Ethnic Balance: Race against the tide

Abstract

Harker, assistant comment editor at The Guardian, argues that progress towards proper ethnic diversified staffs within the media - the press, especially - has been slow. The number of racial minorities in editing positions across all Fleet Street is tiny, he claims, and most of the main desks on the nationals - home, foreign, city, features, sports - are run by entirely white teams. Harker concludes: 'As newspapers face more and more intense competition, both in print and online, surely they can't afford to ignore Britain's growing minority population. The assumption that things can continue as they always have, with a wealthy well-connected elite handing down news from above, expecting their underlings to try to imitate them, just doesn't fit our 21st century profile. Ultimately, what surely we all want is for all sections of society to feel they are properly represented in the range, variety and balance of stories written about them... But how many newspaper organisations will genuinely commit themselves to reaching that goal?'