Screen industry professionals reveal how discrimination held back their careers

Screen industry professionals reveal how discrimination held back their careers TV presenter Sideman and Channel 4 commissioning editor Fozia Khan are among 11 screen industry professionals to appear in short films describing how discrimination held them back in their careers. The eleven interviewees describe how their race, ethnicity, gender, social class, disability or regionality put them at a disadvantage, and explore the changes needed to make their industries more inclusive. Jamaican-born Sideman, also known as David Whitely, says he feels he would have gone further in his career if he had a ‘London’ accent, and that he feels his race influences the work he is picked for. He quit his radio job presenting BBC1 Xtra last year after the N-word was used in a TV news broadcast. More than 18,000 complaints were made and BBC director general Tony Hall apologised. Fozia Khan speaks of feeling shame as a working-class immigrant early in her career, and the challenges of juggling work and childcare. We wanted those with lived-experience of discrimination to speak in their own words.