IBA: Enhancing diversity and inclusion in the media

“Quality journalism and diversity, among other things, belong to the core values of public service media,” said Noel Curran, Director General of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), in his opening remarks at the online event on Diversity and Inclusion (D&I), presented by EBU’s International Broadcasting Assembly on December 7. “The leadership of Public Service Media needs to state publicly that Diversity and Inclusion is a priority. We have to stay focused and committed, and to take action to keep this momentum going.”

Diversity and inclusion have become strategic initiatives for public service media organizations committed to creating content that fairly represents our society. The impact of these strategies is of particular relevance to international broadcasters, which offer programs to audiences around the globe and in many different languages. Diversity and inclusion is part of their very identity.

Noel Curran

Zahra Nedjabat, head of international relations and diversity at DW, shared the strategies and measures that Germany’s international broadcaster has adopted since diversity management was established on the corporate level in November 2019. “We highly appreciate the opportunity to exchange and collaborate with other broadcasters around the world to promote diversity and inclusion in the media industry. International broadcasters target a global audience. And to reflect it both in the corporate culture and in the programming is not only a question of how to succeed in worldwide competition, it's our duty. We can learn a lot from our international colleagues,” stressed Nedjabat.

D&I has many different facets. Speakers from Asia-Pacific and Europe demonstrated their approaches both off-screen and on-screen, as well as the innovative technologies used to improve the accessability of content for a diverse audience. 

With the 50:50 Equality Project, the BBC has been a pioneer of enhancing Diversity and Inclusion in the news coverage. Nina Goswami, Creative Diversity Lead at BBC, demonstrated the ambitious goals of BBC to reach 50 percent women, 20 percent ethnicity and 12 percent disability representation in the programming without compromise on quality. Since the launch in 2016, 600 voluntary teams within BBC and 75 partners from 22 countries have already joined the project.

The importance of international cooperation is also reflected in the EBU project “New Neighbors”, presented by Daniela Drastata, journalist and producer from HRT (Croatia). The project started as a reaction of EBU members to the refugee crisis in 2015, aiming at highlighting the positive social and economic contributions made by migrants and refugees throughout communities across Europe. DW is one of the participating broadcasters of this project.

Technological innovation also plays a crucial role in promoting Diversity and Inclusion in the media as well, especially in enhancing editorial content, enriching the media experiences on different platforms as well as in improving the accessability of content for elderly people and people with sensory and cognitive impairments. Stretch TV and  Sign Language Avatar were two of the outstanding examples presented by Gino Alberico, Director of the Centre of Research, Technology and Innovation (CRITS) of RAI (Italy).

DW is a founding member of the International Broadcasting Assembly of the EBU and plays a leading role in this organization, which brings together EBU members, associates and approved participants with international broadcasting activities in areas of TV, radio and/or online and provides member broadcasters with a professional platform for exchange, encouraging dialogue between different cultures in Europe and other parts of the world.