How diverse is broadcast diversity really?

Perhaps unable to find an appropriate synonym, deep within the public hearing notice for the CRTC's Diversity of Voices Proceeding (Notice of Public Hearing 2007-5) the commission raises the question of diversity within our broadcast system. To clear up the confusion, the first refers strictly to the number of representatives within our broadcast landscape, while the second speaks specifically to their ethnicity. And although some fear the current trend towards consolidation within our industry will limit the total number of Canadian broadcast voices, those on the cultural diversity side say the number of voices has been lacking all along."You just have to walk down the street and then turn on your TV set and the answer is there," says Paul De Silva, founding partner at Diversity Television Inc. (DTI), about the under-representation of minorities in Canadian TV programming.But Silva doesn't target mass consolidation as part of the problem. "In principle, I'm not against consolidation; it's a fact of life," says De Silva. "And essentially having big companies that are integrated and have a large size and resources is not necessarily a bad thing. To compete globally, I think one needs to do that."In fact, he says the narrowing of ownership voices at the top of Canada's broadcast food chain doesn't have to impact the culturally diverse make-up of our system at all: "It depends on how these large companies approach the issue of reflecting cultural diversity. We hope that they would see that as an important part of their mandate and I think it could have potential...Our point is that if is a reality of the business, and it looks like it is, at the same time the CRTC should foster new ownership in the system." On this point De Silva has a specific interest: in March, DTI applied to have its currently unlicensed Canada One TV channel granted digital basic carriage status as part of the recently concluded 9(1)(h) hearings (NPH 2007-1) and currently awaits the commission's ruling. If licensed, Canada One will deliver original, English-language Canadian dramatic programming reflecting Canada's diverse cultural composition. De Silva says Canada One differs from other ethnic channels because it's aimed at mainstream audiences. "It's really important for cross-cultural awareness," he says. "And for second-generation immigrants who have grown up here, the common language is English and they want to see themselves represented as Canadians that are English speaking." Clearly, as Canada's ethnic population grows and matures - DTI offers Census figures stating that by 2017 one in five Canadians will belong to a visible minority group - how it is represented on TV will take different forms. These issues are all likely to be fleshed out at the Diversity of Voices Proceeding hearing in September. But whatever the outcome is, it should be with the purpose of creating an environment where eventually broadcasters won't have to "accomplish cultural diversity objectives," and our diversity will be reflected in programming organically.De Silva says for this to happen Canada needs to increase spending on dramatic programming, reduce its reliance on American programming in primetime, and get more Canadians of diverse backgrounds in decision making positions."It's so important that there be ownership and participation of visible minority people in mainstream television, not just ethno culturally specific Category 2-type programming like there is now," he says. "If you don't have people in a position to green-light projects who come from and have these interests, there's an issue of decision making. And if the decision makers don't have the priorities as well, then...it quite difficult I think for us to see any real significant or meaningful change in the near future."

How diverse is broadcast diversity really?

News | 04/25/2007 4:20 pm EDT

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