Is the BBC ‘Anti-white?’

No. Of course not; the very suggestion is ludicrous. However, the Sun newspaper recently ran a front page story claiming ‘Auntie is Anti-white’, to which the broadcasting organisation has responded with indignation. The article suggested the BBC was ‘racist’ because of advertisements for junior script writers aimed at only ‘people from ethnic minority backgrounds’, quoting one job-seeker, who said: ‘It’s racial discrimination and just wrong’. The article claimed the BBC was turning away applicants solely because they were white.

The statement issued by the BBC in response to the article said the positions were in fact ‘not jobs but training and development opportunities permitted under the Equality Act, and to describe this as anti-white is utterly ridiculous and irresponsible’.

There has been an increasing demand for the major broadcasting corporations to ‘redress the imbalance’ and lack of diversity seen in the media, with figures such as Lenny Henry – among many others – campaigning for an increase in diversity (the Murdoch-owned tabloid ran a story two months ago, reporting on comments made by former culture minister David Lammy, who said the Beeb was ‘failing in its duties to reflect modern Britain’). However, the BBC has been struggling to meet its BAME employment targets and continued: “as we have under-representation of people from ethnic minority backgrounds in script editing roles at the BBC, it’s the right thing to do”. The BBC’s current aim is to have 15% of staff and leadership from BAME backgrounds, and BAME would take on same proportion of on-air and leading roles.

Other broadcasting companies have echoed similar aims, such as the Rupert Murdoch-controlled Sky, which has set goals to have 20% of its stars/writers of UK-originated shows (£600 million of its commissions) from a BAME background. Many of the major broadcasters have also joined the Creative Diversity Network, including ITV, BAFTA, BBC, Sky, Channel 4 and Channel 5.

I digress; the point is that the claims made by the Sun that the BBC is anti-white are fundamentally incorrect for a great many reasons, not least because racism towards white people does not exist.

White people already have a head start in any UK industry, but particularly the media, and the first step to addressing racism and white privilege in any industry is to acknowledge it. The BBC’s vitally self-aware initiatives that were attacked by the Sun are necessary and important measures which need to be carried out in order for us to see a noteworthy and important improvement in representation, and, on a broader scale, changes to the way the media currently functions. The essential shift in the way people think and behave towards BAME people will need to start within the media, and this cannot take place while people bury their heads in the sand and refuse to admit that the media is largely in the hands of white people, and does not fully reflect all those within society. Therefore the BBC is not anti-white, it largely is white and it is not the place of the Sun, or any other tabloid, to attack its steps to correct this.