Press release: OBV Exclusive - A great face for radio

Immediate Release. TO NEWS/POLITICAL DESKS. Contact: Ashok Viswanathan on 0772594587.

Today OBV have called for an immediate investigation into BBC Radio 4’s lack of diversity as an investigation by OBV Blog http://operationblackvote.wordpress.com that found no African or Caribbean regular presenters and only two Asian compared with over 100 white presenters on the upmarket station.

The findings comes after the recent launch of a report on social mobility by former Labour cabinet minister Alan Milburn, which found that the biggest decline in social mobility occurred in journalism and accountancy.

Journalists were more likely than politicians to have gone to independent schools, and the Milburn report concluded that "the typical journalist or accountant of the future will today be growing up in a family that is better off than three in four of all families in the UK."

Commenting on the findings Floella Benjamin OBE stated: 'It's only during football matches and talent shows that we pop up and get a look in. It's as though that’s all we are capable of doing. I personally have been trying to address that balance with broadcasters for over 30 years now. I keep asking myself ....When will it change? And what will it take to make the change?'

Simon Woolley, head of Operation Black Vote, said: 'What OBV has uncovered is a shocking indictment against the BBC and sadly a snapshot of inequality in British society. There is no shortage of Black people with intellectual and political nous that would benefit Radio 4, yet the elitist gatekeepers wrestle to maintain its status-quo. The Black and Asian British licence-payer has a right to demand an equitable service.'