While acknowledging the promised improvements among U.K. broadcasters as an effect of the Black Lives Matter movement, Olusoga referred to a legacy of lack of trust. “Thirty years of failed initiatives and ineffective training schemes, and the constant haemorrhaging of BAME, talent has left another legacy,” said Olusoga.
The lack of trust also extends to industry regulator Ofcom, Olusoga said. “If Ofcom is not able or not willing to hold the industry accountable on diversity and inclusion, or able to use its power to set minimum standards, then the DCMS [Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport] should set up a new body willing to do so. This moment in 2020, with so much money on the table and so many promises made, is the perfect time for such a body to be brought into existence.
Olusoga said that running industry training schemes and monitoring would not lead to real change unless the industry accepted that merely having Black people in the room was not enough. “The industry also needs to listen to us, to value our perspectives and our stories, to understand that we come from a different place, consume different culture, read different books, and see the world from a different perspective,” Olusoga said. “And that that perspective is valuable.
Does that mean that sexual assault in the film industry will no longer be culturally sanctioned for the price of fame and vanity awards? Or no?
Thank you DavidOlusoga . Keep going; we need you in the industry !
Quite annoying that the YouTube video itself is not embedded in the article but anyway 🤷🏾♀️
To be fair I think Broadcasters and networks want to be more diverse. Its the talent agencies that only want to promote middle-class and elite white people.