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Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ
to chair Cultural Diversity Network
Greg
Dyke, Director-General of the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ, will take over the chairmanship
of the Cultural Diversity Network (CDN) from Channel 4 for one year
from December 2003.
The
CDN began in 2000 when all the major British television broadcasters
joined forces to change the face of television and work towards
fair representation of Britain's ethnic population on screen and
behind the camera.
Greg
Dyke accepted the chair today (Thursday 9 October), saying: "Broadcasters
are working hard to make the industry more diverse and ensure its
relevance to today's audiences.
"I
hope by being Chair of the CDN the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ can make a real contribution
to this.
"For
example, we've just completed major research into what ethnic minority
audiences want to see on screen, and how we can better portray different
people's lives. This is just one of the things that will help us
chair the CDN in this next key phase."
Mark
Thompson, outgoing Chair of CDN and Chief Executive of Channel 4,
added: "There is real commitment to cultural diversity at the
most senior level of all the companies in the CDN.
"At
Channel 4 we have recently for the first time funded training schemes
to encourage ethnic minorities into the industry in partnership
with our key suppliers, and have funded three ethnic minority trainee
deputy commissioning editors.
"Changes
don't happen overnight, but all the broadcasters have kept diversity
at the top of their agenda and as a body we are moving in the right
direction."
The
chairmanship will be formerly handed over at a CDN youth event in
December.
Notes
to Editors
CDN
background
Β•
In October 2000 Britain's leading broadcasters joined forces to
launch the Cultural Diversity Network (CDN).
Supported
by Chris Smith, then Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport,
their aim was to change the face of television, ensuring fair representation
of Britain's ethnic population on screen and behind the camera.
Β•
Clive Jones at Carlton was the instigator of the CDN. In 1995 Carlton
commissioned research which showed that it was loosing large chunks
of its Black and Asian audiences to cable and satellite channels.
ITC
and BSC research confirmed these findings and added that ethic minorities
found terrestrial TV to be increasingly irrelevant to their lives.
It
was clear that the whole of broadcasting faced the same issues.
Β•
The message was loud and clear, either adapt or become increasingly
irrelevant to modern Britain.
Working
with Parminder Vir, Clive Jones proposed a cross-industry network
that would put Cultural Diversity on the top of the broadcasting
industry's agenda.
Β•
The member broadcasters were Channel 4, Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ, ITN, ITV, Carlton,
Granada, GMTV, BSkyB and Five.
Aims and objectives
CDN members agreed to develop cross-industry initiatives and share
expertise, resources and models of good practise, to ensure that
television responded to Britain's increasingly multiracial society.
All the broadcasters signed up to the basic objectives:
• Setting targets for ethnic minority employment, including
senior executive levels
•
Establishing an online database of ethnic minority talent
•
Modernising the casting and portrayal of ethnic minorities in mainstream
programming
•
Sharing non-commercially sensitive research on cultural diversity
•
Obtaining a comprehensive picture of ethnic minority employment
in UK broadcasting
•
Establishing industry standards for the collection of ethnic monitoring
data
•
Sensitising the broadcasters so that they call for diversity in
content and employment
•
Raise the profile of multicultural issues through a series of events
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