The BBC has announced plans to invest £100 million pounds in ‘diversity’ for its television output. Bravo. I’m a great believer in diversity. A thriving, vibrant democracy needs as much diversity as possible in public discourse – a plurality of voices, of outlook and of background.
But I suspect that the BBC is thinking of ‘diversity’ in only the narrow, fashionable sense of today – in gender, race and sexuality, but little else. Of course, BBC TV output should reflect society in these respects. It’s made huge progress, for example in its news bulletins where the gender and ethnic background of presenters and reporters roughly seems to reflect the proportions of ethnic minorities in the wider population. But David Olusoga’s remarks yesterday at the Edinburgh TV Festival shows there’s still much room for improvement, particularly in the way the BBC treats black people.
I suspect that the BBC is thinking of ‘diversity’ in only the narrow, fashionable sense of today
My fear is the BBC will concentrate on certain much-discussed forms of diversity, at the expense of other major neglected groups.
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