Nature documentaries presented by “white, male voices” could put off ethnic minority views, according to a report funded by Britain’s major environmental agency.
Last year, the Environment Agency financially supported the study by an international climate change group which said the use of white narrators could make the sector feel “inaccessible to people from ethnic minorities”.
The research was uncovered by Conservative Way Forward, a Thatcherite pressure group, which found that Natural England and the Environment Agency – which have a combined annual budget of £1.3 billion – have been increasingly focused on issues of equality, diversity and inclusivity.
Last year, Natural England commissioned a report to examine the “Diversity in images of England’s green and natural spaces”, which suggested photographs of the countryside were not inclusive enough.
In February 2022, the Environment Agency funded a report by the Institution of Environmental Sciences, entitled, “A challenging environment: Experiences of ethnic minority environmental professionals”.
It concluded: “The tendency for environmental documentaries to be voiced by white, male voices was given as an example of how the environment and the sector can feel inaccessible to people from ethnic minorities”.
‘Diversity, inclusion and equality’
And in 2020, the quango’s chief executive Sir James Bevan expressed guilt over the low number of ethnic minority staff working for the agency and vowed to “do something about it”.
He said he felt “angry that people of colour still experience racism in this country on a daily basis” and that the proportion of ethnic minority staff in the agency is “only 4.4 per cent when if we were truly representative of modern Britain it would be 14 per cent”.
Sir James said he felt “more aware than ever” of his “privilege as a white, middle class, heterosexual male” and urged staff to “reach out to their BAME friends and ask how they are feeling and what we can do to support them”.
A spokesman for the Environment Agency said: “We are proud of our work to promote diversity, inclusion and equality in the organisation. It is the right thing to do and will help us better serve the public.”
Marian Spain, chief executive of Natural England, said: “There is clear evidence of the health and wellbeing benefits of spending time in nature, but we know that not everyone enjoys these benefits, with people from ethnic minority backgrounds disproportionately affected.”
>Last year, Natural England commissioned a report to examine the “Diversity in images of England’s green and natural spaces”, which suggested photographs of the countryside were not inclusive enough.
>In February 2022, the Environment Agency funded a report by the Institution of Environmental Sciences, entitled, “A challenging environment: Experiences of ethnic minority environmental professionals”.
>It concluded: “The tendency for environmental documentaries to be voiced by white, male voices was given as an example of how the environment and the sector can feel inaccessible to people from ethnic minorities”.
Do these conclusions infer the opposite, that white people will feel that ‘the environment and the sector’ will feel inaccessible to them if the Environment Agency and Natural England put BAMEs in their media? If not, why not? Are they postulating that BAMEs are put off by white people in documentaries and photographs but white people aren’t put off by BAMEs?
Really all of this stuff seems like we’re going to go down the road of having BAME versions of shows, channels, newspapers, government agencies, charities, businesses etc. Its either segregation or increasing the white population’s horrific levels of guilt as felt by Sir James on being a “white, middle class, heterosexual” in order to justify all these weird Diversity, Inclusion and Equity initiatives.
If they don’t understand english? Yes it would, outside of that,however, total utter bollocks.
I’d be OK if they changed all the presenters on the BBC, to be honest.
I don’t watch it anyway and I’m not paying for it
David Attenborough should narrate all documentaries, regardless of subject matter. “Here we have what the locals call a “ratchet ass hoe”, in her natural environment”
The Telegraph picking up on all the most important stories of the day whilst having a jab at equality and diversity. If they had an ounce of integrity they would weigh an ounce
Does that mean that non-white people won’t believe evidence about climate change for example, if it’s narrated by David Attenborough?
If I refused to watch Songs of Praise because it had a black presenter I’d be labelled a racist, and rightly so.
My family are all black, of Jamaican descent, from London. A white narrator has literally never stopped us from watching something. Please stop with this race-baiting BS.
When I watch TV I expect everyone to be the same age as me and look very similar to me (hairstyle, hair colour, waist size and so on). If they don’t, then it’s not fair!
Wow, they’re actually starting to feel so emboldened that they can just be outright racist now. Fantastic – I can’t wait for Segregation Round 2.
I swear, we actually peaked (Note, I say peak, not fixed/cured/ reached perfection) in terms of race relations and now we’re going backwards
The environment sector in the UK is the second-least ethnically diverse sector in the UK (approx 3% of people working in that sector are non-white), so the report was aimed at understand what it is like to be an ethnic minority in that sector, and why more non-white people don’t work in it.
Isn’t that a reasonable question to ask?
Yeah I don’t watch the news because of Krishnan Guru-Murthy.
How can an Asian man know anything about Britain. Must all be bullshit.
/s
When Uncle David finally dies, there will be no point making nature documentaries anymore. He is the only acceptable narrator.
I do love a bit of race baiting with my morning coffee
White people are much less racist than other ethnicities, yes.
So does the author think people’s race can be determined by their voice? Including native speakers of the language? That sounds a bit racist from the telegraph.
Let’s just have Morgan freeman narrate everything can’t go wrong with God doing it.
dunno, I feel like the perceived class of the narrator (based on accent, word choice, cultural references etc.) would be more of an issue than skin colour because we don’t necessarily see much of the narrator.
Isn’t this like saying white people will avoid anything voiced by Morgan Freeman or James Earl Jones?
No it couldn’t.
The olympics being commentated by michael johnson doesnt diminish my enjoyment at all.
Or anything morgan freeman has narrated.
Race baiting nonsense.
What a load of bullshit.
Do they really think that Africans, Asians, West Indians etc will watch Blue Planet if Sean Paul or Nish Kumar narrated it? Answer clearly is no.
What is this bullshit? Would you say ‘an ethnic minorities narrator could stop white people from watching’? No. How could you even tell, if they have a standard British accent? What if it’s a white person who grew up abroad and has a non-British accent? We don’t want your manufactured race war.
I literally don’t care what race the narrator is, as long as they do a good job. This is just trying to stir up issues that aren’t there.
hehe is this an onion article? So the UK is telling me that non white people wont watch a program about kangaroos boxing, in the wild, because it is narrated by a white person. Does that apply to any race that isnt theirs or just white people? Will a Somalian not watch it because it is being narrated by a Japanese person as well or is it only because a white person is narrating it? How many people actually know or care who the narrators are? How many know before they start watching it compared to how many stick around to the credits to find out who the narrator is and then google search what that persons skin color is?
Why why why are we getting this race war bullshit in the UK. Fucking stop.
Who cares what race the narrator is as long as they have a good voice. Got no issue with more BAME narrators as long as they aren’t shit and only got the job to boost the numbers. If it’s like what they did with a lot of female football reporters then it’s a terrible idea.
Did anybody think to maybe work out what background people have in that sector beyond skin colour ?
Yeah, I think it is quire racist that there are so many white narrators…
They should make their own shows if they’re upset… nature is literally everywhere. Noone is stopping them. Why the lame cap-in-hand schtick?
More divisive race baiting bullshit from the media
Sounds like they’re being racists, if so why should we care what they think? Should we care about what the racists think?
Telegraph … reliably producing mini dead cats to detract attention…
34 comments
Nature documentaries presented by “white, male voices” could put off ethnic minority views, according to a report funded by Britain’s major environmental agency.
Last year, the Environment Agency financially supported the study by an international climate change group which said the use of white narrators could make the sector feel “inaccessible to people from ethnic minorities”.
The research was uncovered by Conservative Way Forward, a Thatcherite pressure group, which found that Natural England and the Environment Agency – which have a combined annual budget of £1.3 billion – have been increasingly focused on issues of equality, diversity and inclusivity.
Last year, Natural England commissioned a report to examine the “Diversity in images of England’s green and natural spaces”, which suggested photographs of the countryside were not inclusive enough.
In February 2022, the Environment Agency funded a report by the Institution of Environmental Sciences, entitled, “A challenging environment: Experiences of ethnic minority environmental professionals”.
It concluded: “The tendency for environmental documentaries to be voiced by white, male voices was given as an example of how the environment and the sector can feel inaccessible to people from ethnic minorities”.
‘Diversity, inclusion and equality’
And in 2020, the quango’s chief executive Sir James Bevan expressed guilt over the low number of ethnic minority staff working for the agency and vowed to “do something about it”.
He said he felt “angry that people of colour still experience racism in this country on a daily basis” and that the proportion of ethnic minority staff in the agency is “only 4.4 per cent when if we were truly representative of modern Britain it would be 14 per cent”.
Sir James said he felt “more aware than ever” of his “privilege as a white, middle class, heterosexual male” and urged staff to “reach out to their BAME friends and ask how they are feeling and what we can do to support them”.
A spokesman for the Environment Agency said: “We are proud of our work to promote diversity, inclusion and equality in the organisation. It is the right thing to do and will help us better serve the public.”
Marian Spain, chief executive of Natural England, said: “There is clear evidence of the health and wellbeing benefits of spending time in nature, but we know that not everyone enjoys these benefits, with people from ethnic minority backgrounds disproportionately affected.”
>Last year, Natural England commissioned a report to examine the “Diversity in images of England’s green and natural spaces”, which suggested photographs of the countryside were not inclusive enough.
>In February 2022, the Environment Agency funded a report by the Institution of Environmental Sciences, entitled, “A challenging environment: Experiences of ethnic minority environmental professionals”.
>It concluded: “The tendency for environmental documentaries to be voiced by white, male voices was given as an example of how the environment and the sector can feel inaccessible to people from ethnic minorities”.
Do these conclusions infer the opposite, that white people will feel that ‘the environment and the sector’ will feel inaccessible to them if the Environment Agency and Natural England put BAMEs in their media? If not, why not? Are they postulating that BAMEs are put off by white people in documentaries and photographs but white people aren’t put off by BAMEs?
Really all of this stuff seems like we’re going to go down the road of having BAME versions of shows, channels, newspapers, government agencies, charities, businesses etc. Its either segregation or increasing the white population’s horrific levels of guilt as felt by Sir James on being a “white, middle class, heterosexual” in order to justify all these weird Diversity, Inclusion and Equity initiatives.
If they don’t understand english? Yes it would, outside of that,however, total utter bollocks.
I’d be OK if they changed all the presenters on the BBC, to be honest.
I don’t watch it anyway and I’m not paying for it
David Attenborough should narrate all documentaries, regardless of subject matter. “Here we have what the locals call a “ratchet ass hoe”, in her natural environment”
The Telegraph picking up on all the most important stories of the day whilst having a jab at equality and diversity. If they had an ounce of integrity they would weigh an ounce
Does that mean that non-white people won’t believe evidence about climate change for example, if it’s narrated by David Attenborough?
If I refused to watch Songs of Praise because it had a black presenter I’d be labelled a racist, and rightly so.
My family are all black, of Jamaican descent, from London. A white narrator has literally never stopped us from watching something. Please stop with this race-baiting BS.
When I watch TV I expect everyone to be the same age as me and look very similar to me (hairstyle, hair colour, waist size and so on). If they don’t, then it’s not fair!
Wow, they’re actually starting to feel so emboldened that they can just be outright racist now. Fantastic – I can’t wait for Segregation Round 2.
I swear, we actually peaked (Note, I say peak, not fixed/cured/ reached perfection) in terms of race relations and now we’re going backwards
Cherry picking quotes to suit an agenda is fun!
Here are a few more things to bear in mind- the news article is talking about a report ([which you can read yourself](https://www.the-ies.org/sites/default/files/reports/experiences_of_ethnic_minority_environmental_professionals.pdf)).
The environment sector in the UK is the second-least ethnically diverse sector in the UK (approx 3% of people working in that sector are non-white), so the report was aimed at understand what it is like to be an ethnic minority in that sector, and why more non-white people don’t work in it.
Isn’t that a reasonable question to ask?
Yeah I don’t watch the news because of Krishnan Guru-Murthy.
How can an Asian man know anything about Britain. Must all be bullshit.
/s
When Uncle David finally dies, there will be no point making nature documentaries anymore. He is the only acceptable narrator.
I do love a bit of race baiting with my morning coffee
White people are much less racist than other ethnicities, yes.
So does the author think people’s race can be determined by their voice? Including native speakers of the language? That sounds a bit racist from the telegraph.
Let’s just have Morgan freeman narrate everything can’t go wrong with God doing it.
dunno, I feel like the perceived class of the narrator (based on accent, word choice, cultural references etc.) would be more of an issue than skin colour because we don’t necessarily see much of the narrator.
As issues such as environmentalism, climate change etc. are still viewed as very middle class pursuits (as the following article touches upon) https://theconversation.com/climate-change-is-too-middle-class-heres-how-to-fix-that-123231
Isn’t this like saying white people will avoid anything voiced by Morgan Freeman or James Earl Jones?
No it couldn’t.
The olympics being commentated by michael johnson doesnt diminish my enjoyment at all.
Or anything morgan freeman has narrated.
Race baiting nonsense.
What a load of bullshit.
Do they really think that Africans, Asians, West Indians etc will watch Blue Planet if Sean Paul or Nish Kumar narrated it? Answer clearly is no.
What is this bullshit? Would you say ‘an ethnic minorities narrator could stop white people from watching’? No. How could you even tell, if they have a standard British accent? What if it’s a white person who grew up abroad and has a non-British accent? We don’t want your manufactured race war.
I literally don’t care what race the narrator is, as long as they do a good job. This is just trying to stir up issues that aren’t there.
hehe is this an onion article? So the UK is telling me that non white people wont watch a program about kangaroos boxing, in the wild, because it is narrated by a white person. Does that apply to any race that isnt theirs or just white people? Will a Somalian not watch it because it is being narrated by a Japanese person as well or is it only because a white person is narrating it? How many people actually know or care who the narrators are? How many know before they start watching it compared to how many stick around to the credits to find out who the narrator is and then google search what that persons skin color is?
Why why why are we getting this race war bullshit in the UK. Fucking stop.
Anyone else just thinking about [Snoop](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddkXLd5wJX8)?
Who cares what race the narrator is as long as they have a good voice. Got no issue with more BAME narrators as long as they aren’t shit and only got the job to boost the numbers. If it’s like what they did with a lot of female football reporters then it’s a terrible idea.
Did anybody think to maybe work out what background people have in that sector beyond skin colour ?
Yeah, I think it is quire racist that there are so many white narrators…
They should make their own shows if they’re upset… nature is literally everywhere. Noone is stopping them. Why the lame cap-in-hand schtick?
More divisive race baiting bullshit from the media
Sounds like they’re being racists, if so why should we care what they think? Should we care about what the racists think?
Telegraph … reliably producing mini dead cats to detract attention…