Accentuate the positive

Whenever I think of the BBC, I always think of the tube stop: White City. You need only walk around Media Centre and TVC to know how ironic that is - the Beeb has been trying and trying to diversify, ever since Greg Dyke declared the place "hideously white" some years back.

It's baffling - they serve hot curries at lunch (a fiery chicken chaat was yesterday's special), they have training programmes and there are all sorts of initiatives to turn White City into a melting pot. Things have improved, but the upcoming redundancies may mean that it is going to be a long time before a gay black woman gets Greg Dyke's old job.

Sensing a golden business opportunity, Raphael Mokades, Pearson's former head of diversity, decided to set up Rare Recruitment, an agency that specialises in ethnic minority applicants. This splendid idea was immediately reported to the CRE (Commission for Racial Equality) by a civil liberties group, who accused Rare of 'positive discrimination'.

As a board member of Aspire, a support network for ethnic minority journalists, I know that media organisations often complain about the lack of minority applicants. And yet, there are hundreds of hungry young journalists who subscribe to Aspire's email-list, looking for advice and job leads. Clearly, something must done to match the opportunities with job-seekers and that is what Raf's new business aims to do.

I must admit that I cannot tell the difference between positive discrimination and positive action. But I do know what a level playing field is - so I encourage all my Aspirants to hone their skills and get the right education if they are to compete for jobs.