Across the pond in England, the BBC posted a job listing offering “an exceptional and unique opportunity to train as a broadcast journalist…” BUT the year-long paid internship is “only open to candidates from a black, Asian or non-white ethnic minority background”.
Yes. You read that correctly. Whites need not apply. Ironically this type of ad appears to harken back to the early days of the 1900’s when Irish immigrants were told they “need not apply” to jobs in New York City, but apparently this is okay in England in the year 2017.
Breitbart London reported the advertisement was the creation of a company called Creative Access which “offers highly desirable, paid internships at top media companies, from which white people are excluded from applying.” Creative Access has received government grants to aid the "under-represented."
Creative Access’ website proclaims, “We help young people, from under-represented communities throughout the UK, to access creative careers…Our vision is that in the longer term, our interns will progress to management positions, and in turn bring in others from under-represented communities in alongside them.”
But according to the BBC’s Equality Information Report for 2017, it showed that” black and minority ethnic (BME) people make up 14.5 per cent of the corporation’s workforce, while comprising less than 13 per cent of Britain’s population at the 2011 census.”
This is how the BBC advertises in general for their Journalism Trainee Scheme:
The scheme offers vocational journalists the opportunity to immerse themselves in BBC News for high-quality training. Successful applicants need to be able to demonstrate creativity, resilience in a high-pressure environment and have an understanding of the role of the BBC’s journalism.
Our aim is to make sure you're in a strong position to apply for journalism jobs across the BBC once your traineeship ends. We also offer coaching and support when you are applying for jobs within the BBC.
We seek to recruit people with some journalistic experience who want to broaden their broadcasting skills, as well as people who might want a career change and can show evidence of journalistic potential. We place a premium on diversity and welcome applicants who can bring their different life experiences into the BBC’s newsrooms.
The BBC Journalism Trainee Scheme has a high retention rate – most of our trainees have gone on to land BBC journalism roles.
By 2020, BBC promises to have at least a 15% non-white staff with 8% being LGBT. How’s that for goals?
