Tag: BBC

BBC appoints new Diversity & Inclusion Strategic Disability Lead

Stuart Mitchell

  I’m really pleased to have been appointed to this important role for our national broadcaster. I’m looking forward to building on the good work of my colleagues and predecessors to further improve accessibility and facilities for disabled colleagues, which will be to the benefit of all our staff and users of the BBC’s first-rate services. Robbie Crow, Diversity & Inclusion Strategic Disability Lead The BBC have appointed Robbie Crow as the Corporation’s Diversity & Inclusion Strategic Disability Lead. Robbie started in post on Monday 27 March and will be…

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BBC launches commitments to improving access for disabled people on and off screen

Stuart Mitchell

The BBC has launched a new set of commitments to improve the representation of disabled people on screen and to improve access to BBC productions for disabled people. BBC iPlayer is also launching a dedicated collection called Count Us In that celebrates disabled programming and talent, which will be live this weekend ahead of the United Nations International Day of Disabled Persons on Saturday 3 December. The BBC’s commitments state: The BBC is committed to improving the representation of deaf, disabled and neurodivergent people on screen, with a focus on the…

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BBC publishes terms of reference and announces Independent Advisor for gender disparity review

Stuart Mitchell

More women than men are prosecuted for TV Licence fee evasion. A Government review in 2015 found that the BBC was not operating a discriminatory policy but recommended that it look at the issue in more detail. As a result, the BBC undertook an in-depth review in 2017 and found that underlying societal factors drive this disparity. Changes were subsequently made to TV Licensing processes in an attempt to reduce it. Earlier this year, the BBC committed to undertaking a second review to better understand why the disparity still exists.…

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The BBC’s Award Winning 50:50 Project sees strong progress on Disability and Ethnicity representation

Stuart Mitchell

The BBC’s 50:50 Project has published its Impact Report 2022. The report reveals a 35 percentage point increase in BBC teams reaching their disability contributor* targets and 7 percentage point increase reaching their ethnicity targets, after 18 months of monitoring these for the first time. Since its launch in 2017, teams have measured the gender of contributors in their content. The methodology used has been adopted by 750 teams across the BBC, with 250 of those teams now also committed to monitoring the representation of disability and ethnicity contributors. BBC…

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BBC files UN complaint about online violence towards women journalists

Stuart Mitchell

The BBC World Service has, on 23 March 2022, filed a new urgent appeal to the United Nations (UN) against Iran over the online violence faced by women journalists working for BBC News Persian. Women journalists at BBC News Persian face daily, relentless online attacks and harassment, including threats of rape and death. Today’s complaint addresses the current risks to women journalists working for BBC News Persian. Examples of the online violence and harassment they face include: Threats of rape and death directed at women journalists and their families in…

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