UK riots: RADA chief blames riots on lack of true diversity on screens

Get Nadine White's Race Report newsletter for a fresh perspective on the week's news Get our free newsletter from The Independent's Race Correspondent Get our free newsletter from The Independent's Race Correspondent SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. open image in gallery Firefighters tend to a burning police car in Hartlepool “UK TV must bear some responsibility in how it has portrayed these communities,” he wrote in a viral thread on X/Twitter. “Instead for too long we have measured diversity and success by counting the racial identities of the ‘individuals’ on-screen and not realised that communities are just as important if not more so.” The industry veteran who works for the Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity told The Independent, “If you want to walk a mile in somebody else’s shoes and truly understand their reality, you understand through drama, you don’t understand it through news and current affairs. “It’s why the Mr Bates v the Post Office was so important, because people finally emotionally understood and engaged with the issue despite it being covered in news and current affairs programmes previously. It was only until the drama that they could connect.” Unpacking the difference between the ways in which individuals are portrayed versus communities, Mr Ryder wrote, “The rioters are not ‘protesting’ or rioting against individuals, I am sure if you ask them many will say ‘they are not racist’ and ‘I have Muslim/Black friends’.