Former BBC journalist claims black members of staff not being respected in column for The Sunday Times
Veteran BBC journalist Kurt Barling, who was made redundant by the organisation after almost 25-years, has claimed that it “doesn’t respect” its black members of staff.
Writing in The Sunday Times, Barling, who left the BBC last week, claimed that the corporation’s managers still recruited those in their own image, and that as a result, ethnic minority, Asian and Black members of staff were not being replaced.
“I’m heartened that now the most senior levels of management recognise ... the BBC has a diversity problem. But everyone below them seems to be either defensive and/or in a collective state of denial. There is no point in proclaiming initiatives and schemes if they don’t deliver meaningful change.”
He later added: “I fear that a public service institution that fails to live up to its promises on issues like diversity will eventually find itself undone by its own hypocrisy.”
In a statement released to the Sunday Times in response to Barling’s claims, the BBC said: Diversity is an industry-wide issue and the BBC is leading efforts to address this.
“We are working with groups such as the Stephen Lawrence Trust and the Mama Youth Project to bring talented young people from diverse backgrounds into the BBC.”
Barling is also a professor of journalism at Middlesex University.