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Tuesday, October 13, 2020
Severe Lack of Diversity in UK Senior TV Leadership Jobs, Survey Finds
Variety: Even as the U.K. celebrates Black History Month, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) people are seriously underrepresented in senior TV leadership jobs, a survey conducted by the Creative Diversity Network (CDN) has found.
Yeah this isn’t anything new… sadly. I am so happy to read that on screen representation is improving, but it’s frustrating to see that many other sects of entertainment (and other industries too) do not push for higher ups to practice what they preach. Time to get rid of all the old white folks and actually put POC in positions of power. Give them a freaking voice. This problem is insidious. I wonder if international companies are looking at documents like ‘We See You White American Theatre’ and consider how they’re role in entertainment and leisure is important to the overarching message of that manifesto. Also I do not understand this article’s move to point out how successful tv shows with people of color and how they’re successful has to do with hiring people of color. I’m glad that the shows mentioned are having success, but people of color should be in every space -- no matter if the people on the screen are people of color too or not.
One would think that after so many years of having realized that workplaces should be diverse in all aspects, from the base jobs to the high command jobs, we would have come to a point when articles about this topic would cease to exist. We would have achieved a place where diversity in the workplace would be a given and that effort would not have to put in to achieve it: it will come naturally to everyone. Yet here we are, with the 1000th article about how there is not a lot of diversity in top level television leadership jobs in the UK, blamed primarily on the lack of understanding for the need for such a principle. It honestly blows my mind that we still have to struggle for this, imagine the number of talented artists and content creators that are being deprived from achieving their full potential because diversity refuses to be made a requirement in the workforce.
I agree with Ella’s sentiment that this happens all too often. A perfect time to change up who holds the power is during a leadership change as this is time to promote diverse voices and many different perspectives non just different demographic diversity but people with different work experiences. Disney recently changed its structure to prioritize streaming but instead of creating a diverse team, it is five men, four of whom are white presenting. This was a perfect opportunity to “get rid of old white men” as Ella says as there was no firing being done in this restructuring as firing someone because of the color of their skin is illegal (at least in America). I think this article brings up a perfect problem of how companies can make diverse work, celebrate diversity (at least in the announcements and celebrations of Black History Month or Latinx History Month) and still not be diverse. Diversity doesn’t mean that a company is purely hiring diverse voices to partake in the art or produce work telling diverse stories but also that companies are making sure they themselves are a diverse company. Looking at who holds the higher-paying jobs, who holds the long term jobs, who has the decision power is a place to look at how diversity works or doesn’t work in a company. In response to Ella, there are a lot of other documents besides the WESEEYOUWAT document that I believe other industries are looking at ... at least in America in the Orchestra, Dance, and Opera worlds.
3 comments:
Yeah this isn’t anything new… sadly. I am so happy to read that on screen representation is improving, but it’s frustrating to see that many other sects of entertainment (and other industries too) do not push for higher ups to practice what they preach. Time to get rid of all the old white folks and actually put POC in positions of power. Give them a freaking voice. This problem is insidious. I wonder if international companies are looking at documents like ‘We See You White American Theatre’ and consider how they’re role in entertainment and leisure is important to the overarching message of that manifesto. Also I do not understand this article’s move to point out how successful tv shows with people of color and how they’re successful has to do with hiring people of color. I’m glad that the shows mentioned are having success, but people of color should be in every space -- no matter if the people on the screen are people of color too or not.
One would think that after so many years of having realized that workplaces should be diverse in all aspects, from the base jobs to the high command jobs, we would have come to a point when articles about this topic would cease to exist. We would have achieved a place where diversity in the workplace would be a given and that effort would not have to put in to achieve it: it will come naturally to everyone.
Yet here we are, with the 1000th article about how there is not a lot of diversity in top level television leadership jobs in the UK, blamed primarily on the lack of understanding for the need for such a principle. It honestly blows my mind that we still have to struggle for this, imagine the number of talented artists and content creators that are being deprived from achieving their full potential because diversity refuses to be made a requirement in the workforce.
I agree with Ella’s sentiment that this happens all too often. A perfect time to change up who holds the power is during a leadership change as this is time to promote diverse voices and many different perspectives non just different demographic diversity but people with different work experiences. Disney recently changed its structure to prioritize streaming but instead of creating a diverse team, it is five men, four of whom are white presenting. This was a perfect opportunity to “get rid of old white men” as Ella says as there was no firing being done in this restructuring as firing someone because of the color of their skin is illegal (at least in America). I think this article brings up a perfect problem of how companies can make diverse work, celebrate diversity (at least in the announcements and celebrations of Black History Month or Latinx History Month) and still not be diverse. Diversity doesn’t mean that a company is purely hiring diverse voices to partake in the art or produce work telling diverse stories but also that companies are making sure they themselves are a diverse company. Looking at who holds the higher-paying jobs, who holds the long term jobs, who has the decision power is a place to look at how diversity works or doesn’t work in a company. In response to Ella, there are a lot of other documents besides the WESEEYOUWAT document that I believe other industries are looking at ... at least in America in the Orchestra, Dance, and Opera worlds.
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