麻豆原创

One year ago, the world was shocked as a forty-six-year-old black-man, George Floyd, was killed by police, on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill. This killing, and the resulting impact of the Black Lives Matter movement, has become a pivotal moment in the global fight against racism.

How have things changed for our brands?

As a media business, we聽know to be silent is to be complicit and we聽have a responsibility to our audiences, advertisers, partners and people聽to聽bring awareness to聽these聽matters.聽The resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement following the聽killing聽of George Floyd聽highlighted聽ever-present issues of systemic racism and the unjust treatment of Black People around the world.聽This聽has聽prompted our brands to聽reflect on聽the power they possess to help drive聽long-awaited change, and how they could聽make a difference聽by shining a spotlight on the issue and聽continuing important conversations.

We caught up with our ‘Take A Break’ team to learn more about what has changed for them:

鈥淚n the last year, we have thought deeply about how to respond and how to increase diversity across the whole of the聽Take a Break聽brand. We have made sure as many people from as many different backgrounds are represented in the magazines as often as possible 鈥� from stories, to competitions to health reports and campaigns 鈥� shining a light on their unique experiences.聽

As part of our ongoing efforts聽include increasing the diversity of our cover and fashion models, focusing real-life features on issues specific to different communities, such as the hidden bias against black women in the beauty industry, and we are about to introduce new columnists to the magazine聽to聽increase our ability聽to talk聽to readers about their experiences as women聽from all聽backgrounds鈥澛�

Here is a breakdown of what some of our radio brands are doing to commemorate this important聽occasion:

Across many of our聽audio聽brands including Absolute Radio, Planet Rock, Kerrang and Magic we will聽be commemorating the聽anniversary of the聽killing of George Floyd聽through news reports throughout the day.

Bauer鈥檚 news team has used its archive resource to put together special reflective roundups which chart the events of the year since George Floyd鈥檚 death and hear from campaigners who still think there is more to be done.

News bulletins on our national stations will lead on this content, as well as drawing throughout the day from the Hits Radio Brand Network stations鈥� teams of local reporters, who will be out in areas across the UK recording the events happening around the nation to mark the anniversary

Jazz FM聽started the conversation early by holding a聽special one-hour program聽over the weekend聽in聽the聽Jazz聽FM聽Voices聽strand reflecting on the past year:

Jazz FM Voices: In聽The聽Wake with Kamara Dyer Simms:

鈥淒iscovering how jazz music resonates with grief, refusal and abolition in the Black radical sound tradition, in the wake of George Floyd鈥檚 death, and many, many others. Featuring music from across the decades. From icons Nina Simone and Billie Holiday – to our contemporaries, Shabaka Hutchings and聽Nubya聽Garcia. The story behind George Floyd and so many others is intrinsic in our musical聽DNA聽and we鈥檝e done a lot to reflect our community in so many ways since last year, and Jazz FM Voices is here as part of our drive to be better in these difficult times.鈥澛�

Also,聽over the weekend, KISS held a聽KISS Life聽special on Sunday at 9pm with聽Swarzy聽which is聽now聽:聽A KISS Life Special

鈥淚n the week that marks the one-year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd and the subsequent global outrage regarding it, we land in the UK鈥檚 campaigning capital to find out how Bristolians are feeling鈥β燜rom the Bristol Bus Boycott of 1963,聽to the much-reported removal of the prominently placed statue of former enslavement trader Edward Coulson last year, the spirit of fight, protest and expression is everywhere.鈥澛�

Today,聽Jazz FM will be reflecting on how the prominent event highlighted issues of systemic racism and the unjust treatment of Black People with the segment,聽Reflecting a year since the passing of George Floyd.

Additionally, over the coming weekend,聽Jazz FM will hold another on-air event on Saturday 29th聽May with Jazz FM Voices:聽Black Minds Matter

鈥�We’re continuing our collaboration with the organisation Black Minds Matter UK in support of their 21K Donor Challenge, and the vital mental health support that they’re providing. Alongside a healing selection of music, we’re joined by core team members and therapists from the organisation.鈥澛�

What more has Bauer UK done?

As a business we want Bauer Media to be a great place to do great work for all, and will continue to improve our practices, listen and learn. We know that we must work to increase our diversity to better represent the audiences we serve.

Belonging @ Bauer is our commitment to deliver greater inclusivity and diversity of our workforce. It is a fundamental part of the business, with pillars including Race Equality.

For us this is not about creating a long list of ringfenced D&I initiatives, we are聽focused on driving a sustained cultural change by weaving Diversity聽and Inclusion聽into every part of聽our business聽I.e., our values, people strategy, policies and general ways of working.

We聽have been collaborating with our pillar communities to identify ways to make our internal end-end employee processes more effective and inclusive, to ensure a consistent positive employee experience for everyone at Bauer.

Here are some of the聽changes that we have made in the last year that are here to stay and will become part聽of who聽we are and what we do…

• We聽recognise聽that our leaders will play a critical role in us achieving our ambition to weave D&I into all we do.聽Therefore聽we are聽rolling out聽D&I specific leadership objectives, to help drive leadership accountability.
• We聽signed the Broccoli Content聽聽Pact, which states that we must 鈥楬ire LGBTQIA+, black people聽and other聽ethnic聽minorities on projects not only related to their identity鈥� and 鈥楤e transparent about who works for your company, as well as their role, position and permanency.鈥�
• We have signed up to the聽聽which aims to ensure that ethnic minority employees are represented at all levels. All our recruitment suppliers have been asked to sign up to the Race at Work Charter, and we will not work with companies who聽don鈥檛
• We recently rolled out a new process around recruitment to track the diversity of applicants for roles to enable us to ensure a representative pool of candidates are considered and to also track progress on becoming a workforce more reflective of the communities we engage with through our audio, print and digital products and consumer聽events
• We have mandated that all recruitment agencies sign up to our recruitment charter, which is focused on ensuring that we source the best most diverse talent for our vacancies.
• We rolled out new diversity and inclusion training to all hiring managers through a series of podcasts, which episodes around unconscious bias, recruiting inclusively and preparing for interviews with a diverse pool of candidates. More is in the pipeline to support聽the development of our聽knowledge of聽how we can聽all聽contribute聽to creating an inclusive聽working聽environment.
• Our Code of Conduct, that all employees are obligated to sign, states that we stand by a culture in which diversity is appreciated and supported, where opportunities are open to all, where people treat each other with respect and expect to get the same in return. We have launched a 鈥楥alling It Out鈥櫬燾ampaign聽to encourage聽us all聽to speak up if a colleague is not living up to these standards.

Always here for you…

We have a variety of services to support you at any time. Our Mental Health First Aiders are available for confidential and聽non-judgemental聽conversations in a way that suits you, you can see the聽.
As well as MHFA information, the聽聽houses advice and support from Where鈥檚 Your Head聽At?,聽as well as info and contact details of our EAP.
Our EAP, Health Assured, offer all Bauer people and their immediate families 24 hour, free, independent & confidential access to their helpline, 365 days a year. You can call the FREE EAP line聽on:聽0800 030 5182,聽visit聽聽or download聽the聽Health聽e-Hub app. Login details: Username: Bauer Password: consumer聽Finally,聽聽also has a specialist Teams channel focused聽on聽聽to share content, tips and advice to support you

Eloise Wilson,聽Senior Communications Executive,聽Bauer Media