Then there were none! ITV’s ‘all-white’ day
AFTER it was revealed that ITV featured just one ethnic minority star over an entire day, bosses vowed to tackle diversity.
But efforts appear to have gone backwards, when the channel failed to feature a single non-white host on the schedules last Wednesday.
With many of its big names on holiday for half-term, ITV had an opportunity to put a more diverse range of faces centre stage.
But while ethnic minorities were represented in wider roles, the key anchor positions all went to white stars. Good Morning Britain hosts Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid were covered by Ben Shephard and Kate Garraway, while Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes stood in for Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield on This Morning.
In the past, both programmes have employed ethnic minority stars such as Rochelle Humes, Ranvir Singh and Adil Ray as holiday cover. Christine Lampard stood in for Lorraine Kelly on her morning chat show.
Later, Loose Women – which has three non-white panellists on its roster – opted instead for Andrea McLean, Janet Street-Porter, Stacey Solomon and Gloria Hunniford. The afternoon ITV line-up – David
Dickinson’s Real Deal, Tenable, Tipping Point and The Chase – all featured white faces.
The lunchtime news was read by Lucrezia Millarini, the evening bulletin by Alastair Stewart and Tom Bradby hosted News At Ten.
The popular 8pm slot was filled by Paul O’Grady’s For The Love Of Dogs show and Robert Peston presented his politics show between 10.45pm and 11.40pm.
The rest of Wednesday’s schedule – 18 hours of programming – included Doc Martin, Emmerdale and Coronation Street.
Earlier this month, The Mail on
Sunday revealed how the only nonwhite face on ITV during 18 hours of programming on Tuesday, October 8, was ITN newsreader Nina Hossain. ITV said at the time that it was ‘fully committed to continuing to improve’.
Last night, the channel said it considered last Wednesday’s schedule diverse as there were ethnic minority stars in presenting roles.
A spokesman pointed out that Ranvir Singh and Andi Peters had been part of the Good Morning Britain presenting team and Anushka Asthana was Robert Peston’s co-host.