´óÏó´«Ã½

>> June: Hello, everybody. Good morning and welcome to the launch of the 50:50 impact report. I am June Sarpong, the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s Director and Creative Diversity and will be with you for the next half an hour to delve into how thousands of you are improving women's representation across your content ‑ at the ´óÏó´«Ã½ and across the global partners' network. At the ´óÏó´«Ã½, this is our third 50:50 impact report. It demonstrates that something as simple as counting can inspire us to make significant and lasting change and it outlines the important work our global partners are doing ‑ as many join us in publishing their March results for the first time. So, we are extremely thrilled to have you onboard and sharing your results with us as well. We are delighted that so, many other media organisations are joining us here today. We'd just like to say up front that if your organisation is likely to cover 50:50 in any way, please can we ask that you use the press release for quoting and treat this as a partner event, rather than a press briefing. In a moment, I am going to be joined by some of the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s 50:50 team to talk through the results but first let's hear from the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Director General Tim Davie.

[ Video playing ]

>> Tim: The last 12 months have been challenging in anyone's book. So, to see thousands of ´óÏó´«Ã½ content makers across all of our output to take on another 50:50 challenge shows our audiences remain our number one priority. We know our audiences connect best with our storytelling if they see themselves in it.

And they are noticing the change in the ´óÏó´«Ã½. Almost 3/5 of women age 16 to 34 are now consuming more ´óÏó´«Ã½ online content.

That's up 12% on last year. It's quite a moment to have organisations around the globe publish their data alongside the ´óÏó´«Ã½ for the first time. 50:50 is now a data‑driven alliance of more than 100 partners in 26 countries all striving for one thing. And that's to create content that better reflects our world.

We now set a high benchmark as our global collective. Half of us reach 50:50 compared to a third when we started monitoring. So, together we're showing real progress.

No matter what the next 12 months bring, I know that our ´óÏó´«Ã½ teams and the whole global network will continue to strive for 50% women's representation. At the ´óÏó´«Ã½ we will publish our 50:50 disability and ethnicity data this time next year. And we will continue to work with our partners to innovate and create change together. Whether that's where media trusts and the renaming disability initiative or working with the 50:50 university network to embed diverse thinking into our future editorial leaders.

And just one final message to our ´óÏó´«Ã½ teams and all of the global network. Keep on counting. That simple action is changing the media landscape. Keep at it. And together, we can make sure the media reflects the world around us.

[ End of video ]

>> June: Thank you very much there, Tim, always great to have support from the director general. This project has grown in strength and stature. Starting with just one team four years ago, there are now 670 ´óÏó´«Ã½ teams signed up to monitor gender balance across our output. And we've had our very first 50:50 Festival ‑ 10 virtual sessions which have discussed challenges and shared best practice ‑ not just for ´óÏó´«Ã½ teams but across our network of partners. Sessions were hosted by our colleagues at Voice of America, ABC Australia, and The Media Trust to name a few. Thank you to all involved. And all those sessions will be available on the ´óÏó´«Ã½ 50:50 website for you to share with your teams from Monday.

Before we get into the details of the report, I would like to take it right back to the start and invite Ros Atkins, the brains behind the project, and Nina Goswami, who has driven it forward, to join the panel today. So, Ros and Nina, welcome. Please put your cameras on. Hey. First of all, you both must be delighted. I'm sure you are thrilled to see what happened over the last four years. Ros, I will start with you.

>> Ros: Of course, the big thrill with this report, as the project going from being something new, has a novelty talking to people about it, to something that is more established and part of the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s culture on a long‑term basis. You think well will it continue to work and continue to have an impact. And the huge thrill in reading this report is that we can see that despite all of the challenges the pandemic has brought, and Tim Davie alluded to that, the numbers continue to improve, and the scale of the project continues to expand. And the fact that's been possible while all of us have been dealing with all of the stresses and strains that have come with COVID‑19, I think it is a huge testament to where Nina and Lara and others involved with 50:50 have the project, too. Navigating everything of the last 12 months and still make representation central to how your work and the content you're producing, that's a sign we're in a pretty exciting place.

>> June: Indeed. Let's take us back to the start. You came up with the idea. And you somehow managed to convince your team at Outside Source to adopt it and the rest is history as they say. Can you tell me what your original aims were?

>> Ros: Well, I think my original aim was to come at this challenge at a different angle. I, as a journalist and with the ´óÏó´«Ã½, and the media broadly still was looking at the issue of women's representation and particular, and the argument if it was a problem had gone away in the U.K. It was a problem; we were not addressing it. It seemed to me we need more data and use more data creatively to influence how we thought and behaved. So, I put those two things together. The journalist collects the data. It will give us a lot of data and influence their behaviour. That was the idea anyway. And the conversation, you approach a busy journalist or production team and say, hey, we would like you to do something every single day from now indefinitely, they will say we haven't got time. So, we needed a simple system and put it. And the system today is as simple back in 2017.

The other thing I was hoping we could do is provide proof of success, I'm sure you had this, June. People said we would love to do this, but it is not possible. If I can prove it is possible on one program, perhaps other programs will join in. And perhaps ´óÏó´«Ã½ news will do it at scale, and if ´óÏó´«Ã½ news is doing it, ´óÏó´«Ã½ will do it, and if the ´óÏó´«Ã½ is doing, other people will look at this and say we can go with this again. I was helping to create a domino effect if you like. To my delight, that's pretty much what happened.

>> June: Indeed. So, Nina, you were working in news at the time. When you were brought on board to work on 50:50, what were your first thoughts?

>> Nina: I have been a convert my whole life to be honest. You probably know, June and Ros, the importance of representation. And especially women's representation. But I have always been really obsessed with this idea of what does the audience need. How can we make sure what the audience is getting the right things from us? That is exactly what 50:50 does. It is a tool to ensure that we're creating content that is reflective of the world around us. As Tim talked about.

And I think one of the things that has been really exciting for us, I can see, as he said at the end, is to grow outside of the ´óÏó´«Ã½, and to move beyond that. It is together that we will make that kind of bigger change. You know, we're changing the storytelling that we're using. We're finding the new opinions and voices. That really enriches what we do and feeds into what we do at the ´óÏó´«Ã½.

>> June: Can you talk more about that and the external partners and why it was so important to bring in external partners and get them on board.

>> Nina: Yeah, absolutely. Ros said it is so, great to see so, many partners involved. More than 100, I love saying that, across 26 countries, how exciting to say that. Because it is between all of us doing the same kind of movements together that we make the difference. Because as a vacuum we can't, you know, you can't make change in a vacuum at the end of the day, that's what this is about. Making our change together. For our media partners it is very easy to know why we want to change that together. And our nonmedia partners, why 50:50, what does it have to do with anything? For us it is really about what I call supply and demand. Because you can only make a media landscape representative of society if you know where to find people. If you know the people who have been put forward to us are representative of that. So, our partners have an opportunity to and ability to do that. They can use 50:50 to look at their content, and see, and their spokespeople and speakers and see if they are really representing their particular organisation as it is. If they are, hopefully, that should filter to what we're doing. A holistic approach. It is that change together that really is quite powerful, I think, from something as simple as Tim said, as counting.

>> June: Yeah, indeed. And Ros can you talk more about the change you have seen happen across the newsroom since you first piloted it with outside sources?

>> Ros: Yeah. I mean, I think I have seen two primary changes. The first one is an obvious one, but still worth stating. You can just see a greater diversity of representation in the content that the ´óÏó´«Ã½ makes. It is very obvious. I get messages all of the time from people saying, you don't have to look hard for this. It is right there in front of us. My boss, Fran, has talked about that several times. You can just see the change and hear the change that 50:50 has made. So, in a very kind of simple way, it is right there in front of us. That is hugely exciting.

The second thing I would say is that I hope it's changed how we can talk about this. It is providing some sort of framework. Of course, I didn't ‑‑ I was. The only one worrying about this. Lots of people were worrying about this, but perhaps we were not quite sure how to talk about it in editorial meetings and perhaps we were not quite sure how to measure what we were doing. I hope 50:50 provided a framework that allows us to have clear and constructive conversations around how we take on the challenges of representation. And the last thing I would say, which I definitely think has happened, was really 50:50 in some ways is a ‑‑ it is a project about sensitization. One of the reasons I started it, I had seen and heard a couple of ´óÏó´«Ã½ programs that really didn't have any women in them at all. I thought, that's got to really hurt if we're doing that. And I was not sure if it was hurting as much as it needed to. So, part of 50:50 is making sure when we don't get it right. We're not going to get it right every day, of course, it is a difficult thing, we know it didn't go quite as we want, we got the address, we can address it and look at the reasons why. That sensitization, we are noticing when we get it right and don't get it right, I think, others will judge better than me, I feel like that is a huge shift in the last four years.

>> June: I agree, and also, the competition element of also, being able to see what other programs are doing and who is winning. I think that has definitely helped. Well, Nina, I have to say, the passion you have for this project is just completely infectious. And the way you've helped drive forward the change, of course, alongside Lara and your other colleagues meant that 50:50 is embedded into the lifeblood of everything that the ´óÏó´«Ã½ does. So, congratulations to you all.

And speaking of your other colleagues, we are now going to welcome ´óÏó´«Ã½'s 50:50 Project lead, Lara Joannides. Lara, I hope I pronounced your sur name correctly. Can you tell me if I have?

>> Lara: It is Joannides, but ‑‑ that is a very Anglicized way of saying it. Is supposed to be Joannides, but I don't even try.

>> June: Okay. Joannides. Okay. Let's say it properly.

>> Lara: Right. Right.

[ Laughter ]

>> June: So, you're going to help us dive into the details. First, we have a short round up of the key headlines. So, ‑‑ over to you.

[ Video playing ]

>> What you see and hear in the media matters.

>> A driver's media is critical to properly represent a diver's world. 50:50, the equality project is now making a difference at the ´óÏó´«Ã½ and further field.

>> The aim of 50:50 is simple, to address the historic imbalance of voices in the media and increase the representation of women.

>> More than 650 teams are involved across the ´óÏó´«Ã½. From news, sports, and children's, to music, comedy, and drama. And each team simply counts the contributors who appear in their content.

>> To ensure a balance of voices that reflect society. A society where 50% of the population are women. And it's working.

>> 35% of teams were producing gender‑balanced content when they first joined the project. By March 2021, that number had risen to 70%.

>> And audiences are noticing. 58% of women, from 16 to 34 can see more ´óÏó´«Ã½ content online as a result of seeing and hearing more women.

>> This isn't just happening at the ´óÏó´«Ã½. From newsrooms the classrooms to conference rooms to the 50:50 global network is driving cultural change in 26 countries around the world.

>> 100 partners have committed to the 50:50 equality project.

>> With 41 taking part in the March challenge. Half of those featured 50% women in their content, up from 31% when they first joined the programme.

>> This is only the beginning at the ´óÏó´«Ã½, 200 teams are now also working hard to increase their representation of disabled contributors.

>> And those from ethnic minority backgrounds. And some are already seeing an improvement.

>> All this in a year when the coronavirus pandemic has impacted lives and industries globally. Through 50:50 we're ensuring that more voices are being heard.

>> Whatever challenges lay ahead, the ´óÏó´«Ã½ and the 50:50 global partner network are striving to create content that better reflects our world.

[ End of video ]

>> Lara: So, that was taste of how everyone did in March. I'm going to try to keep this brief and quickly go through a few more details of the March challenge hopefully, for all of the internal teams that have joined us and the external partners, I hope you're excited to see your work. Of course, part of the 50:50 challenge for ´óÏó´«Ã½ teams is to have as many sign up for 50:50 if they have not already been taking part. So, we're now up to 670 ´óÏó´«Ã½ teams. We of course had quite a lot of our people in the last year. So, quite a few programs have been taken off‑air, and streamlining our scheduling. We did lose quite a few teams, but the number is growing. And disability and ethnicity monitoring in the report. We can confirm we have more than 220 teams who are doing this monitoring or going to be starting very shortly. This was announced back in October. So, a few teams doing it for a few months now. And those who have been able to submit the data already. Half of those are already seeing an improvement on representation of disability and ethnicity. That is really exciting. We will publish those represents with our gender representation in our 2022 report next week. Keep an eye out for that. So, the gender figures. The big figure in the video, 70% of the teams achieved the target featuring 50% women in our content. Which is absolutely brilliant. Up from 66% last year, and 36% when teams first started. What is really exciting about this year is the number of teams who were able to take part. We had fewer teams doing it last year, of course, March 2020 is the month we all went into lockdown. This year we have nearly 600. So, close to nearly a full house for teams who would have been on air in March filed their figures. And also, looking at the other end of the scale on the charts is really, really key. So, you can see that we had about an equal number of teams in their first entries who were reaching 50% women, but also, below 40%. Now, that's really dropped down. Across the entire project, everyone who submitted figures, only 10% of teams were featuring fewer than 40% of women. So, they are not all getting to 50%, but getting closer. And it is easier for teams the longer they take part in the project as well. Looking at the break down at teams who have been about the project for one year, two years, and three years, the percentage of teams who are featuring fewer than 40% women goes down. So, by the time we have teams who have been in the project for three years. 100% of teams featuring 40% women. Not one team was below 40%, which is absolutely fantastic. We hope we will keep seeing that, and eventually everyone who will be at least below 40, and then 45, and then get close to the 100% mark.

Those taking part in the consistency challenge as well. Will know that is the second target set by the director general for teams to reach 50% or not below 45 across a period of six months. That's to show that 50:50 is sustainable and not just a flash in the pan for one month. In our first year, 2019, 18% of teams achieving consistency over the period of six months. 36% last year, and now 40% this year. So, again, that's really showing improvement and sustainable change, this is becoming something that is kind of business as usual for teams taking part.

Just to highlight one fantastic group of teams who have been in 50:50 for quite a while now. All of the music teams who are actually monitoring the artist and music played in their programme. This is not the contributors they are speaking to our interviewing. It is a different kettle of fish for them. There are all sorts of reasons it might be tricky to try to get to 50% there. Playing archived artist, depending on the music genre. We started this out as a pilot in 2019 and 2020. This year they were fully included in the results, the improvement is absolutely incredible. In the first entry for these teams. 10% featured 50% women artist. In March this year, it went up to 65%. So, a massive improvement we're really excited to see more music teams hopefully joining up and starting to look at the music they are playing as well as the contributors speaking in their content.

We touched earlier on the audience research. Just to show the importance of the impact that we're doing. We did a survey of 2,200 online users of ´óÏó´«Ã½ apps, websites and so on. 62% said they noticed more women in content. This is everyone surveyed. And then 44% of 16 to 34-year-olds said that they enjoy content more as a result. That is across all genders. And then 58% of women age 16 to 34 say they are consuming content more as a result of seeing more women. This is something we always say, people will engage with content more that they see themselves reflected and represented. That figure is actually up 12% on last year's survey. Which asked the same question. So, it is making a huge difference and it is really worth it.

And then finally, this is the first year, of course, we had the external partners take part in the 50:50 challenge month. We are really, really excited to announce we have now reached the 100 mark for external partners. 101 partners, 444 teams worldwide taking part in 26 countries, and 14 languages as well. So, the spread of 50:50 is absolutely incredible. It is kind of running away with us a little bit. Which is really exciting. The results were really brilliant. Of the partners 70 were taking part in 50:50 in October when we launched the challenge. And 44 decided to join us and publish the results. You can see here there is impressive improvement from our partner organisations. Of the datasets submitted. 50% reached the target. Up from 31% in their first entries. Which is pretty much actually in line with 50:50 when we had our first March challenge, April challenge in 2019, that's roughly where we were. Hopefully, we will see the external partners catching up to us and getting around the 70% mark in future years.

So, that will be in our PDF report as well published on the website. If anyone wants to see that in more detail and read more about it, they can find it on there.

>> June: Wow. Lara, so, impressive, you and the team are happy with those results.

>> Lara: Yeah, very relieved, when we get to deadline day, we hold our breaths and wait to see how the numbers fall. But I think considering everything that everyone has been through last year as well with the March challenge 2020 this year seeing how ‑‑

>> June: Yeah, that they have come under lockdown as well. So, still, people have managed to deliver. It is just incredible. Well, let's bring Nina back as well. Turn your camera back on. So, what are your thoughts about the global partner results and how wonderful we get to report them for the first time.

>> Nina: I know it is fantastic. I have to admit, like Lara is talking about kind of the feeling we get on deadline day, Ros does this thing every hour or so, he is texting us, you know, what's the result, what's the result? I was very much feeling the same thing when it came to the partners for the first couple of hours on deadline day, no one had sent me something, what is going to happen. So, amazed, and fantastic to hear that partners joined us in publishing the data alongside of us. What a big moment and shows everyone's commitment to 50:50. It set a benchmark for us. I'm going to invite our partners to join us next year in the challenge and improve and make the big change again. And Lara said, year one was exactly the same of what we did in the ´óÏó´«Ã½. We were at 57. 50% is pretty much the same exactly. So, let's see if we can replicate what we have done in the ´óÏó´«Ã½. One of the things I want to point out. Not all of our partners were aiming for 50:50. They have a very different.

>> June: Yeah, different places of course.

>> Nina: 20, 30, 40, and those particular organizations and partners all progressed. And that is fantastic to see as well. So, what I really was keen on when we see the graphs, 40% side. The more that we see over the threshold the better.

>> June: Moving in the right direction.

>> Nina: Exactly.

>> June: Quickly Nina, the next steps before I bring Ros back in.

>> Nina: Obviously, I just set the challenge again for our partners. We are great to have you with us again next year, of course at the ´óÏó´«Ã½ we will be doing the same thing. We have committed to publishing more details in terms of our progress when it comes to disability and ethnicity. We also will continue our work with reframing disability in our partnership with Media Trust. We built the foundations this year to try to support our content makers and improving their representation. So, we will have more details about that later. We will be continuing to work with the university networks.

As they use the, the 50:50 as a data tool. And also, to help them think about the content they create. So, across the whole of 50:50. We have been seeing the work.

>> June: Thank you.

>> Nina: We will keep seeing that.

>> June: Ros can you join us quickly? We have two minutes left. You have a few people you want to thank, don't you?

>> Ros: As we have been hearing, June, 50:50 is an enterprise and involves thousands of people. If I started to list everyone, we would be here for a long time. We are incredibly grateful. This involves a huge effort by a vast range of people. But I wanted to thank three people in particular, beyond Nina who is right at the centre of everything. Lara and Angela, who has a job looking at our partners, have worked on this for months and months and months, with passion, tenacity, creativity and really what we see in this report is a return on an incredible commitment what they have shown to this work. And I want to thank both of them. Without them this would not have happened. And Francis who has been a big supporter of 50:50. When I wanted to get ´óÏó´«Ã½ management involved about 18 months in, I went to speak to Francis and she created this connection between the ´óÏó´«Ã½ management and the journalist and content producers, and the dynamic which Francis helped create and continued to guide with strategic and practical support is vital. So, Francis and Laura, thank you.

>> June: Brilliant. Ros, thank you so much for coming up with the idea in the first place. We are so proud where it has gotten to and cannot wait to see where it goes next. So, a huge congratulations to you and the team, thank you very much. Well, thank you all for joining us today. And unfortunately, that's all we have time for. Congratulations to all of you that made March count. The impact report is a testament to your hard work. You can download or see it at the website at bbc.com/5050. Please do share and make some noise about what you've heard here today ‑ our hashtag #5050Project. And don't forget ‑ keep counting! Right now, I will leave you with a short video that showcases the events that we have held over the past few days part of the 50:50 festival. Thank you, everyone. Bye!

[ Video playing ]

>> When people see themselves and they feel represented they engage?

>> I have some forward movement and challenge, and hopefully, actually break these old barriers.

>> It is the price you have to pay, these ‑‑ these huge like differences we see are there.

Unfortunately for a reason they exist. If we want to change them, we're going to have to put in the effort.

>> My experience from having to do the training myself, yeah, I have a disability, but it doesn't mean that I understand anything about 100 other disabilities. Part of the reason I embraced that training I found it really useful.

>> The old we're seeing now isn't actually what is going to contain us. We can be something we want to. The organisations want us to be. So, I think if there is anyone out there who wants to make a difference the moment is now.

[ Music ]

>> All of the eyes from the side on the blue eyes make you confused. I'm selfish I know, now is not the time, I'm sure they wouldn't mind if you want to leave them for me. I know you will be all right. And I promise you will never have to gauge, because luckily, I know some places. So, --

>> Just in the past, being ‑‑ a mixed-race female, that definitely isn't enough representation as far as both represent and ethnic minority contributors and content.

>> What is main is the 50:50 project and change as well and many others who encourage the industry to take accountability in every area possible. I think only when change happens, only when we all take responsibility will change happen.

[ Music ] 

>> Oh!

[ End of video ]

[ Event concluded ]