“Often if some organisations or people feel that something is a ‘tick box’- it fails. We see that time and time again. So if you can, through passion and collaboration, create momentum, then that’s what’s gonna keep things going.”
In Episode 22 I am joined by Nina Goswami, Creative Diversity Lead for the BBC, to discuss the importance of inclusive storytelling, representation in the media, and the BBC's impactful 50:50 Equality Project.
Nina’s journey is one many journalists will be inspired by, climbing the ladder from reporter, to producer, to editor and then to her current role of creative diversity lead. She shares her story of why representation matters and how important it was to her as a young girl to see Moira Stuart, the UK's first female Black newsreader, on TV – feeling inspired by seeing a woman of colour reading her the news….”You can’t be what you can’t see”.
Nina’s interest in inclusive storytelling within the news-cycle grew as she discusses the failures in reporting with Grenfell and the initial COVID coverage. Ultimately this interest got Nina involved in the 50:50 Project, quickly becoming the project lead. The 50:50 Project focuses on making the BBC more representative of the population, starting with coverage reflecting the 50:50 split between males and females in the UK. Nina explains the data-led nature of this as well as it’s methodology.
Within the BBC, 750 teams have signed up to the 50:50 Project, with around 150 external partner organisations also taking the pledge. We discuss the different methodologies shown within these organisations, and how merely counting the data is not enough, it must also be shared and actioned.
Finishing our conversation, we turn to the future of the 50:50 Project. Nina shares that it is currently well into trial runs for both ethnicity and disability monitoring. The BBC as a whole follows a 50/20/12 model, striving for 50% women, 20% BAME and 12% disabled visibility, following national population distribution, but regional BBC teams will work towards proportions accurate to their regions.
Links
Nina can be found on LinkedIn at: Nina Goswami
For more from the 50:50 Project, visit: www.bbc.co.uk/5050
The BBC Impact Report 2022 can be found here: www.bbc.com/5050/impact2022
More information on Moira Stuart, the UK’s first female Black Newsreader.
To hear Why Care? episodes first, sign up to our newsletter here, and you can find more from us at Avenir via our LinkTree here.
