BBC Director: Too Many Black And Asian Faces On British TV

Broadcasters have overcompensated for their lack of executives from ethnic minorities by putting too many black and Asian faces on screen, a leading television industry figure said last night.

Samir Shah, a member of the BBC's board of directors, said this had led to a "world of deracinated coloured people flickering across our screens - to the irritation of many viewers and the embarrassment of the very people such actions are meant to appease".

Shah, a former BBC head of current affairs who now runs an independent production company, Juniper, as well as being a non-executive director of the corporation, used a speech to the Royal Television Society to call for current TV industry diversity policies to be ditched because they were not working.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[troykendal]

to many white bigots own british tv

[hilaritee]

the price of imperialism....it just keeps getting higher!

[loki]

Thats ok, there are like 3 asian's on US tv and in US movies. So hopefully they will make up for our loss. And the only Arabs in the media are as terrorist. The US is much more racist and restrictive . Think about it, when was the last time you saw Asian American week? Or Arab American celebration? But you constantly see Baclk and African American celebrations, specials on tv, and we have Hispanic and Caucasian celebration's too . Buy Asians or Arab Americans are ignored or portrayed as only evil or 3rd class at best citizens

[Sparty1]

If you ever were in Detroit in the summer, you'd be able to attend the ethnic festivals. They cover darn near every nationality. They have the Asian, Greek, Polish, African World, etc festivals and you see all races of people there. It's great.

[Arguman]

It seems most of the posters are missing the point of what he said. He's not saying "let's put more whiteys on the screens" but "let's have more ethnic minorities behind the cameras and in the boardrooms". It could have been stately more elegantly, but I think some of you are just missing the point.

[westreal]

Not so simply because of this quote. . . he "used a speech to the Royal Television Society to call for current TV industry diversity policies to be ditched because they were not working". Meaning get rid of the colored faces on the programs because they were not working in getting more colored faces behind the camera.

[iswideopen]

What an ugly thing to say. Just what we need, another racist country.

[neocon666]

Sounds like the English version of Clarence Thomas.

[GBartrem]

They gotta be kidding me, right?...... color and ethnicity is an issue?.... and in England of all places.
I turely enjoy listening to the BBC.... it's a damn shame that their viewers and listeners... are more concerned with the story tellers than the stories themselves.

[hjo4]

Another self-hating person of color, how tragic and unfortunate for him.

[wheights]

I am second generation british asian living in new york. mixed couples were the norm back in the 80s. i'm still stunned that you rarely see mixed couples in manhattan!

[FanofPaine]

I'm going to mostly disagree with him because there is not the same kind of problem in America and it would be interesting to experience this level of multiculturalism for just one television season, BUT I kind of get what he is talking about.

He's saying (by the way, it seems suggested that Mr. Samir is not in fact white. I am unsure of his origin really, but the article made it seem that he is a man of color) that in their overzealous attempt to show more people of color, they get it all wrong. They're mixing up the cultures in ways that people of color themselves are confused and embarrassed. It's like if there is a neighborhood that consists of all Koreans and doesn't have Chinese people in it, but then they cast the neighborhood and it's all Chinese people, people with an entirely different culture than the actual people that live there. Most people don't know the difference but the community of color certainly does. This happens and it's infuriating. I know it's just television, but they are trying to diversify, and that's to be applauded, but getting it right can mean a more than quantity. Quality is always better. That said, I still think the BBC is light years ahead of America when it comes to diversity on television. But one well written, awesome person of color can sometimes equal or best fifty shoddy written people of color.

[phoenics]

I think I get where you are coming from - I don't necessarily trust Mr. Samir's motives. To be frank, other characters (white) are written poorly too, but you don't see people saying, 'we have too many whites onscreen and we're getting them wrong'. I hope that makes sense. The answer is not to remove the black, asian, latino faces. The answer is to write them better and more realistically.

[FanofPaine]

I agree, but I'll still take one well written character of color over a bunch of bad ones. Badly written white people often have more complex white people to redeem the stupid stereotypes. With people of color, we're "the friend" and we fall into a stereotype. When my dad was in the navy he went to Japan and the people there had this misguided perception of black people from American movies. Granted, that was ages ago and the internet levels the field, but media has a powerful impact. People still think Obama is a muslim.

Once in awhile a "The Wire" with quality characters of color comes along. Stereotyping happens with the BBC too. I lurk on a people of color sci-fi site and they had essays that described Martha Jones as a stereotype. They loved Martha herself, but hated some of the things the writers had her doing.

I read Shah as desiring more executive power because it's always easier to produce accurately the people you are friends and family with. Some of the white executives, especially in sci-fi, may have a limited experience and want to diversify but may not do it right (as in getting an entire neighborhood's culture wrong), then the people of color aren't diversifying anything, but becoming a gimmick to say, "Look at us! We're diverse!" Also, you are then in the position to tell a studio, "I know you guys are trying hard. Let me help you."

[Rachel36]

Three-quarters of the world's population is made up of people of color. Wake up and get with the program! We're here, not clear, get used to it.

[Ides]

I love the BBC for its diverse faces and I always marvel at it. On the other hand, I see Shah's point: it seems to be a form of overcompensation for how incredibly white it is.

Kind of like Hollywood. Go figure.

[InfinteShibumi]

Er sorry? Did you say a person by the name of "Shamir Shah" says that there are too many Asians and Blacks on BBC TV? Hmm....By the looks of it his name strongly hints at Persian or Arabic ancestry. How came Mr. Shah then, to this conclusion?

[drzoon]

maybe he is looking beyond his own obvious interests. i get it... and he might have a point. at least on the BBC.

here in this country we hardly ever see an asian lead... IF EVER. and unless its Carlos Mencia making fun of everyone... or George Lopez in a "dad is a doof" role... we don't see any real representation of hispanics in Tv either. and NEVER in film.

but Mr Shah has a point. we should look to be representative.... but don't overcompensate.

bottom line? can't we just do what's right?

[Yola]

ROFLMAO!

[LiberalBuzz]

I kind of noticed that over the period of a couple of visits to Great Britain. I kept wondering about that. I thought the same thing; over compensation. If British TV is to be believed ALL couples in Britain are interracial with the primary being Black Male with White Wife.

Their thing I guess but the reality in the streets is entirely different.

BUT hey whatever gets ratings I guess.

[phoenics]

Oh! Thank you!

First, let me clarify that I am NOT against interracial dating.

However, as a black woman, I am really getting annoyed with the portrayal of interracial couple pairings on television - where black men are shown more often NOT with black women as wives/gfs/partners, etc.. than they are shown with them. It's become a 'trend'. Black women, if they do appear onscreen, are rarely the 'stars' but tend to be relegated to the quirky sidekick or comedic relief. It sends a message (to me at least) that Hollywood does not deem black women to be beautiful and it sends a message that even black men don't want to be with them. It'd be different if we were seeing the same number of black women onscreen being paired with non-black men, but we are barely seeing sistahs at all - or they are stereotyped beyond belief. The black interracial couplings are being shown at higher rates than what happens in the black community.

One famous example of this that's touted in the black community is about ER. Eric LaSalle's character had 2 disastrous relationships with black women penned for the show. Then they penned a relationship with a white women and it was like sunshine and roses. Eric complained and then was written out of the show. That's why we say that if a black man stands up for black women and black relationships in Hollywood, he'd be 'LaSalled'.

Just a different perspective to the discussion.

[clearthinker2008]

This is funny, do you realize how many white faces are on tv? 24/7 99% of the shows, movies, news etc....I bet you don't because you most likely are white.

[Ramus]

Does the BBC need ratings? Isn't it government-funded? The newscasters look like the residents of the city of Brighton.. diverse.

[deckard70]

I like BBC shows for their diversity too. Another thing I noticed is that the BBC also casts people with fat posteriors, whereas in the US only super-thin people are cast. The character of Martha Jones on Doctor Who, she'd never have made it past the arbiters of style in the US - but she's great. And the lead policewoman on Torchwood has a gap in her front teeth that puts David Letterman's gap to shame. I don't know if the BBC is doing this on purpose, but it is nice to see more realistic people on the BBC as compared to the US.

[kkuchenb]

I agree. Completely. I hardly watch U.S. TV, and this is one of the reasons. And they also live in regular houses and flats, not enormous mansions or gargantuan New York apartments. British TV for the most part is still grounded in a kind of reality that doesn't exist on American TV.

[Ides]

Martha Jones would be worshipped in the United States. Angela Bassett? Salma Hayek? Vivica A. Fox? Jennifer Love Hewitt? Give the US some credit.

If anything, actresses are obsessed with getting skinny. It's not that it actually helps their careers it seems. In fact, the new young actresses tend to be heavier than well-established actresses.

[deckard70]

Kristin Bell on Heroes - skinny. Ali Larter on Heroes - skinny. Looking back a few years, Jennifer Garner on Alias - skinny. Everyone on the CW channel - skinny. The middle-aged actresses you named (Angela Bassett, Vicica Fox, etc) wasn't really what I was talking about. I'm talking about the current generation of actresses.

A better illustration may be how when the American tv show The Bionic Woman cast British actress Michelle Ryan, discussion was all about how fat her face and hips looked for a person who was supposed to be a relatively healthy spy. Yet people didn't complain about her when she was on the UK programme The Eastenders.