with black features. , but sometimes we are shamefully surprised and having seen some examples of that work in other parts of the country our record in the South is decidedly better.

The Communities
As for our own BME communities we have much work to do also. We need to organise ourselves in a manner in which we cannot be ignored. Making our perspective on news issues more competitive is an art and sometimes it is not about the fact that we think it is important, we have to sell it and we need to use every guile, opportunity, contacts and what I call the "bother" factor to get our voices heard. I am not sure whether as communities we consider the profile of our communities sufficiently important for us to invest in.....that must changeAnver's record of this struggle ....and yes it is a struggle helps us to mark where we have come from to help us to consider further where we are going. and we should remember thatSome say the future is orange...........the likelihood is that it is somewhere between black and white

under construction

2008-07-04T06:36:00.000-07:00

under construction

Cultural Diversity Advisory Group to the Media

*Proposed Agenda Thursday 30th April 2009

MIKE HAPGOOD (BBC South)

IAN MURRAY (News Quest)

ROBIN BRITTON, Sangeeta Bhabra (ITV)

QUARTERLY MEETING – THE SOUTH’S MEDIA & GROUP

Thursday 30th April 2009 -12.00 noon to 16.00 hours (approx)

*CULTURAL DIVERSITY ADVISORY GROUP TO THE MEDIA MEETING MINUTES

*Agenda 2nd February 2009

MIKE HAPGOOD (BBC South)

IAN MURRAY (News Quest)

ROBIN BRITTON & SANGEETA BHABRA (ITV)

QUARTERLY MEETING – THE SOUTH’S MEDIA & GROUP

Thursday 5th February 2009 -12.00 noon to 16.00 hours (approx)

*Notes of CDAGM Book Launch

*Meeting Minutes Thursday 10 April 2008

Black History Month 2008

*changing the date of our next meeting

*Sangeeta Bhabra at CDAG book launch

* OFCOM FINE

* Pauline Brandt at CDAG book launch

* Ian Murray at CDAG book launch

* Mike Hapgood at CDAG book launch

Diversity in the Media at SOAS

* CDAGM 2007

Diversity in the Media by Anver Jeevanjee

* Diversity in the Media by Barnie Chaudry

*Diversity in the Media by Don John

under construction

Thursday 30^th April 2009 -12.00 noon to 16.00 hours (approx)

Thursday 5^th February 2009 -12.00 noon to 16.00 hours (approx)