A zero-tolerance statement on bullying and harassment will be the first step taken by the pan-industry Coalition for Change.
At its first quarterly meeting last week, the coalition – established and unveiled by TV Mindset founder and producer Adeel Amini at the Edinburgh TV Festival - agreed to draft an outline of its stance on the issues, including racism and ableism with a view to establish an industry standard best practice.
The coalition said this would help a longer-term plan to establish an independent reporting body on persistent issues.
Sky UK and Ireland managing director of content Zai Bennett and UKTV director of commissioning Richard Watsham, in partnership with Pact, will lead on establishing common codes of conduct for both commissioning and producers.
Over the next three months, broadcasters also agreed to look at ways of strengthening their current whistleblowing measures and positioning them on call sheets, as well as determining which inclusion measures they can ask of suppliers.
Also on the agenda is strengthening HR standards across the industry. Measures floated include extending broadcaster HR staff to include freelancers, or using independent HR boards or freelancer representatives.
As well Sky, UKTV and Pact, the coalition includes representatives of all four public service broadcasters, Bectu and ScreenSkills. It will next convene in January 2021.
