It’s black and white TV
A television workers trade union has attached the race divide persisting in British broadcasting, as Children's Express reports.
| Most media organisations employ a majority of people who are white, middle class and often male. |
British telly is institutionally racist, and programme-makers "ghettoise" ethnic minorities, union Bectu has said.
Bectu, the UK's biggest broadcasting union, points out the situation is in contrast to the US, where many African-Americans are among the country's biggest screen personalities.
Many telly and radio stars are fully aware of the difficulties facing black people trying to break into British media - in front of and behind the cameras.
TV presenter Margherita Taylor, 29 - also a DJ on London's Capital Radio - said: "I think the balance of black presenters in London is probably right.
"But in other places perhaps not so. The issue is getting enough ethnic minority people to make programmes, rather than being on screen. That's the key thing."
Top DJ Trevor Nelson, who has had his own Radio One show for years, believes being black has helped his career.
 Radio One DJ Trevor Nelson says he feels sorry for racists. | |
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"Everything that's happened to me has been because I'm black," he said. "I do the Rythm Nation show. And I think it's lasted so long and done so well because to make the show legitimate, people like to find a black rather than a white person doing it.
"It makes it a bit more legitimate when a hip-hop show with black music has a black presenter."
Trevor added: "I've encountered some hostility but I've never reacted much to racism. I just say to those people, 'I feel sorry for you.'"
Lizo Mzimba, 33, is a presenter at Newsround, BBC TV's Children's news programme. His parents came to Britain from South Africa in the mid 1960s.
"I did experience racism in school and university," he said. "But I've been very lucky as a presenter, never really feeling that anybody has treated me differently because I'm black."
What seems to be more of an issue is the lack of ethnic minorities working in the media as producers, writers and technical staff.
"Things are changing slowly," Lizo said. "I'd like them to change a bit quicker, but they're moving in the right direction.
"Hopefully, sooner rather than later there will be more black people working in the media. But behind the scenes there is definitely room for improvement. Most media organisations employ a majority of people who are white, middle class and often male. That's a very unpleasant fact."
As young black people interested in the media we need to see change and that there are real opportunities out there for us. How long will it take before there's really 'access all areas' reflecting our supposed multi-cultural society?
About the team
This story was produced by Annabel Mcleod and Vuyisa Henry, 16, Klarisse Osei, 15, Keshia Harvey, 14, and Jonathan Ijoyah. A shorter version was published in The Voice.
