Some members of WFTHN-UK/Ireland may be interested in the BECTU event on social class and tv below.
Dr Shelley Cobb
English and Film
Faculty of Humanities
University of Southampton
http://www.southampton.ac.uk/english/about/staff/sc1p07.page
From: Terry Messenger <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Reply-To: Terry Messenger <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Date: Monday, 10 November 2014 18:03
To: "[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>" <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Subject: BECTU seminar on Social Class and TV
Dear All,
Have any of you done any research on the social composition of the workforce in television? I ask because the TV trade union BECTU is planning an event to discuss the issue.
I am a member of BECTU’s Writers Producers and Directors Committee. Every year we organise a Freelancers' Fair to help people in their TV careers and to discuss matters of importance to the industry. At next year’s Freelancers’ Fair, we would like to discuss the question of whether there is a preponderance of privately educated, upper middle class people in creative and management TV posts and whether this results in content slanted by an upper middle class world view. Also, is this a cause for concern?
There has certainly been some discussion of this subject in the media but we would like to know if there has been any empirical research.
It has been said that class is impossible to define and thus impossible to measure and therefore it is impossible to find out if the upper middle class predominate in the industry. There is some truth in that. But we feel that the divide between private and state education is clear cut and statistics on the proportion of each in each grade could be illustrative.
We envisage a debate on a motion going something along the lines of: snobbery in promotion and recruitment in TV results in disproportionate employment of the upper middle class and content which displays an overall bias against the working class and poorer people generally.
We’re genuinely interested to hear both sides of the argument.
BECTU’s WPD committee includes Ken Loach, one of the few film makers who unequivocally attempts to redress negative stereotyping of the working class.
The Freelancers Fair is one of the most important events in the TV industry calendar. We hold it in London, for which apologies to the rest of the country. It’s usually early June. This year around 300 people turned up and a wide range of occupations was represented: runners, writers, producers, directors, channel commissioners and senior management included.
I know this is a subject in which David Forrest takes a keen interest. David has called for papers on class in TV drama which is very relevant to us. We are also interested in factual.
Please do get in touch if you think you have anything of interest to contribute to our event.
Best wishes.
Terry Messenger
BECTU Writers, Producers, Directors Committee.
07794 550173
020 8441 7906.
--------------------------------------------------------
MeCCSA mailing list
--------------------------------------------------------
To manage your subscription or unsubscribe from the MECCSA list, please visit:
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=MECCSA&A=1
-------------------------------------------------------
MeCCSA is the subject association for the field of media, communication and cultural studies in UK Higher Education.
This mailing list is a free service and is not restricted to members. It is an unmoderated list and content reflect the views of those who post to the list and not of MeCCSA as an organisation.
MeCCSA recommends that the list be used only for posting of information (for example about events, publications, conferences, lectures) of interest to members or to promote discussion of current issues of wide general interest in the field. Posts to the MeCCSA mailing list are public, indexed by Google, and can be accessed from the JISCMail website (http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/meccsa.html).
Any messages posted to the list are subject to the JISCMail acceptable use policy, which states that users should avoid “engaging in unreasonable behaviour, or disrupting the general flow of discussion on a list.”
For further information, please visit: http://www.meccsa.org.uk/
--------------------------------------------------------
|
