RTS are you too posh for TV?

Today I was excited to receive an email from RTS (Royal Television Society) about an event they are putting on called ‘Is TV too Posh’. Being a non posh person, from a council estate background to be exact, working in TV I thought ‘yessss about time’! Until I read the bottom of the email which reads:

Priority booking is given to RTS Patrons (Up to 10 tickets per patron contact) and Full Members (Up to 2 tickets per full member) until Monday 7 November 2011.

How can they put on an event which should appeal to young people trying to break into TV and write such utter ‘bullshit’ *(yes I said it) at the bottom! I have been told that members of the RTS average at around 40 years old and the patrons even older, so I would love an explanation as to why they give priority to people already in the industry and clearly people who are no longer defined as ‘young’ or trying to establish a career in TV? The cost of the ticket to the event is £12.50, which is not bad considering it will feature a panel consisting of - Marcus Ryder (Editor of Current Affairs, BBC Scotland), Donna Taberer (BBC Academy), (Peter York) Social commentator and the chair is Stuart Cosgrove (Director of Creative Diversity, Channel 4). But if the room is full of upper and middle class people what is the point? Yes I understand the event is on the 23rd November but why not give priority to people who could actually benefit from such an event? I will admit I don't know for sure the exact average of patrons/members age but if RTS would be happy to provide such an average I would shut my mouth and apologise for jumping the gun and happily promote their event but will they?

Please share this article as its time this industry changes and dated mindsets need to get better tuned into an industry that getting more diverse whether RTS like it or not!

Tags: industry, posh, rts, tv

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Comment by Liana Stewart on November 23, 2011 at 16:01: Thanks Chris will do my best to get these answered, that's if they don't get security to chuck me out prior to that.... also if you're on Twitter I will be tweeting live on #RTStooposh tune in!

Comment by Chris Dodd on November 23, 2011 at 15:53: Some questions:

- Does the industry recognise that recruiting from such a small pool of people, who can afford to work for less than a living wage is damaging to the media industry? - Further do recruiters see the benefit of employing individuals who can bring not only new idea's to the table, but also new ways of working?

- Does the industry recognise that the traditional recruitment methods for media jobs are outdated, that by training people to do things the way that they have always been done not only caps the creativity of new entrants, but also restricts the industries ability to evolve and grow?

- Does the industry acknowledge the challenge that competition from new technologies and new talent brings to the traditional TV markets? Do they understand that talent who are unable to get into traditional TV are building up 'X-factor' size audiences on sites like YouTube? What can the industry do to help these people break into the industry? And what can be put into place to ensure that people are recruited based exclusively on their talent and not on their age, gender, ethnicity or ability to to work for low / no pay?

Comment by Liana Stewart on November 23, 2011 at 14:41: Ok people Im going to this event tonight, want me to flag up anything cos Im going to flag this up for sure and I want an answer!

Comment by Chris Dodd on October 29, 2011 at 15:48: Liana thanks for posting this, it really is disturbing reading.

For those not aware of the full purpose of the event you can find details here: http://www.rts.org.uk/tv-too-posh

and a summery here:

"Unemployment is the highest for 25 years. Youth unemployment is set to rocket past the million mark. Next year tuition fees will rise at universities across England. Against the background of the summer riots, lengthening dole queues and widening inequality, is TV becoming the kind of industry that only people from a privileged background can get into? If so, is it a problem and can anything be done about it?"

Firstly I would like to point out that it is 100% an issue worth discussing.

However, it seems that not only is RTS out of touch with the shift in how new media talent is being discovered, but also seems to be shooting itself in the foot a little.

I would assume that with priority booking for RTS members and patrons they are embracing the 'not-what-you-know-but-who-you-know' attitude of a by-gone era. I would suppose also that the patrons of the RTS would have no issues with securing their children / grandchildren a lovely paid internship within a prominent company.

The main problem with this, is that when new entrants are coming from a smaller and smaller pool, when money and connections - not talent - are the way into the industry, what future does the media have?

Comment by Moses Ssebandeke on October 28, 2011 at 23:29: wow can't believe things are still like this in this age. I discuss a similar topic http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahRWUi9jfPM&feature=player_embedded here.