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The Media Show: BBC on Sir Cliff; Covering the Missouri riots; Sky diversity targets

20/08/2014

BBC on Sir Cliff; Covering the Missouri riots; Sky diversity targets

BBC Radio 4 - The Media Show, BBC on Sir Cliff; Covering the Missouri riots; Sky diversity targets

Reaction to the BBC's coverage of the police raid on Sir Cliff Richard's home.

BBC coverage of the police raid on Sir Cliff Richard's home, how journalists are coping on the ground in Ferguson, and can Sky's ambitious new diversity targets be met?

The BBC has come under criticism for the way it covered a police raid on Sir Cliff Richard's home. BBC News decided to film and broadcast a search of the singer's home last week, using a helicopter flying over his home in Berkshire. Since then, the organisation has been accused of breaking editorial guidelines, and will now face questions by the Home Affairs Select Committee. Steve Hewlett talks to Professor Stewart Purvis, former Editor-in-Chief of ITN, about the decision making taken in newsrooms, and crime correspondent for the Times, Fiona Hamilton, about the relationship between crime reporters and the police, especially in a post-Leveson age.

Sky TV has announced plans to improve the representation of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) people across its entertainment channels, including Sky1 and drama-focused Sky Atlantic. It's pledged that by the end of 2015, all new shows on Sky entertainment channels will have people from BAME backgrounds in at least 20% of significant on-screen roles, while all original programming will have someone with a BAME background in at least one senior production role. Steve talks to Stuart Murphy, Sky's director of entertainment, about how they'll go about sourcing the talent, and to Simone Pennant who is the founder of the TV Collective, a membership organisation which works to improve diversity on and off screen.

A press freedom group says journalists attempting to report on the protests in Ferguson in Missouri are being restricted by police. We speak to Gregg Leslie from The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press in the US, and Channel 4 reporter Kylie Morris, on her experience of having an officer pointing a gun at her whilst reporting from the protests. 

Producer: Katy Takatsuki.

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