Entertainment
Carol Vorderman says TV industry is full of ‘snobbery’ and country is in ‘absolute mess’
Presenter Carol Vorderman has said the television industry is full of “snobbery” and working-class people have increasingly turned to social media.
In her alternative MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh TV Festival on Friday, she said they feel the industry does not represent them.
The 63-year-old former Countdown star said social media was “decimating” the TV industry “with good reason”, citing Ofcom figures.
Research published by the media regulator last month found that less than half of young people watch live television in the average week.
Viewers aged between 45 and 54 have also begun to turn away from linear television, with viewing rates in the age group falling from 89% to 84% in a single year.
She said people “feel lost” and the “filter of the news, the filter through which they get their information is one which isn’t recognised by them”.
Vorderman also said: “Our industry is an industry of snobbery: regional snobbery, class snobbery and educational snobbery, and don’t even get me started on the political issues.”
She cited research from the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre, which found under 10% of people from the TV, video, radio and photography sectors were from working-class backgrounds last year.
She also claimed that after “14 years of austerity and lying by the privileged political class” the country was in an “absolute mess”, and the TV industry “must accept part of the responsibility for that too, including the riots”.
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The maths expert, who grew up in poverty in Wales, said trust in the BBC is “declining” because of the way “people feel after so many controversial decisions by BBC management”.
She cited the furore over Match Of The Day host Gary Lineker‘s social media posts about the previous government, and former news presenter Huw Edwards who pleaded guilty to making indecent images of children.
Vorderman quit her BBC Radio Wales show last year due to tighter rules around social media posts.
Since leaving the broadcaster, she has presented a regular phone-in slot on LBC.
As part of her address, the radio host also took aim at Nigel Farage‘s inclusion in last year’s I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here line-up, saying his involvement contributed towards “normalising” his views.
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Earlier this week, ITV‘s managing director Kevin Lygo defended the decision to include the now Reform UK leader as part of the show’s line-up.
“The audience is smart enough to make up their own mind,” Mr Lygo said.