Education For All: Broadcast Academy's Ekta Hutton on Creating a Lasting Legacy

Education for all: Broadcast Academy's Ekta Hutton on creating a lasting legacy By Heather McLean, Editor

Wednesday, August 21, 2019 - 09:06

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The Broadcast Academy's Ekta Hutton

Sports broadcasting is all about the fan experience, encouraging the viewer to care and magnify the emotion. To make that possible, people in the television industry need education, and for those looking to get into this area, training needs to be made available.

While this type of educational resource is readily available in some countries, for some people it is harder to access, for instance, women and people from disadvantaged backgrounds. However, the Broadcast Academy, part of Host Broadcast Services (HBS), is helping to level that playing field. The Academy is headed by Ekta Hutton.

Lasting legacy

The Broadcast Academy aims to create a lasting legacy, Hutton says. That legacy is a practical way of developing talent to make a positive change in the industry on an international scale.

She explains: We are trying to create a cross-platform learning initiative that can bring us closer to our counterparts in other parts of the world, be they in Africa, the Middle East or Asia-Pacific. We have three key pillars: train tomorrow's stars; encouraging women in leadership positions in our industry; and sustainability. Our objective is to take small practical steps in the right direction and our efforts combined with all our participants' efforts is creating a domino effect of a more diverse and skilled workforce.

We have a long way to go as we feel this is just the beginning. The more support we get from partners and well-wishers, the better we will be able to serve our community.

The Broadcast Academy has evolved since she became part of it. Its success is visible in the success of its participants. Vera Bichler, a BA graduate, is now the first woman director at ORF, Austria. Refat Hamid from Palestine will be attending IBC 2019 for the very first time and Josephine Mankfu Talla, the only woman football director from Cameroon, is breaking all stereotypes in her home country.

Says Hutton: From an operations point of view, we are serving our community through our programmes in London, Paris, Liege, Amsterdam, Tunis, Hanoi, Colombo, Miami, and Kuala Lumpur. Our courses are attracting participants from far afield and one participant even came from Peru to London.

However, there is a lot more work to be done, she adds: We have a long way to go as we feel this is just the beginning. The more support we get from partners and well-wishers, the better we will be able to serve our community.

Ekta Hutton with people from the Broadcast Academy's Tunis programme

Onwards and upwards

Taking the Academy forward is a team effort, notes Hutton. She says the team consists of dedicated individuals that have devoted their time and effort to establish the Academy to its current level, including HBS management, Dan Miodownik and Luc-Antoine Charial, who are both supporters of the Academy, and Hutton adds, are not only resourcing the project but also creating a very clear roadmap and vision for the Academy .

She goes on: Secondly, it is our technical partner, EVS, that provides all the equipment and the support required to deliver a high end learning experience. We are also proud of our partnership with UNESCO that helps us bring awareness to issues facing the broadcast community.

Skills, training and accessibility in sports broadcasting today are areas that need a lot more work, Hutton states. She explains: The sports media world is a fantastic industry and full of passionate and talented people. But just like other industries, we also have our own share of challenges. The primary challenge is how do we attract talent, how do we develop that talent and then how do we ensure that our industry fosters equality and has a diverse workforce?

With the big broadcasters now moving from in-house production teams to outsourcing freelance staff, the challenge has now become clearer; who is responsible for the development of the talent? Is it the broadcasters, is it the government? If not the government and the broadcasters is it the individual himself or herself?

The difficulty is the disparate nature of this industry, she comments: In every country there are different stakeholders but no one currently is leading the path in developing talent.

I have met many people who feel passionately about the subject but are not sure how to lend their support. Providing training, exposure and opportunities are ways that broadcasters can bring out positive changes in our industry.

Through our programmes, we are able to offer a limited number of bursaries for women and minority groups. As a result, the participants are able to build industry networks and acquire skills and confidence required to progress in their careers.

As to what the sports broadcasting industry needs to do to rectify these issues, Hutton concludes: A coordinated effort. I have met many people who feel passionately about the subject but are not sure how to lend their support. Providing training, exposure and opportunities are ways that broadcasters can bring out positive changes in our industry.

SVG Europe is a great promoter of diversity and, by highlighting the challenges, is spreading awareness about the issue which is also a great way of making people accountable in their roles, she notes. I definitely do not believe in quotas and think the best way for us to address any issue is through conversation and education.

Ekta Hutton helping to create a lasting legacy at the Asian Games

Adventure and travel

Globetrotting throughout her career, Hutton has moved from India to the Middle East, to the UK, to Singapore and now Paris.

On how Hutton made the move from her homeland of India to the Middle East, she say

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