by ALMUT ROCHOWANSKI with NANI JANSEN REVENTLOW
The training hub of the BBC, BBC Academy, sends out a tweet to announce the Expert Women 2017 training initiative IMAGE/BBC Academy Twitter
(WNN) LONDON, UK: In February 2017 the instructional hub of British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), BBC Academy, held its second series of trainings with the BBC Expert Women’s Day. The event brought together “female experts who’d like to appear on air as contributors to BBC programmes”.
Choosing 24 women professionals for the program BBC Academy outlined, “The BBC Expert Women class of 2017 included lawyers, scientists, political analysts, entrepreneurs, coders, cultural leaders and sex educators – all women with particular expertise, all keen to share their knowledge on TV, radio or online as contributors or presenters”.
Selected from a pool of 450 applicants for what was coined by BBC Academy as a ‘media familiarisation day”, the women were given tips on how to sound natural on the air, along with an opportunity to know what it’s like to experience appearing on camera in a BBC news studio.
Seemingly this was a well-intentioned effort to diversify expert sources on news panels. However the way the BBC is going about it has made the process seem more like an awkward beauty contest.
This is the latest edition of a programme the BBC launched in 2013. At first glance the BBC Academy Expert Women’s Day might look like an earnest attempt to overcome the notorious ‘all-male’ news panel problem. And it may be something the BBC should be applauded for, even though in 2012 the BBC was the only major UK news broadcaster to refuse to sign a pledge to get more women on the screen.
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