I NEVER thought I’d commit this in writing, but I do have a
certain sympathy for Dominic Cummings.
You may recall that Cummings, widely acknowledged as the
power behind the throne at No 10, put out the most unusual recruitment ad of
the year (so far) calling for ‘Weirdos and misfits with odd skills’ to apply
for a job at the seat of Government.
“We want to hire an unusual set of people with different
skills and backgrounds to work in Downing Street…we’re hiring data scientists,
project managers, policy experts, assorted weirdos,” the Prime Minister’s
chief adviser wrote in a beguilingly readable 3,000-word blog post.
By way of explanation, subsection G. of the
off-the-wall job ad is entitled ‘Super-talented weirdos’ and goes on to
explain: “People in SW1 talk a lot about ‘diversity’ but they rarely mean ‘true
cognitive diversity’. They are usually babbling about ‘gender identity
diversity blah blah’. What SW1 needs is not more drivel about ‘identity’ and
‘diversity’ from Oxbridge humanities graduates but more genuine cognitive
diversity.”
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| Cummings and Goings: Apply now to be a No 10 influencer |
The point he was making is that it takes all sorts to make a
Government – and the same is true for journalism. Sadly, like many professions
– no, let's not start that debate again now – journalism is still a rich young
person’s game, dominated by expensive university programmes and accredited
training courses plus unpaid work experience and internships.
But the fightback is on.
When I started as a junior reporter on a weekly newspaper
group in the mid-70s I was one of six – yes SIX – trainees all fresh from
school ranging in age from 16 to 18. We were chaperoned by the redoubtable
David Scott who was the training editor. On the trainee intake just in front of
me was Mike Parker, who went on to be the Daily Express man in Los Angeles, and
behind me was Lisa Hampele who forged a long and successful career at the BBC.
We had all grown up in the area and been to school there.
While we may not have had much credibility in the street as naïve teenagers, we
certainly had some street cred, knowing our way around the towns and villages
we covered. One accidental diversity box checked was one for youth, with the
average age of the newsroom instantly plummeting
I’m not saying it was right or wrong, or better or worse
than today, it was just different.
Now there is a concerted move to regain some of that ground
and attract recruits into journalism who have more to offer than simply the
ability to pay.
Apprenticeship schemes, like at major newspaper groups
Iliffe and JPI Media, are gaining traction and the NCTJ’s Journalism Diversity
Fund continues to plug a diversity-sized gap with a small ‘d’.
The fund was set up in 2005 with a donation of £100,000 from
the Newspaper Licensing Agency (now NLA media access), with the aim of
encouraging more diverse people to train as journalists and making newsrooms
better reflect the communities they serve.
“Journalism is a typically white, middle class profession,
which needs to change. If you feel you could bring something different to a
newsroom – such as your social background, life experiences or ethnicity – then
we want to hear from you,” says the promotional blurb for potential applicants.
Eight bursaries were awarded in the final round of 2019
taking the total number of people helped into a new career to 347. These
aspiring journalists were awarded funding to begin their journalism training at
NCTJ-accredited courses and bursaries that can help fund their course fees and
living expenses.
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| Claire French: " I have always believed in speaking out" |
One of those recipients was Claire French who completed her
journalism training at City College Brighton and Hove and went on to be the
business editor at The News in Portsmouth.
“I was awarded the bursary for arguing that my background –
being brought up in an unemployed, single-parent household – was not a
particularly well-represented demographic in the industry,” she said. “As well
as being made up of white men, the news media industry as a whole continues to
be rather middle class. I have always believed in speaking out, and about, the
people who have the least power in society.”
Now media relations manager at Royal Bank of Scotland,
French reflects: “It was such a great privilege that has unlocked a lot of
opportunities for my career.”
Over at the BBC they take their Diversity – with a big D –
very seriously and have just appointed presenter June Sarpong as the BBC’s
first ‘director of creative diversity’. Sarpong
sees her role to rapidly increase black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME)
representation at senior levels and also boost disability representation on and
off screen in the next year.
“Diversity is not a “nice to have” but an essential part of
the BBC’s agenda and positive action is already underway with urgency,” she
says.
“In the pursuit of diversity we are not looking to exclude
those who have already succeeded, but to allow room for new voices to be
included. Ultimately, I believe the BBC’s window into the UK will be all the
richer as a result, and hopefully one that more people see themselves reflected
in too,” says Sarpong.
Cummings’s approach cued wailing and gnashing at from
predictable corners – political opposition, unions, civil service types – but
also some support from unlikely quarters, including broadcaster and former
newspaper editor Janet Street-Porter.
“I would never have passed an interview for a post at the
BBC – or in Whitehall for that matter,” she wrote. “I didn’t have a degree when
I was appointed directly by the director general and was probably the only
senior executive without one for almost a decade.
“I was stroppy, and overconfident that the BBC was lucky to
have me, rather than the other way around.
“As an editor I made radical changes to The Independent on Sunday.
New people were chosen for their ability to argue and challenge my way of
thinking, to have confidence in their own intelligence. Of course, this method
attracts annoying people, people who might not look right or have social
graces, but if they are loyal and signed up to your project you could not wish
for better workers.”
- This article first appeared in the February 2020 issue of PJ News
