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Oona King has recently been appointed Head of Diversity at Channel 4. Her top priority is to address diversity in television broadcasting in its widest sense and to raise the profile of the CDN (Cultural Diversity Network).

BHM: What is your top priority in your new role?
Oona King (OK): In a nutshell I would like to change the face of British TV so that diversity is entirely normal; so it’s normal to see ethnic minorities as well as other under-represented groups such as disabled people and older women, (older women have a much shorter screen life than men). I am also looking at opportunities in TV in terms of class or people from low incomes who have far less chance of getting into the TV industry.
Off screen diversity is just as important, or even more so. In terms of race it is common place to see black or Asian people reading the news, however it is not common place to see them as directors or producers, or technicians.

BHM: Can you tell us about your own cultural heritage?
OK: My father is African Amercian, from Georgia, and my mum is a white, Jewish, Geordie whose father was Hungarian and mother was half-Scottish and half-Irish. On my dad’s side it turns out that both my grandparents had Native American parents. I also found out recently that it was not unusual for Native Americans to have black slaves. I nearly fell of my chair when I heard that! I learnt that there was a difference in the way Native American Indians treated their slaves. But still, ownership of one human being by another is all part of the same thing. You learn something new everyday when you look into your family tree.
I made a documentary on Martin Luther King and we went to Moorehouse College, the black college where he went. My dad works at the college and when we interviewed him for the programme he said: ‘Well, when I met Martin Luther King and spoke to him…..’. I said to my dad: ‘You never told me you met him – he said: ‘You never asked!’

BHM: What is the purpose of the (Cultural Diversity Network) CDN?
OK: The CDN is the tool that helps me achieve my priority of improving diversity. The CDN was set up by the main television broadcasters around eight years ago to address the fact that there weren’t enough black people on or off screen. There has been success in getting ethnic minorities on screen, but now we have to move to the next stage which is off screen and wider diversity, like disability.
The CDN aims to get broadcasters to look at diversity in its broader sense which also includes class and race. It’s about giving people from different backgrounds the opportunity to get ahead in the media whereas the people who currently get ahead it the media are very similar. Samir Shah talked about ‘cultural cloning’ and it is the case that the average person at any of the main broadcasters is white, middle class and male. The CDN is trying to shake that up. So I hope to make more people aware of the CDN, and as part of that we are also planning the CDN Awards. n

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