BBC quashes ethnic quota story

LONDON - The BBC has had to quash fears among staff that it is to impose an ethnic quota system to boost the number of employees from ethnic minorities after director general Greg Dyke admitted that the corporation was "hideously white" in a radio interview.

Dyke, speaking on BBC Radio Scotland鈥檚 The Mix programme, said the BBC was a 鈥減redominantly white鈥 organisation that had difficulty attracting and keeping ethnic minority employees. He added that staff from ethnic minorities were leaving because the corporation failed to promote them and that the BBC did not reflect Britain.

Last year, Dyke pledged that he wanted 10% of the BBC鈥檚 workforce and 4% of managers to be from ethnic minorities by 2003. The BBC says that these numbers are targets, not quotas. It also stresses that employees would be hired based on their talent and not the colour of their skin.