News UK today announced the appointment of Shelley Bishton as head of diversity, equity and inclusion. In her new role, Bishton will focus on furthering DEI strategy across News UK, which is home to brands including The Sun, The Times, The Sunday Times, TalkTV, talkSPORT, Virgin Radio UK and Times Radio. Bishton will report into Sarah Gallo, EVP, chief people officer.
News UK’s DEI team works to support the business in its aim to create a pathway to a 50/50 gender split across the company’s workforce, with a 20 per cent target of representation of ethnic minorities. The business is focused on three key priorities:
- Attracting, developing and retaining young talent from a much broader pool
- Driving gender and ethnic diversity in our wider leadership
- Ensuring diversity and inclusivity in our workforce as well as the journalism and content we produce
Over the last 18 months, News UK has hired over 60 apprentices, of which 60% are ethnic minorities and 66% are female. The company has also created over 40 internships as part of the Government’s Kickstart scheme. Journalism outreach programmes and partnerships have also been developed with The Raheem Sterling Foundation, The Aziz Foundation, The Black Collective of Media In Sport and Media Trust.
EVP, chief people officer, Sarah Gallo said: “I am so pleased and excited to have Bishton in this new role. Bishton has worked in the media for more than 15 years, and has the right combination of experience, skills, passion and business acumen to lead our ambitious DEI strategy at News UK. I am looking forward to seeing her continue to innovate and create industry leading initiatives for our people, and the media as a whole.”
Shelley Bishton said: “We have made meaningful progress with the D&I strategy at News UK acoss the past two years, and we have created a solid infrastructure to engineer real progress and change. We now want to continue evolving and looking harder at how we can drive equity across all people and intersections in our business.”
With a career in media spanning 15 years, Bishton joined News UK in 2018 as head of brand partnerships across The Times and The Sunday Times. In 2018 she was recognised as one of Loyalty Magazine’s 30 under 40 for her work in the partnerships space.
In October 2019, Bishton was instrumental in establishing News UK’s first network for Black, Asian and ethnic minority employees, now called the Cultural Diversity Network, ensuring more meaningful representation across News UK. The Network was foundational in informing News UK’s first D&I strategy, and Bishton was appointed as head of creative diversity in October 2020. In this role she has worked as an advocate for diversity, sharing up-to-date advice and learnings across our titles and radio stations, and extending our networks in the wider community.
In 2022, Bishton was named as a top role model by EMpower, a global list that honours leaders and future leaders who are driving the charge for inclusion in the workplace.
