Broadcasting Act 1990
Section 38 covers the promotion of equal opportunities in relation to employment by licence holders. Channel 3, 4 and 5 licensees must, as a licence condition:
- make arrangements for promoting equality of opportunity between men and women and between different racial groups and
- review these arrangements from time to time.
(“Racial Group” has the same definition as in the Race Relations Act 1976, and interpreted in subsequent House of Lords decisions.)
Broadcasting Act 1996
A provision concerning the disabled was added at Section 34 of the Act. Multiplex and Digital Programme Licensees must: ‘make arrangements for promoting, in relation to employment by him, the fair treatment of disabled persons’. The ITC is not empowered to set targets for licensees in terms of numbers employed in various groups.
Invitation to Apply
Applicants were asked to state how they would meet this statutory requirement in their approach to recruitment, training and promotion, and whether they would provide any special facilities. The ITC also advised that it would be appropriate for information on their method of compliance with the requirement to be published each year in the licensees’ annual reports.
ITC Licences
The statutory requirement is incorporated in individual Channel 3, Channel 4 and Channel 5 licences together with the following provisions requiring each licensee to:
- ensure that no job applicant or employee receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of sex, race, colour, creed, nationality, or ethnic or national origins, or on such grounds is disadvantaged by conditions or requirements which cannot be shown to be justifiable;
- review its selection criteria and procedures at regular intervals and monitor the composition of its workforce and of job applicants and take action to correct any inequalities which come to its notice; and
- if requested by the Commission, provide a statement to the Commission of the action it has taken to give effect to such equal opportunities policy, and the Commission may, at its discretion, make such statement in whole or in part public.
Similar requirements covering disabled people are included in digital programme and multiplex licences.
Performance Review
The ITC’s performance reviews for 2002 referred to the progress being made by the Channel 3 licensees, Channel 4 and Channel 5 on fulfilling the equal opportunities condition in their licences.
Among the comments made by the ITC in the general assessment of the terrestrial broadcasters in 2003 included:
· a small increase in the total number of staff employed within ITV, Channel 4 and Five (the renamed Channel 5) in 2002 compared with 2001 (9524 and 9506 respectively).
· the employment of women remained static at 46.5%
· small increases in the representation of minority ethnic (up 0.5% to 5.9%) and disabled people (up 0.4% to 1.6%) overall, and some progress in senior level representation. However these groups are still severely under-represented at all levels.
The Cultural Diversity Network received a lot of attention in 2001 because of its stated aim of driving forward equal opportunities and multiculturalism within the industry. This broadcaster-led initiative consists of most of the leading broadcasters (including the BBC and Sky), and a number of key industry institutions (e.g. BSC, PACT, Skillset).The CDN continues to develop a number of collective and individual initiatives to address ethnic minority representation on-screen and in staffing.
Senior Executives of the Network’s member companies made public commitments to make progress in these areas in October 2000. The first independent audit commissioned by them was undertaken in 2002 with a launch in the Autumn to present the findings to senior industry figures The CDN still faces the challenge of gaining 100% membership amongst its constituency. There also remains a need for clearer reporting by broadcasters of achievements against their original commitments.
The Broadcasters Disability Network The relaunch of the Broadcasters Disability Network in 2001 (subsequently renamed Broadcasting and Creative Industries Network (BCIDN) have influenced broadcasters to focus attention on this area of employment and portrayal in 2002. The ITC and the BCIDN have collaborated in running a series of disability workshops for programme makers across the UK to address the under-representation of disabled people. These workshops will continue into the summer of 2003 and have so far resulted in specific employment and portrayal commitments from workshop attendees. This initiative will be expanded over the coming months to seek collaboration with other arts organisations.
Within some organisations, especially Carlton, GMTV, Channel 4 and Five, women have become the majority. However, across all licensees, women continue to be under-represented within technical and engineering areas
The following table shows the percentage of each licensee’s workforce in relation to women, ethnic minorities and disabled in 2002.
Women Ethnic Minorities Disabled*
Licensee % % %
Anglia 42.0 3.9 4.0
Border 33.9 1.1 2.2
Carlton 50.9 11.1 0.4
Central 35.0 5.0 1.0
Channel 41.0 0 0
Grampian 34.3 1.0 0
Granada 44.6 2.7 0.5
HTV Wales 48.0 1.0 3.5
HTV West 47.0 3.0 3.0
LWT 47.4 10.9 2.7
Meridian 46.0 3.0 1.0
Scottish 43.0 2.1 0.7
Tyne Tees 47.6 1.7 6.1
Ulster 38.1 0 1.5
Westcountry 47.2 0.9 0
Yorkshire 45.0 2.0 2.0
GMTV 56.0 8.0 1.0
Channel 4 54.6 9.8 0.5
Channel 5 55.6 10.4 2.2
* Some companies employ disabled staff who prefer not to be registered.
Research
The latest research on minority ethnic representation published jointly by the ITC, BSC, BBC and the Radio Authority, Multicultural Broadcasting: Concept & Reality, was published in 2002. This qualitative research examined attitudes towards multicultural broadcasting held by the audience and by practitioners in the radio and television industries, and briefly explored attitudes towards multiculturalism within advertising
Further References
ITC Library bibliography: Ethnic Minorities and Broadcasting (Updated February 2000)
ITC Annual Report and accounts 2000, 2001, 2002.
Include Me In. Annabelle Sreberny, BSC/ITC research, December 1999.
Pitch Black: From the Margins to the Mainstream, Paula Watson, London, 2001
A Snapshot in Time: Audio Visual Industries Employment Census 2000, Skillset, London, 2000
Multicultural Broadcasting: Concept and Reality, BSC, BBC, Radio Authority and ITC research, October 2002
June 2003
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