Diversity & Inclusion Targeted Investment FAQs
1. Why is the 大象传媒 targeting investment towards Diversity & Inclusion in Radio?
The 大象传媒 is launching ambitious new creative diversity commitments to increase diversity and inclusion within programme making teams and ensure that the stories told on-air are authentically reflective of audiences across the UK.
The 大象传媒 will also invest a minimum of £80 million annually in content that meets the 大象传媒’s creative diversity criteria for TV and Radio. Crucially, this investment will focus on aligning diverse on-air storytelling with stronger off-air representation in senior production roles and leadership within production companies.
The 大象传媒 has been committed to creative diversity and inclusion since its first radio broadcast more than 100 years ago; but we want to go even further. These measures are designed to accelerate the pace of change in increasing diversity and inclusion both on- and off-air. And to demonstrate change is being delivered, the 大象传媒 will report on progress in its Annual Report.
2. Where does the investment come from; is it new money?
We are keen to ensure we capitalise on every opportunity to increase diverse representation that better reflects our audiences.
An effective way to achieve this goal is to prioritise the way in which we commission and how we spend our budget. Through our existing commissioning budget, we can ensure we are focusing our efforts appropriately.
It is important that diversity is not seen as a bolt on, outsourced or something that happens outside of normal business practices; we want diversity to be integrated into the way we commission. That is why we have not created a separate fund or pot of diversity money, to ensure we are integrating diversity into everything that we do.
3. What are the criteria for this commitment?
To qualify for the investment we are asking our programme makers to meet any two of these three criteria:
- Diverse Content – diverse stories and on-air portrayal
- Diverse Production Leadership – influential roles off-air involved in shaping and making our programmes diverse
- Diverse Company Leadership – senior roles in the companies that make our programmes diverse
4. What characteristics are included in the definition of diverse?
- Diverse Content – the nine protected characteristics (Age, Disability, Gender reassignment, Marriage/Civil Partnership, Pregnancy & maternity, Race, Religion or belief, Sex, Sexual orientation) plus social class (specifically, working class)
- Diverse Production Leadership – Disability, Race, social class (specifically, working class)
- Diverse Company Leadership – Disability, Race, social class (specifically, working class)
Disability refers to someone who has a physical or mental impairment where that impairment has a substantial / long-term adverse effect on their ability to perform day-to-day activities.
Race refers to someone who is Black, Asian or from a minority ethnic background.
Working class refers to someone who at 14 years old had parents who were in ‘routine or semi-routine manual and service occupations’. This is a criterion set out by the Government/Bridge Group and Social Mobility group who have specified that this a strong baseline question to ask if it is the only question asked around Socio-Economic Diversity (SED).
5. What do we mean by diverse stories and on-air portrayal?
Defining diverse stories and portrayal on-air is important for our audiences.
Audiences want to experience themselves being reflected accurately and authentically when engaging with our content. For this definition we have included the full breadth of protected characteristics as we want to be as diverse and inclusive as we can in our content.
We aim to broaden authentic portrayal of groups typically under and/or mis-represented in mainstream British broadcasting, to include all protected characteristics and low socio-economic diversity.
Protected characteristics: Age, Disability, Gender reassignment, Marriage/Civil Partnership, Pregnancy & maternity, Race, Religion or belief, Sex, Sexual orientation *plus social class (specifically, working class)
6. Why have all nine protected characteristics been added to the scope for diverse stories and portrayals, on top of what was originally announced for ethnicity, disability and socio-economic background? Why does this change not also apply to the other criteria?
We are committed to ensuring our audiences feel fully reflected across our on-air content. Our approach is designed to be flexible and responsive to the latest data intelligence and trends within the media sector to ensure our efforts are effective, relevant and drives change across the diversity and inclusion agenda.
Our consultation with diverse suppliers also highlighted a need to ensure they were not disadvantaged or siloed into only making diverse content based on their own protected characteristic.
With this additional information we expanded our remit to include all protected characteristics including low socio-economic diversity (SED).
This ensures that the progress made on-air continues and reflects all forms of diversity without having a negative impact to the wider diversity and inclusion agenda.
We recognise the significant progress that has been made on-air but off-air requires a more targeted and focused approached to see accelerated change across the diversity and inclusion agenda.
7. What are the criteria for on-air portrayal?
Diversity and inclusion are creative imperatives for the 大象传媒; it’s important that our audiences experience themselves being truly reflected in a fair and authentic way.
To ensure that we continue to build on our current successes we have looked at how best to reflect greater representation within our content and how we can increase diversity across our output. The key areas are:
- Landmark portrayal
- Incidental/integrated portrayal
- On-air talent
A production must comply with at least two of the on-air criteria.
1a: Consider proportion of lead
Explicit and majority coverage of a story, character(s) and/or topic(s) related specifically to one or more mis- or under-represented group – i.e. front and centre of the core proposition and narrative. The portrayal should be both fair and authentic.
1b: Incidental & Integrated portrayal
The programme should include diverse representation that is not necessarily referred to or mentioned relatively in passing and only where relevant to that particular story or character/ contributor. The portrayal should still be both fair and authentic.
Roles may include: secondary/supporting/minor (scripted), contestants, contributors, guest speaker, panel experts (unscripted)
1c: On-air talent
Scripted: two or more of the main regular talent featured in and most associated with the programme are from one or more mis- or under-represented group.
Unscripted: one or more of the regular talent featured in and most associated with the programme are from one or more mis- or under-represented group.
NB: consider proportion of lead on-air roles rather than numbers.
8. What do you mean by authentic portrayal?
Portraying different identities and communities in a genuine, knowledgeable way to enabling audiences to truly connect with the 大象传媒’s content.
Authentic portrayal extends to both on and off-air/screen; and by having a diverse range of writers, directors and producers it ensures our on-air and on-screen representation is truly inclusive and representative of our audiences.
The process for casting 大象传媒 productions should always be accessible to all, to ensure that we are able to make the most of the very best diverse talent. In turn, this contributes to the 大象传媒’s ability to deliver output that is representative of the UK and portrays diverse communities in a genuine, authentic way.
9. Who determines whether the content is authentic and diverse?
We are keen to ensure our content is fully reflective of our diverse audience, the communities they live in and their experiences.
To achieve this, our content needs to be fair and authentic in its portrayal, relying less on formulated stereotypes to inform the narrative and/or character depiction, but highlighting a broader spectrum of diversity and intersectionality within a character or storyline.
Working with our Commissioners, programme-makers can determine if their content is authentic.
10. How will the 大象传媒 track diverse on-air representation and the other qualifying criteria?
We currently track on all three criteria via 大象传媒 Radio’s commissioning tool, Proteus. This will transfer to our new Pitching and Commissioning System (PiCoS) when that launches in late 2024. Suppliers are requested to indicate in their proposal how it meets the criteria for diverse stories and portrayal. The 大象传媒 commissioner will review what the supplier says here as part of the commissioning process.
PiCoS will also be the new home of a secure and confidential Company Leadership Questionnaire which all new Indie suppliers will need to complete as part of their registration to be a supplier. Existing suppliers will be given a grace period to complete the questionnaire once they move to using PiCoS. For in house productions (i.e. from both 大象传媒 Audio and 大象传媒 Studios), we will derive data for ‘company’ leadership from 大象传媒 HR reports for equivalent leadership roles.
Indie Suppliers are also asked to indicate how the production team leadership meets the qualifying criteria. The 大象传媒 commissioner will review what the supplier says here as part of the commissioning process. For in house, we will derive this information from 大象传媒 HR reports for equivalent production leadership roles.
11. What do we mean by Diverse Production Leadership?
To count towards the £12m investment, these roles need to have key creative decision/programme-making responsibilities within the production. They also need to be roles that either contribute/influence key decision-makers and/or are a pipeline to senior level positions. The key roles we consider as leadership roles for Radio are:
- Executive Editor
- Editor
- Writer
- Technical Producer
- Producer
- Assistant Producer
- Production Manager
- Content Assistant
- Production Co-Ordinator
- Production Management Assistant
This list isn’t exhaustive, and we are aware there are other leadership roles that may not appear here, and in those cases please indicate in your submission the additional roles that you are including. Additionally, for companies that may not have the specific roles listed, the commissioner may use their discretion to agree corresponding roles that carry out a similar function.
12. TV Channels are working towards new commissions meeting a 25% entire production team diversity target. Does this apply to Radio as well?
In Radio, where production teams are typically much smaller and with less market movement, we have concluded that it is impractical to apply this target.
13. TV does not include roles that are a pipeline to senior leadership or influence senior decision-makers. Is there a danger of radio spreading itself too thin?
Recognising the historical challenges of radio, we are broadening the criteria to include pipeline roles to help support change. But over time, and as the industry invests in future leaders, we hope to narrow the criteria and focus only on true leadership roles.
14. Is there any flexibility within the roles stipulated?
We’re keen to ensure that strategic and creative decision-making roles have greater diverse representation. The roles defined have been based on the data from sources such as the Creative Diversity Network Diamond Reports and our own internal analysis.
We recognise the need to be flexible in our approach to consider the geographical representation across the UK and the subject matter of the programme. Our aim is to ensure our suppliers can have constructive and honest dialogue with our commissioners regarding greater representation within their productions and teams.
Therefore, in certain cases, it is up to the discretion of the commissioner to agree specific roles for the production to help drive greater inclusion.
15. Why are Production Accountants/Lawyers and Business Affairs teams not included in the diversity criteria for Diverse Production Leadership?
Our approach seeks to increase diverse representation across key leadership roles to help drive greater inclusion throughout the creative decision-making process.
Whilst we acknowledge the importance of these roles within companies, we have identified an under-representation of roles reflecting diverse talent within production and editorial.
16. What additional measures can be implemented to meet the criteria?
We’re committed to supporting our programme-makers and content creatives to meet our requirements and increase representation both on and off-air.
We recognised that many programme-makers and organisations have implemented various initiatives and interventions to increase representation within their production. We have provided advice and guidance on our Radio Commissioning website. Additionally, here are a few suggestions to help meet our requirements:
- Broaden your pool of talent, contacts and networks
- Where possible, advertise your roles for greater attraction - promoting them on multiple diverse platforms
- Speak to our commissioners/controllers about the support they can provide
17. What is Diverse Company Leadership?
We work with some of the world's greatest creatives and programme-makers to create bold British content that entertains, informs and educates our diverse audiences.
We’re committed to ensuring our programmes reflect the diverse communities, stories and lived experiences of our audiences. By broadening the diverse portfolio of programme-makers and companies that we work with, we can continue to achieve that goal.
In order for a company’s leadership to count towards the investment criteria, we have identified these roles where we are interested in diverse representation:
- Managing Director
- Creative Director
- Director of Production
- Executive Producer
- Head of Development
18. What are the requirements for Diverse Company Leadership?
The criteria for Diverse Company Leadership reflect those who have creative and strategic decision-making responsibilities within the organisation. To ensure we support our programme-makers to understand the qualifying criteria that underpins Diverse Company Leadership, we require the following:
- At least two individuals in leadership roles in the company are Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic; and/or disabled; and/or from a working class background
- For smaller companies who have fewer than four of the listed roles, a target of 50% applies. E.g. for a company with three of the listed roles, two will have to meet the criteria
- For companies with only one of the listed roles, a target of 100% will apply
- For companies that do not have the specific roles listed, it is up to the discretion of the commissioner to agree corresponding roles that fulfil a similar function
- Individuals will need to be established in role for a minimum of six months or more
To help establish if an Indie supplier meets this criteria, we ask them to complete a secure online Company Leadership Questionnaire. The survey is due to move to our new Pitching and Commissioning System, PiCoS, when it launches in later this year.
19. Can companies without diverse company leadership qualify?
Yes. The qualifying criteria for the £12m investment require that production companies to meet any two of the three criteria:
- Diverse Content – diverse stories and on-screen/on-air portrayal
- Diverse Production Leadership – influential roles off-air involved in shaping and making our programmes are diverse
- Diverse Company Leadership – senior roles in the companies that make our programmes are diverse
These criteria are designed to ensure we have increased diverse representation on-air, with the companies we work with and those who are making our programmes.
Companies that are unable to qualify as having Diverse Company Leadership can still meet the criteria by having Diverse Content and Diverse Production Leadership.
It is important to note that not meeting two or more of the criteria does not prevent your proposal from being commissioned! All commissions are evaluated on their editorial merits in the round and proposals that don’t qualify against the diversity criteria can still be commissioned outside of these creative diversity commissioning criteria.
20. How can Indies capture diversity data for Diverse Company Leadership and/or Diverse Production Leadership?
To support Indies to capture as much information as possible at the beginning of the commissioning process, our editorial specifications now reflect the diversity and inclusion commitments. We will capture details surrounding Diverse Company Leadership as part of the registration process for new programme suppliers. Currently we also ask Indies to attest to Diverse Production Leadership as part of the process to submit a proposal. In the near future we intend to move to a new process which will assess Production Team leadership at the end of a production run in a new End of Production report. (We recognise there are many radio productions, such as music sequence shows, which run throughout the year without a distinct series ‘run’; we will assess how these productions meet the Production Team Leadership criteria on a periodic basis).
21. How do suppliers flag whether or not they meet the criteria?
We require Indies to complete a secure and confidential Company Leadership questionnaire as part of the process to register as a programme supplier, and then to re-do the survey every two years. Suppliers are also asked to flag in their submissions via Proteus how they believe they meet either of the other two criteria. The 大象传媒 commissioner will review what the supplier says here as part of the commissioning process. In the near future we intend to move to a new process which will assess Production Team leadership at the end of a production run in a new End of Production report. (We recognise there are many radio productions, such as music sequence shows, which run throughout the year without a distinct series ‘run’; we will assess how these productions meet the Production Team Leadership criteria on a periodic basis).
There is more about this in the Commissioning Brief that is sent out by commissioning teams. If companies don’t initially meet any criteria, but do at a later stage, they can inform the commissioning team at that time. For clarity: proposals will not be turned down on the basis of not meeting any of the criteria.
22. How can new Indies get greater access to 大象传媒 commissioners?
We’re excited to be working with great creative talent, who have creative and interesting ideas as well as great formats that appeal to our diverse audiences both in the UK and across the globe.
To ensure we can tap into the wealth of creative talent within our industry we our Indie Development Fund supports talented indies who do not yet have significant 大象传媒 commissions to develop areas of their work that align with the 大象传媒’s priorities, including increasing diversity and content from all parts of the UK. We have also introduced a rolling series if Indie Lunches where indies can meet commissioners and Network Controllers.
23. What resources are available for Indies?
We are keen to support our programme-makers to meet our diversity requirements and have more information for suppliers on our Radio Commissioning and Creative Diversity websites. These provide advice, guidance and resource material on best practice, access to diverse talent and how to create an inclusive production. The 50:50 Equality project has developed a talent database that is also a resource for programme-makers.
24. What are the requirements for Co-Productions?
We understand the importance of co-productions and the opportunities this partnership can present for increase diverse representation within our sector.
We have specified the qualifying criteria for the creative diversity investment in relation to co-production partnerships. It is the production company that owns the intellectual property (IP), that needs to meet the Diverse Company Leadership requirements for the production to qualify.
Our definition of co-production in this instance is between two or more Indies, not a co-production between various finance partners.
25. What support is available to access off-air talent?
The 大象传媒 has several established relationships with organisations that develop, support and cultivate diverse talent for the wider creative industry.
In the appendix section of this FAQ, we have listed some of the organisations that can support with your hiring needs, information can also be found on the Creative Diversity website.
26. What support is available for programme-makers?
In addition to the Indie Development Fund (See FAQ 22), 大象传媒 Sounds’ AudioLab gives budding audio creators the support they need to turn a great idea of theirs into a podcast outside of the existing commissioning structure. Over the course of a year, each of the creators will be aided by an experienced Executive Producer and given access to studios and equipment at the 大象传媒 - as well as technical support so their podcast can be made available to listeners. Some of the podcasts are also made available as commissions on 大象传媒 Sounds.
27. How and when will titles be counted towards the £80m annual target?
All competed programmes that transmit for the first time after 1 April each year will be considered against the criteria for the target that year - including those commissioned prior to that date.
28. Production Teams may not be in place at pitch. What if the criteria aren’t met at this stage?
We understand this may frequently be the case! If the production team isn’t known and the proposal doesn’t qualify on the other two criteria, we would still consider the commission through the usual channels. We don’t accept or decline pitches on the basis of whether they do or do not meet the criteria – proposals are evaluated on their editorial merits and those that don’t qualify against the £80m criteria can still be commissioned. If the production team leadership qualifies at by the point of first transmission or publication, suppliers should inform the commissioner who can amend the record in Proteus (or PiCoS when launched).
29. What if a supplier meets the criteria at pitch but doesn’t later on?
Suppliers should inform the Commissioner if qualifying against any of the criteria changes between the point of commission and first transmission or publication. We expect suppliers and commissioners to keep an open dialogue along the way and for commissioners to offer support or advice as to how to continue to meet the criteria.
30. How will the success/ impact of the commitment be measured? Will this happen each year?
In conjunction with data from Proteus/PiCoS and the number of commissions that qualify against the criteria, we will monitor success on a rolling basis. Working with 大象传媒 Audiences we can capture information on audience ratings and new audiences to help measure impact.
31. Will there be a requirement for companies to be participants in the 50:50 Project and signatories to the Equality in Audio Pact?
The 50:50 Equality Project and the Equality in Audio Pact are voluntary.
50:50 is gathering momentum as radio productions see the benefits of measuring their representation. There is also a new 50:50 diverse contributors database tool in place to support productions.
大象传媒 Radio & Music supports the five principles set out in the Equality in Audio Pact. There are now more than 350 signatories.