Words by Smiley Team
It was out of sheer frustration that Al Jazeera filmmaker Samantha Asumadu founded campaign group Media Diversified in 2013. She'd had enough of how the UK media was tragically far from reflecting the diverse groups that live there.
“I was just wondering where all the images of Black and Brown people were in the newspapers – the only ones I could see were negative,” Samantha tells Smiley News.
To resolve this issue, she set out to create an online platform for BAME journalists to share their content, propel them into successful journalism careers and combat the racism prevalent across news outlets.
After two years of inactivity due to funding issues in 2019, the platform has returned with new aims, which will build on the successes of its earlier years.
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Launching off the back of two hashtags, #AllWhiteFrontPages and #AllWhiteTV, Media Diversified immediately turned the spotlight on the British media’s need to accurately represent ethnic minority groups in its coverage.
The organisation went on to create a mock awards event called the Trashies, for which the worst media stories for diversity were nominated, voted on and ceremonially shredded for all the public to see.
“Someone would do a little speech as they read out the worst perpetrators of xenophobia and we had various winners who tweeted to us when they found out they’d won,” says Samantha.
“It was a chance for those people to hear what their readers actually think about what they're writing."
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And the campaign had a great impact. Many of the nominees engaged with the awards and Samantha saw how over years, some of them started to receive awards less and less, much to their relief.
While Media Diversified’s campaigns have driven positive change, its writers have gone on to receive critical acclaim. Best selling author Maya Goodfellow previously wrote for the platform, as well as author and journalist Yomi Adegoke.
Yomi later tweeted about her gratitude towards Media Diversified, writing: “@WritersofColour helped me make #MyBreakthrough by publishing me regularly and getting me my first @guardian commission nearly 10 yrs ago.”
Today Media Diversified is running a campaign to defend the rights of migrants and refugees in the UK, hoping to defeat the Nationality and Borders Bill being read in Parliament. Find out more and get updates via their website and social media pages.
