With Black Lives Matter protests continuing around the world, black BJTC alumni have been sharing their experiences of working in the broadcast industry. Marverine Duffy (née Cole) is a former Broadcast Journalism student from Birmingham City University. After nearly two decades working in the industry, she is now a full-time academic and the Director of Undergraduate Journalism at BCU. Marverine was awarded Journalist of the Year in the 2019 Mind Media Awards for her BBC Radio 4 documentary Black Girls Don’t Cry.
How have things been for you in relation to the events of the last few weeks?
It’s been very, very difficult. I’m a full-time academic and it’s been very difficult to concentrate on the work I need to do. The video of George Floyd’s death was absolutely horrendous. No-one should have to see and endure that. And the subsequent protests in the US, the UK and around the world have really brought to the fore issues and memories that I have buried and suppressed for a very long time.
Is there anything from your experience as a black journalist that you’d like to share?
On many occasions I’ve been the only black female on shift in the newsroom and I’ve often experienced a culture of suspicion around me and the fact I’m present as a journalist. I’ve always felt an air of: ‘Is she quite good enough?’ ‘Should she be here?’ ‘Why is she here at all?’ There have been times where I’ve had an inkling that people have not believed that I could be a high achiever, because of the reaction to my work. I’d carry out a standard task like going out and reporting, bringing back audio and chopping it up for radio bulletins and people would say: ‘Wow Marv,” which feels like a disproportionate reaction to me just getting on and doing the job I’ve been told to do quickly and efficiently. Is that racism? I don’t know.
I once screen tested as a breakfast presenter and all the colleagues in the newsroom said I did a lovely job. But the editor at the time said, “You are not going on air with your hair like that.” My hair wasn’t all straight and flattened down. It had some honey brown colour through it, but not any crazy colours. Can I put that down to racism? I don’t know.
I’ve been in roles where I’ve had to really justify why certain stories are relevant for our audience, such as a story I pitched about white anti-slavery campaigners. I did all the research and then when the pitch was eventually accepted, I was not able to present it – they got a local historian to do it instead.
Ultimately there are a lot of things that go on in newsrooms that other people could put down to “newsroom culture”. There is a hierarchy in newsrooms. If you haven’t done this, or ticked that box, or had that bit of experience, you can’t go up to the next level, and I think that in itself is very restrictive for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic journalists. I have seen that opportunities are given more frequently to people who speak with a lovely accent, or have a particular look.
You have been in the industry for 17 years, what are your thoughts on how journalism has evolved in terms of being more inclusive.
I’ve seen some really positive changes. Since I stepped out of the newsroom as my main job around seven years ago I’ve seen black journalists, by which I mean journalists of African and Caribbean heritage, a lot more visible on social media and on air. I’ve also seen a lot more British Asian journalists out there, which is great.
I always thought it was weird when many years ago I was the only black reporter on the news desk at BBC Radio WM in Birmingham, the second most diverse city outside of London. I think it was the same when I was at ITV Central News, and at BBC Midlands today. It didn’t make any sense to me. So to see many more black people on air across outlets and a variety of platforms now is great. And there is far more willingness than ever before for news programmes to tackle more diverse narratives. We’re seeing more diverse communities on screen in the news – it’s not always stories about the crimes and arrests of black people.
That’s good progress, yet there needs to be more. I talk to a lot of journalists across print, online and broadcast and there are still a lot of bad things happening to people in those newsrooms. I’ve been having conversations this week with people who are being told not to talk about Black Lives Matter at all, or they risk losing their jobs or not getting any more shifts. They are made to feel they are lucky to be there. Right now, I know of people who, after three or four years in the industry, want to leave because they’ve had enough of how they are treated in newsrooms. How can that be after just three or four years of qualifying? I also know people who have been working diligently in their jobs, doing excellent work, who are not only paid less than others, but are overlooked time and time again and leapfrogged by white journalists who have not delivered the same level of impact with their work.
What would you like to see the industry doing today to tackle this situation?
It needs to be made clear that when a BAME journalist is hired, it’s not just a “diversity hire”. It’s not just any old body given the job. Those views need to stop. This is a mindset that prevails that needs to be quashed. I’m not saying it’s in all newsrooms, I’ve worked in some that are lovely, where there’s never been a problem.
And news editors – the people doing the hiring and firing of journalists, or listening to pitches from journalists and sending them out on stories – need to stop seeing black journalists as ‘other’. Black journalists are often pigeon-holed and are only sent on stories about black communities. Either that or they are forced to justify their story ideas to a greater level than white journalists on their relevance to the audience.
There needs to be an open-mindedness amongst editors, because this is about your audience. Audiences are changing. It’s hard to make money from journalism these days. Making money is wedded to advertising revenue so if your eyes are not on your content, you are losing revenue. At the moment BAME audiences are not being well served, and they are going elsewhere. If you are not covering content that speaks to a wide range of people that live in this country, or are interested in what happens in the UK, you are losing out. And the route to diving into that content is by employing journalists from a range of backgrounds who have different perspectives and who can bring a whole range of new stories and narratives to your output.
The longer you ignore or ill-treat black journalists, the less likely you are to make that bottom line work. And other news platforms will thrive – and I say good on them. There’s a whole bunch of brand new, fresh, diverse platforms out there run by black journalists who are disillusioned by the state of our industry and have set up on their own. A lot of that content is absolutely exceptional, and I love what they are doing. My two favourites are Black Ballad and gal-dem. There’s also Melan Mag, Burnt Roti, Brown Girl Mag. And then there are all the independent podcasters out there like Dope Black Mums, Dope Black Dads and The Receipts. They are making content and they are talking to audiences news organisations are neglecting. And a lot of them are run by journalists who left newsrooms because they’d had enough.
Anything you’d like to say to young black journalism graduates right now, many of whom may be feeling overwhelmed by the events of the last few weeks as well as dealing with the challenges of COVID-19 on their studies?
They’ve got to go out there and fight, and search for the opportunities that hopefully will still be there. They should be looking for employment and also creating their own content, which is what we encourage from the get go for every student. Don’t give up. Don’t let it rattle you. And write about it. One of my first year students of mixed heritage sent me a blog post she’d written after going to a protest, and got some photos. I passed her on to Huff Post who we collaborate with at BCU, and they published it and she got paid. Her first ever published opinion piece. If you want to vocalise your experience, do it, and if you don’t, then that’s fine too. Don’t feel under pressure to talk about it if you don’t want to. Find a way of expressing yourself around this issue and don’t let it put you off the course of your desire to be a journalist.
You need to be connected, and network with other journalists, otherwise it’s going to feel like an even lonelier experience. Black journalists are talking to each other every day and sharing knowledge, so you need to engage with groups like We Are Black Journos, Creative Access and The Race Beat. Join the NUJ, there is a black members section. If you’re thinking about taking your journalism skills into TV production as a researcher, assistant producer then you need to join the TV Collective.
As journalism academics, now is the time for all of us to examine how we teach our students about reporting on race, diversity and equality, to ensure that the students we send out into the world are not making the mistakes of years gone by. We also need to remind our students about fortifying the inner resilience they already have, which is much required to work in this industry.
You can follow Marverine on Twitter. She has mentored aspiring journalists and TV presenters for more than a decade and if you would like to approach her to discuss the possibility of her doing the same for you, you can contact her via LinkedIn.
Marverine is a contributor to the BJTC’s free e-book ‘Everybody In – A Journalist’s Guide to Inclusive Reporting for Journalism Students’ a practical guide to assist with inclusive newsgathering, which the BJTC would encourage all journalists to read.
The BJTC is committed to improving diversity in our newsrooms to ensure that black stories are told and black voices are heard, amongst all the other voices that make up our community.
