In a massive effort to increase inclusivity, the BBC has pledged to invest 100 million pounds of its TV budget over the next three years to produce content that is diverse for its audience. This will apply to its content across all genres, including education, current affairs, and children’s content.
It has also confirmed that 20 per cent of its off-screen talent would come from under-represented groups, including Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME), those with disabilities, and those with disadvantaged socio-economic background.
The initiative will start from April 2021 onwards.
This announcement comes in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement that has taken the entire world by storm.
Director-General of BBC, Tony Hall, said, “The senseless killing of George Floyd – and what it tells us about the stain of systemic racism – has had a profound impact on all of us. It’s made us question ourselves about what more we can do to help tackle racism – and drive inclusion within our organisation and in society as a whole.
“This is our response – it’s going to drive change in what we make and who makes it. It’s a big leap forward – and we’ll have more to announce in the coming weeks.”
According to the statement released, BBC aims to create content bearing in mind these three priorities: diverse stories and portrayal on-screen, diverse production teams and talent, and diverse-led production companies.
Saying that the media industry was not changing fast enough, the BBC also declared commitments such as running meetings to enable talent from traditionally under-represented minority groups to engage with BBC, developing an accelerator program for on screen and off screen diverse talent, and creating wider access to entertainment industry jobs for traditionally marginalised individuals.
The channel also put up a social media message confirming this initiative.
We’ve always been here to celebrate diversity. But we need to do more, and we will.
This is our commitment to long-term change. #RightTheScript
Read more about our £100m commitment here: https://t.co/YiKPWPX5zy pic.twitter.com/aK8XJ8y3s1
— BBC (@BBC) June 22, 2020
We think this is a brilliant initiative! Do you agree? Let us know your views in the comments section below.
