Guardian Article . . .
The BBC will only survive by understanding its diverse consumers
Peter Salmon
The Guardian, Monday 15 September 2008
A snail could crawl the entire length of the Great Wall of China in just slightly more time than the 200 years it will take for women to be equally represented in parliament. That was just one of a series of striking statistics from the Equality and Human Rights Commission in their Sex and Power report published last week.
Peter Salmon
The Guardian, Monday 15 September 2008
A snail could crawl the entire length of the Great Wall of China in just slightly more time than the 200 years it will take for women to be equally represented in parliament. That was just one of a series of striking statistics from the Equality and Human Rights Commission in their Sex and Power report published last week.
It added that women hold just 11% of FTSE directorships, with the judiciary and others also strongly criticised. At the BBC, the figures are a bit better - almost 38% of all senior managers are women - but it does bring into sharp focus the challenge the whole media industry is facing to improve diversity among its workforce.
Tomorrow's Guardian Ethnic Media Summit is a chance to debate what is arguably our most pressing diversity issue - ensuring more talent from ethnic minority communities reaches the upper echelons of broadcasting. The growth particularly of young ethnic minority audiences, is soaring - way above the population average - making them a critical cultural and business challenge for everyone in our sector.
Three Different Articles on Race & Religion . . .
1. Cadbury Dairy Milk ad cleared of racism
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/nov/11/cadbury-dairy-milk-cleared-racism
Regulator says TV campaign featuring Ghanaian musicians did not perpetuate colonial stereotypes
Wednesday 11 November 2009 07.12 GMT
The Cadbury Dairy Milk advert
The advertising regulator has cleared Cadbury of racism and perpetuating colonial stereotypes of African people in its latest TV advertising campaign.
Cadbury's campaign featured Ghanaian musician Tinny and aimed to promote the chocolate brand's tie-up with the Fairtrade organisation for cocoa from the African nation for its Dairy Milk range.
Cadbury's campaign featured Ghanaian musician Tinny and aimed to promote the chocolate brand's tie-up with the Fairtrade organisation for cocoa from the African nation for its Dairy Milk range.
The Advertising Standards Authority received 29 complaints that the TV campaign was demeaning to African people and perpetuated racial stereotypes.
However, the ASA's council has decided not to formally investigate the complaints. "Although the council acknowledges that Cadbury had used stereotypes in their ads, they felt that the stereotypes were not harmful or offensive," said the ASA, which argued that most ads use some form of stereotype device to get a message across.
However, the ASA's council has decided not to formally investigate the complaints. "Although the council acknowledges that Cadbury had used stereotypes in their ads, they felt that the stereotypes were not harmful or offensive," said the ASA, which argued that most ads use some form of stereotype device to get a message across.
Cadbury has steadfastly maintained that the company went to "considerable lengths" to ensure that the ad campaign was culturally sensitive and developed as a "joyous and uplifting portrayal of Ghanaian culture and something which Ghanaians can feel proud of".
In 2007 the ASA banned an ad for Cadbury's Trident chewing gum, which featured a black "dub poet" speaking in rhyme with a strong Caribbean accent, after more than 500 complaints that it was racist.
2. Range of Muslim views not represented in media, says Dorothy Byrne
Oliver Luft in Valencia
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 20 November 2008 14.58 GMT
Broadcasters fail to fully represent the range of Muslim voices in Britain, the head of Channel 4 news and current affairs, Dorothy Byrne, said today.
Byrne told the News Xchange 2008 conference in Valencia that there was a problem with the media making sweeping generalisations about Islam, which she said was "not at all helpful".
Addressing a session looking at the representation of Islam in the news media, Byrne told delegates the findings of a report her network commissioned on the attitudes of British Muslims contrasted with their representation on UK TV news.
"I think there is a strong tendency for broadcasters to go and interview young men outside mosques to find out what Muslims think. In our survey, we found that 48% of British Muslims do not actually attend mosques. Therefore you wouldn't get an accurate picture of what people
think," she said.
"They [British broadcasters] have a tendency to go to just one or two organisations for comment ... one is the Muslim Council of Britain. In our survey ,when we asked Muslims who they thought represented them only 11% of British Muslims thought the Muslim Council of Britain represented them, compared with 19% of people who thought their member of parliament represented them. I think we have got to be very thoughtful and careful," she added.
Byrne said that the research highlighted how little the public, and some Muslims themselves, knew about the diversity of Islam in Britain.
Byrne said that the research highlighted how little the public, and some Muslims themselves, knew about the diversity of Islam in Britain.
As a result, she said, Channel 4 had decided to address very specific issues when making programmes about Islam to avoid generalisations.
"The problem in the media is when people make sweeping generalisations, I think that's just not helpful at all," Byrne added.
"The other thing is that we should not be afraid to tell the truth, we don't need to be politically correct, I don't think it helps anybody to be politically correct."
"The other thing is that we should not be afraid to tell the truth, we don't need to be politically correct, I don't think it helps anybody to be politically correct."
3. Gay Police Association challenges ad watchdog
Mark Sweney
MediaGuardian, Tuesday 24 October 2006 13.49 BST
The Gay Police Association has refused to apologise for an ad which was accused of portraying Christians as responsible for most religion-fuelled homophobia, and is set to appeal against the advertising watchdog's ruling on the campaign.
The ad, which featured a copy of the Bible next to a pool of blood, ran in the Independent under the headline "In the name of the father".
Text in the ad stated: "In the past 12 months, the Gay Police Association has recorded a 74% increase in homophobic incidents, where the sole or primary motivating factor was the religious
belief of the perpetrator."
The Advertising Standards Authority received 553 complaints - from groups including Christian Watch and the Evangelical Alliance - saying that the ad was derogatory, offensive and irresponsible by implying Christians were responsible for most such homophobic incidents.
A spokesman for the GPA said the association was considering appealing against a series of rulings made by the ASA following its investigation into the ad.
A spokesman for the GPA said the association was considering appealing against a series of rulings made by the ASA following its investigation into the ad.
In addition, the GPA denied reports that it had issued an official apology to Christians for the campaign.
"The GPA [doesn't] see any reason to apologise for an advertisement that was merely stating the facts," said Vic Codling, the national coordinator at the GPA.
The GPA said that it is considering appealing against the ASA decision on three points.
The first was with regard to the ASA's ruling that the ad would be likely to cause offence to Christian readers.
The first was with regard to the ASA's ruling that the ad would be likely to cause offence to Christian readers.
Mr Codling said that the ASA had disregarded the fact that the people who saw the ad - and upon whom, he said, the ruling should have been based - were readers of the Independent. Mr Codling claimed that the ad watchdog had instead based its ruling on an "orchestrated campaign" of complaints made by Christian groups.
The second issue the GPA was considering appealing against was with regard to the use of shocking imagery. In upholding the complaints against the images of a Bible and a pool of blood, the ASA said the imagery implied that all the homophobic incidents referred to in the ad involved physical injury.
Mr Codling said that if the entire text of the ad was taken into account, it was clear that the homophobic incidents were across the board, not just physical.
The third, and most contentious, point was the ASA's ruling that the GPA had not provided evidence substantiating their statistical claims.
The third, and most contentious, point was the ASA's ruling that the GPA had not provided evidence substantiating their statistical claims.
Mr Codling said that it was impossible at the time of the ASA investigation to provide such evidence, because the GPA was involved in a criminal enquiry by the Metropolitan Police about the advertisement after a complaint brought by Reverend George Hargreaves. Mr Codling said that after the Crown Prosecution Service did not uphold that complaint, the GPA attempted to provide the information to the ASA, but this was not taken into account for the investigation. Mr Codling added that since the ad had run the GPA had continued to receive threatening homophobic emails from people purporting to be Christians.
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