‘Great start, Tim, but the BBC can and should do better’

EASTERN EYE’S editor-at-large and former BBC correspondent, Barnie Choudhury, has a letter for the broad­caster’s director-general

Dear Tim,

What a great start. You’ve come in and made clear to your people that you want the BBC to change.

The targets of 50:20:12 are immensely ambitious and, if truth be told, eye-watering. I know from sources that black and Asian people were scepti­cal. Now they’re incredu­lous, and they wonder how on earth you’re going to manage this massive feat.

But kudos, fist pumps and high-fives all round. Your announcement last week really caused palpita­tions among your hideously white colleagues. What people don’t know, accord­ing to my sources, was that last week, you explained to colleagues the matrix by which senior and middle-ranking leaders will be judged. About time. Thank you, and best wishes.

Only… I think we can do more. I think your diversity and inclusion strategy and the 10 commitments are a good start. You’re absolute­ly right to put the first com­mitment as a “talent pipe­line”. The question is how? Certainly not by yet another failed mentoring, develop­ment, pyscho-babble use­less diversity scheme meant to increase people of colour in senior positions. They don’t work and end up, as my freedom of information requests showed, lifting more white people into po­sitions of power.

It’s about the data for me. And here’s what it says. In terms of recruitment, you really need help in your “nations and regions” (N&R). At under six per cent, how on earth are your teams go­ing to get to 20 per cent eth­nic minorities at all levels?

I’ve shared my 20 short-medium-long term strate­gic goals with the House of Lords media select commit­tee. It’s public for anyone to see, evaluate or act upon.

Most people of colour are at the lowest levels, and the frustration is that many have been there for 10, 15, 20, 25 years. So, perhaps the fundamental questions are – why, when compared to white colleagues who came in at the same time as them, did they never pro­gress? And what are the barriers to their success?

Also, in “leadership”, not “senior leadership”, N&R stands at 4.4 per cent. What does that mean? Well, at the moment in 40 local ra­dio stations, only two per­manent “managers” are non-white. In your regional TV newsrooms, not one, to my knowledge, is an editor with the power of budgets, hiring and firing. In senior leadership, to my knowl­edge, N&R has just one per­son of colour. In 2021, that is truly shameful.

What’s the problem? Ask anyone of colour in your organisation, they’ll say you have to fit a certain image, you have to know the right people and your leaders must stop being risk averse.

So what would I do, Tim? Your diversity editor role was closed through redundancy. But the biggest mistake is the post-holder had no real influence to make change. They were often thought of as the “politically correct police” and sidelined.

You have a great chance to appoint someone from outside the organisation who is fearless, emotionally intelligent and thinks out­side the box. But at a senior leadership position. A director of diversity, answerable to the director of nations, who sits at the top table.

That person needs to be a mix of creative diversity – on-air talent – and HR di­versity – recruitment, reten­tion and promotion. They need to be someone who is respected in the industry, data and target driven and able to generate pragmatic ideas to create that pipeline for talent.By the way, it should also be an editorial role. The ‘n’-word debacle in regional news should never have happened. But this role needs a team which becomes indispensable in award-winning, must-listen-watch-read-content that enables radio, TV, online and other digital platforms.

Let me give you an ex­ample. In news and pro­gramming, content is king. Well, human interest, histo­ry, culture, investigations, embedded in data, with great access, create not only interesting output, but also award-winning, distinctive public service broadcasting.

Tim, we have thrown the baby out with the bathwa­ter. We have de-skilled, dis-enabled and de-motivated our wonderful creative peo­ple. We need to let colleagues have fun, enhance their skills, and let them fail creatively without the fear of losing their job. We do that by choosing someone who’s done it and bought the T-shirt. Someone who can inspire and say, ‘no bullying, no homophobia, no racism, not on my watch.’ We do that by guid­ing them and remembering that no one comes into work to fail. We do that by rolling up our sleeves and leading from the front, rather than sitting at our desks or hold­ing endless meetings.

Come on, Tim, you know I’m not wrong.

Good luck,

Barnie