A report into London's media industry has found it to be dominated by "white middle class" people with business practices that make it hard for workers from ethnic minority communities to develop careers.
The report, supported by the Trades Union Congress, broadcasting union Bectu and industry skills council Skillset, found that while 24% of the London workforce is from ethnic minority communities, just 7.4% of workers in the audio-visual sector in the capital are from ethnic minorities.
London's media industry has a workforce of around 250,000 staff working for employers such as the BBC, Channel 4, BSkyB, Capital Radio, ITV, Channel Five, Discovery and MTV.
The study, undertaken by the Working Lives Research Institute at London Metropolitan University, found that "the industry tended to recruit from limited cultural circles, with a workforce largely characterised as white and from high-income backgrounds."
Overall, 61% of media workers surveyed said they thought there was some form of discrimination in the industry in London.
However, when this figure is broken down, 76% of black, minority and ethnic workers thought there was some form of discrimination, compared with 54% of white workers.
Of all respondents that thought there was discrimination in the London media sector, 30% said it was over issues of ethnicity and 26% said it was to do with gender.
Overall 41% of respondents said they had either witnessed or been a victim of some form of discrimination relating to promotion, pay or recruitment.
But black, minority and ethnic workers in media were twice as likely to be discriminated against as their white counterparts.
A breakdown of figures looking at those who had actually experienced discrimination specifically due to ethnicity found that 32% of black and ethnic minority workers said it had occurred to them - while just 1% of white workers said the same.
Interviews with respondents found that there while were "few references to direct forms of discrimination or racist abuse", "indirect discrimination, or cultural misrepresentations" based on ethnicity were "not uncommon" in the media industry.
"Old boys' networks" and nepotism as a means of getting a foot in the door were regarded as leading to recruitment from "limited cultural circles".
The single biggest barrier to getting a job in the media in London, cited by 66% of respondents, was that there was "too much competition".
Needing good contacts ranked second with 58%, inadequate training in colleges was cited third with 35%.
The TUC general secretary, Brendan Barber, said that "getting a foot in the door is often dependent on contacts within the industry, something that many youngsters from low income or ethnic minority backgrounds simply won't have".
"That, combined with the fact that many will have to work for nothing in their first jobs, means it's no small wonder that London's audio-visual industry currently looks the way it does," Mr Barber added.
Gerry Morrissey, the general secretary of Bectu, added: "Too many black and ethnic minority workers meet a glass door when it comes to accessing opportunities for employment, commissions and progression in our industry."
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