Channel 4 in diversity row over white bosses
Chairman criticises new board members as MPS defend appointments made on merit
CHANNEL 4 has launched a protest against the appointment of four white directors to its board in a row over ethnic diversity.
Lucy Frazer, the Culture Secretary, yesterday approved the appointment of five new non-executive directors to join the broadcaster’s board, four of whom are white.
The move was criticised by Sir Ian Cheshire, the chairman of Channel 4, who warned that the board was lagging behind its own diversity targets.
In an internal memo seen by The
Daily Telegraph, Sir Ian said: “These appointments will improve representation on the board but do not yet meet the levels of representation throughout the rest of the organisation. Appointments to the board are not ultimately in our control due to procedural reasons but we are committed to continuing to push for further progress.”
His comments were criticised by Tory MPS, who said appointments should be made on merit rather than to meet diversity targets.
Following the appointments, Channel 4’s board will have 15 members – of whom 14, or 93 per cent, are white. Under its remit to represent minorities, the broadcaster has a target to draw 20 per cent of its staff from ethnic minorities, 12 per cent from people with disabilities and 6 per cent from those who identify as LGBT. The targets compare with 18 per cent of the UK population who are ethnic minorities, 18 per cent who have disabilities and 3 per cent who identify as LGBT.
Among the new board members is Sebastian James, the Boots chief executive, who is an old Etonian and close friends of Lord Cameron, the Foreign Secretary.
Dame Annette King, the advertising industry veteran, Alex Burford, the head of Warner Records UK, and entrepreneur Debbie Wosskow were also named as non-executive directors.
Tom Adeyoola, a tech entrepreneur who launched Metail, a startup that allows retailers to showcase their clothes on Ai-generated models, was the only non-white appointment.
A spokesman for the Department for
Culture, Media and Sport said: “This department is absolutely committed to advancing equality of opportunity in its public appointments, to ensure that boards of public bodies benefit from a range of diverse perspectives and are representative of the people they serve. Appointments to the Channel 4 board were made by Ofcom following a fair and open competition, with approval from the secretary of state.”
Channel 4 was founded under Margaret Thatcher in 1982 with a remit to disrupt the UK broadcasting landscape. It has a statutory obligation to serve young and diverse viewers, as well as those from lower socio-economic backgrounds.
The Government last year abandoned plans to privatise the broadcaster over fears its financial model, under which it is publicly owned but commercially funded, was not sustainable. Instead, it was forced to move hundreds of staff to Leeds, Glasgow and Bristol to better reflect Britain’s regional diversity, in a shift that was initially strongly opposed by executives.
The broadcaster’s board members, who will serve a three-year term, are selected by media regulator Ofcom and have to be approved by Ms Frazer.
The diversity row threatens a fresh headache for Lord Grade, the Ofcom chairman and former Channel 4 boss, who has ruffled feathers across the TV industry after coming out in defence of start-up broadcaster GB News.
Lord Grade sat on a panel of interviewers for the latest board appointments alongside Sir Ian, academic Elizabeth Watkins and former broadcasting executive Baroness Prashar. The recruitment process was run by executive search agency Russell Reynolds.
Asked about the diversity of Channel 4’s board by MPS in November, Sir Ian said he had pushed for the issue to be taken into account.
Last night, he came under fire from Conservatives over his push for more minorities on the Channel 4 board.
Sir John Hayes, the chairman of the Common Sense Group of backbench Tory MPS, said: “This is very odd and seems to me like it would breach antidiscrimination and equality legislation. It is not for Sir Ian to discriminate
against people on the basis of their colour, which seems to be implicit in his comments.
“What I will be doing is writing to the chairman of the Equalities Commission and drawing the comments that the chairman has made to his attention. These remarks seem to me to be certainly highly contentious. The implication of what he’s saying is that he will discriminate against people of a certain colour, regardless of ability, which is not permissible in law.”
Greg Smith, the Conservative MP for Buckingham, said: “It is imperative that appointments are always made on merit. These appointments clearly show that to be the case. Whilst Channel 4’s targets are meritorious, you can’t always use false metrics where circumstances may not have permitted them to have even been there in the first place.”
Concern over the make-up of its board comes as Channel 4 plots its biggest round of job cuts since the financial crisis, as it grapples with a deep advertising downturn. The broadcaster will remove up to 200 roles, mostly in the traditional broadcast TV division, as the company increases its focus on streaming and social media channels.
In a memo to staff, Alex Mahon, the chief executive, said Channel 4 would “accelerate plans to become a genuinely digital-first public service broadcaster”.