The Independent once described City, University of London as having “rightly accrued legendary status within the media”. City’s alumni include broadcast presenters, newspaper editors, investigative journalists and columnists from the likes of the BBC, the Daily Telegraph and The Guardian.
After Harry and Meghan described the British media as “bigoted” in their bombshell Oprah interview last week, the Society of Editors released a statement asserting that “the UK media is not bigoted” and that the Duke and Duchess’ claims that parts of the media are racist were “not acceptable”.
So do the next generation of journalists, studying at City, agree with the 168 journalists of colour and the editors of the Guardian, Financial Times and HuffPost, who wrote an open letter to object, leading to the resignation of the SoE’s executive director, Ian Murray? Islington Now investigated what City journalism students made of the statement.
Some 82.8 per cent of the 64 postgraduate and undergraduate journalism students who responded to a call for evidence said they disagree with the SoE’s statement, 48.8 per cent of whom strongly disagree.
Of the 16 black and mixed race students who responded, 100 per cent disagree with the statement.
Overall, 7.8 per cent of students agree with the statement and 9.4 per cent neither agree or disagree.
45.3 per cent of the pool of upcoming journalists said the statement had discouraged or strongly discouraged them from going into the media industry. 50 per cent said they were neither discouraged or encouraged. Less than 2 per cent of students felt encouraged by the statement.
For those who disagree or strongly disagree with the statement, respondents often asserted that it was “ridiculous” not to acknowledge blatant instances of racism in the press. Others said that the statement failed to show any nuance or ability to self-reflect on the industry.
One respondent who strongly disagrees with the statement said: “If the media is unable to reflect on itself then there’s a very big problem there. The media, instead of being the mouthpiece of society, has taken its power to tell people what to think and how to think. When it does so in a way which is harmful, that harm will remain in society for many years. With great power comes great responsibility. The media must heed this.”
Another said: “Trans rights, BLM, immigration, etc [are] constantly batted around for outrage and culture war headlines. [There is a] massive lack of newsroom diversity, particularly by class and race. I still want to work in the industry but it is discouraging that there is seemingly [from this statement] such a lack of self awareness or willingness to improve.”
The respondents who neither agree or disagree with the SoE’s statement commonly said they felt it wasn’t the whole industry that was “bigoted”, but instead particular newspapers or commentators. One said: “I’m not sure I would say the media industry is bigoted intentionally but perhaps it is as it tries to reflect Britain/as a result of [how] group[s] think in white, posh dominated newsrooms.”
A respondent who agrees with the SoE’s statement suggested it was a problem about individual journalists, as opposed to the industry: “I think some people in the media are bigoted, who are loud in the arena, but many are hard working journalists trying to be balanced and fair.”
Of the black and mixed race students who responded, 81 per cent felt discouraged or strongly discouraged from working in the media industry.
One black female student said her main concern about entering the industry was “facing racism from colleagues and bosses [and] also feeling like [she’s] being scapegoated into writing only about race”.
Another black female also said she was worried “that [she] won’t get the same opportunities to progress in the industry and [will] feel pigeonholed to only speak on race based issues when [she] want[s] to cover more”.
Some white students also felt discouraged or strongly discouraged to go into the media, with one white male student saying that he was concerned about “the elitism and bigotry of the journalism establishment”.
Other concerns about going into the media industry, which often occurred in responses, include a lack of jobs, pressure from “bigoted” editors, nepotism, polarisation, and low pay.
While nearly half of journalism students at City have been discouraged from going into the industry by the SoE’s refusal to say the UK media is “bigoted”, the reasons why they chose to go into journalism plant a seed of optimism for the future.
Many chose journalism for a love of writing and telling human stories, or for being creative and investigating.
A large number of future journalists are passionate “to help give a platform to underrepresented and misrepresented voices”.
Overall, the young journalists’ responses revealed that they believe journalism has the ability to “make a valuable contribution to society”. Whether they believe it does so currently, they are not so sure.
