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Media Forum: Fighting Racism in the British Media

Wednesday 13 October 2021

When Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, accused the British media of inciting racist attacks on her last year, the Society of Editors released a statement insisting that she was wrong: the British media “is most certainly not racist”, they said.

 

More than 160 journalists of colour signed an open letter describing the SoE’s initial statement as “laughable” proof of “an institution and an industry in denial”. They kept the pressure up for six months, and the subsequent row ultimately led to the director of the SoE’s resignation, a retraction of the statement and a promise to do more to ensure diversity in the industry.

Join our panel of two journalists and an anti-racism campaigner to discuss how racism in the British media can be challenged – both by journalists on the inside and by readers from outside.

Joseph Harker is the Guardian’s senior editor for diversity and development. He is a former editor and publisher of the weekly newspaper, Black Briton.

Suyin Haynes is the Editor-in-Chief at gal-dem, an award-winning media company committed to sharing the perspectives of people of colour from marginalised genders.

Miqdaad Versi is the director for media monitoring at the Muslim Council of Britain, and has spent many years highlighting and challenging Islamophobia in the media.

Chair: Dr Omega Douglas

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