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RARE: BBC sports presenter Ore Oduba is one of the few black faces on national TV

BOYCOTTING THE TV licence may be the last resort to send a strong signal to broadcasters if media diversity fails to be addressed a TV pressure group has warned.

The stark message from pressure group TV Collective comes as media and entertainment union BECTU (Broadcasting Entertainment Cinematograph and Theatre Union) is set to lead a campaign to address the issue.

TV and film executives from the BBC, Channel 4, London Live and Film London are set to meet at the BECTU Freelancers Fair to debate how to get more ethnic minorities in front of and behind cameras.

It follows the publication of figures from the Creative Skillset employment census, which revealed a drop of nearly 2000 in the numbers of black and ethnic minority (BME) people in the creative industries in the three years from 2009.

This is despite an overall increase of 4,000 jobs in the same period.

MONITORING

The entertainment unions led by BECTU are demanding that, in return for their lucrative broadcasting franchises or public funding, broadcasters, film-makers and arts companies should be required not only to conduct equality monitoring of their workforce but also allow the public to see that information. BECTU diversity officer Janice Turner said: “Global Radio, for example, owns the lion's share of commercial radio licences and it has been awarded these licences on behalf of the public. So why is the public not allowed to know how many of the people working on LBC and Capital Radio are black? Nearly half the population of London is ethnic minority - are LBC and Capital reflecting that? And why is 95 per cent of the film industry, largely based in London, white? Once we can see which radio stations, TV channels, theatres and film productions are reflecting our population and which are not, we can then hold the failing companies to account and demand that they improve. How else will we reduce black youth unemployment?"

Producer Michelle Brooks, who will be chairing the debate, claimed the recession that prompted broadcasters to move out of multicultural London and into areas like Salford is partly to blame for the decline.

But the BECTU committee member also pointed to the fact that most senior media figures remain predominately white, male and middle class is a contributing factor.

She said: “People are likely to recruit people like themselves, those they know and feel comfortable with.”

She also raised concerns that black people were unfairly perceived as lacking the specialist expertise required and needing additional training, which cash-strapped companies may not be willing to pay for.

“The result is that people struggle to find jobs in the industry and even if they do they become so frustrated they leave and become freelancers and it is tough out there for freelancers,” Brooks added.

Meanwhile, Simone Pennant, founder of the TV Collective, said if action was not soon taken she would be calling on its 40,000-plus members to boycott the fee rather than paying for something that doesn’t serve them.

QUOTAS

Pennant said: “We are fed up of having the same conversation over and over. Lenny Henry’s proposal of racial quotas and ring-fencing part of the licence fee for BME programmes have been sitting on the table for six months. You could talk and talk but there is a time when you need to take action.”

She added: “If by the end of the year there is not tangible action we will be urging people to start asking themselves, whether they are being represented on screens and getting value for their licence fee?”

DIVERSITY

The BBC, which is funded through the annual £145.50 TV Licence, told The Voice it was committed to improving diversity.

A spokesperson highlighted initiatives such as the recent Stephen Lawrence BBC Training Programme for young people from BME backgrounds, and its BME Expert Presenter Talent Day.

Deborah Sathe, head of talent development and production at Film London, said her company is seeking to “assertively address” the “imbalance” of talent in the media.

She told The Voice: “We have given ourselves big diversity quotas to fill on our Microwave feature film fund. We believe the creative industry mustn't lose touch with the audience it seeks to entertain.

“If access to storytelling is limited to a privileged few we will become a dying medium.”