Study shows UK TV minorities gap

This BBC article reminds me of something I once read in the dirt. Sure minorities are underrepresented on TV in relation to their proportional representation of the entire population but in USA, Australia and UK the majority of the population is clinically obese but you wouldn't realise that by watching Friends, Neighbours or The Royle Family (well, scratch that last one) ...

Ethnic minorities areunder-represented in some of the maingenres of UK television, a survey hasshown. Minorities account for 7.8% of thepopulation but get only 6.6% of soapparts and 7.5% of factual roles, theCultural Diversity Network poll found. Overall, minorities get 8.8% of screenroles, with light entertainment andsport having the highest levels. The group of major broadcasters saysthe study of prime time TV showed"more work" was needed to achieveequality. The study monitored prime timeprogramming for seven days across sixchannels: BBC1, BBC2, Channel 4, Five,ITV1 and Sky One. It found that 18.8% of people on sportsprogrammes were from ethnicminorities, with 12.7% in lightentertainment roles. Industry awarenessThe level of representation on newsprogrammes was equal to thepopulation level (7.8%). But only 6% of major roles in dramasand fiction shows went to ethnicminorities, compared with 9.6% infactual programmes. Cultural Diversity Network chairmanSimon Shaps, director of television atITV, said: "This important researchshows that the industry is making realprogress but there is still a lot morework to do. "We need to continue to work togetheras an industry to raise levels ofrepresentation in key genres." The survey was launched to coincidewith the group's annual conference,which aims to raise awareness ofdiversity issues.BBC News Online is on the web atbbc.co.uk/news