BECTU to put Project Diamond on ice?


Entertainment union BECTU is warning it may boycott the equality monitoring project, Project Diamond, on the grounds that the BBC, ITV, Sky and Channel 4 need to be more transparent about its results.


Project Diamond, which is due to be launched by the TV broadcasters’ Creative Diversity Network (CDN), aims to collect the equality monitoring data of all those working on productions commissioned by the four broadcasters. But BECTU has said that there has been great reluctance to link the data to individual broadcasters or productions. 


After pressure from the union, CDN did agree to publish the data for each broadcaster but not for individual productions, even those employing hundreds of people, on grounds of confidentiality. BECTU believes that without such transparency Project Diamond will not result in any progress on diversity and those failing to hire BAME workers will continue to avoid accountability for their failure.


BECTU general secretary Gerry Morrissey has written to the chief executives of the four broadcasters stating: “Please do not underestimate the disenchantment of many BAME professionals with the broadcasters’ record.”


https://www.bectu.org.uk/news/2591