BBC unmasked: How Steph McGovern exposed broadcaster for ‘ignoring working class’
STEPH MCGOVERN snubbed the BBC's efforts to ethnically diversify its employees and explained that the corporation lacked focus on nurturing and appealing to working class UK talent.
Steph McGovern recalls boss calling her a 'Middlesbrough tart'
The BBC has announced it will invest £100million of its TV budget over a period of years to produce “diverse and inclusive content”. Director general Tony Hall described the move as “a big leap”.
It will come into effect from April 2021.
With it the BBC has set itself a mandatory target, that 20 percent of off-screen talent must come from under-represented groups.
This includes those with a disability or from a BAME or disadvantaged socio-economic background.
The announcement comes amid widespread protests from the Black Lives Matter (BLM) group after the death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer.
Lord Hall said: "The senseless killing of George Floyd - and what it tells us about the stain of systemic racism - has had a profound impact on all of us.
"It's made us question ourselves about what more we can do to help tackle racism - and drive inclusion within our organisation and in society as a whole.
"This is our response - it's going to drive change in what we make and who makes it.
“It's a big leap forward - and we'll have more to announce in the coming weeks."
The BBC has long moved towards making its work force more representative of the UK.
In 2017, the corporation set out a list of goals it wished to achieve by 2020.
Some of these included 14.5 percent of their workforce being from BAME backgrounds, including 10 percent of their leadership; other steps wanted to achieve a 50:50 men-women staff ratio, and more LGBT and disability representation.
It didn’t, however, mention any pledge to recruit those from lower socio-economic backgrounds.
This is something many former BBC employees have drawn attention to, often while working for the corporation.
Matthew Wright and Steph McGovern have both been outspoken about the issue, as has the media outlet's current media editor, Amol Rajan.
Ms McGovern was consistently damning in her opinion on the subject, as demonstrated during a 2018 interview with The Sunday Times.
She said: "Throughout my career I've had to argue about (pay). It's not as simple as a gender issue, it's partly down to class.
"There are a lot of women who do a similar job to me who are paid a hell of a lot more ... who are a lot posher than me.
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"We concentrate too much on ethnic diversity and not enough on class.
"It's dead important to represent loads of different cultures.
“But what the BBC doesn't do enough of is thinking about getting people from more working-class backgrounds.
“It's just posh."
She also revealed that the BBC was brainstorming how it could become more inclusive, but how this had failed because “a lot of people in management are from the same background".
"We're talking about: 'How do we represent more working class people?' when they themselves are not working class.
“So how do they know?"
She even divulged the time she was told by a BBC boss that she was “too common for telly”.
A BBC spokesperson insisted at the time: “Steph does a fantastic job on BBC Breakfast.
“If her accent was an issue for some in the past during her career then it certainly isn’t now.”
Ms McGovern works with schools to inspire children who come from lower socio-economic backgrounds to do well.
Being the BBC’s former business correspondent, she wants children taught about money from an early age in state schools to help them manage their finances that their middle-class peers may have no trouble doing.