BBC should not be a preserve of Oxbridge classes, says Dyke

The BBC is no longer the preserve of the "public school, Oxford-educated chap", Greg Dyke declared yesterday as he pledged to improve the ethnic mix of employees.

The BBC's director general promised to increase the number of people he employs from ethnic minorities to 10 per cent of the workforce by 2003, saying the BBC had a "moral duty" to reflect Britain's diversity.

He said he wanted to double the number of managers from diverse backgrounds, and had appointed a Head of Diversity to help achieve the target. Currently, only 2 per cent of managers and 8 per cent of all staff are from ethnic minorities.

Mr Dyke, who was speaking at the Race in the Media Awards in London, added: "We still too often portray ethnic minorities as problem-centred - bugged by crime, bad housing, poor schooling, poverty.

"We rarely rate the high performers ... The BBC changed a lot in the Nineties, but I would argue that the world has changed much faster and so we have to change more."