Every day I stay in work as a middle-class white man is a bonus, ITV’s political editor Robert Peston says
- Robert Peston said on the Fortunately… with Fi and Jane podcast he thanks ‘every day I keep my show as a white middle class male is a bonus’
- ‘I am very fortunate that I got my breaks before people noticed the genuine terrible discrimination there is around the place,’ he said
- He said he is the only white, middle-aged, middle-class male working on Peston
ITV political editor Robert Peston says he thinks every day he keeps his television show as a white middle-class man is a ‘bonus’.
He said he was lucky to have gotten breaks in his career before people noticed the ‘terrible’ discrimination there is against women and people from ethnic minority backgrounds.
The 61-year-old said he is the only white, middle-aged, middle-class male working on his show Peston.
Speaking on the Fortunately… with Fi and Jane podcast, he said: ‘My Great Uncle used to say, ”every day that I wake up is a bonus,” and quite often I think ”every day I keep my show as a white middle class male is a bonus.”
Broadcaster Robert Peston has revealed he thinks every day he keeps his television show as a white middle-class man is a ‘bonus’
‘I am very fortunate that I got my breaks before people noticed the genuine terrible discrimination there is around the place including in (the media) industry against women and against people from ethnic minority backgrounds.
‘I wonder, truthfully, if I were 30 whether all sorts of doors that were open to me then would be open to me today, because the competition is much more intense.
‘The pool of talent now from which our industry draws, and fortunately all responsible industries draw, is much broader.
Pictured: Kimberly Quinn and Robert Peston
‘We are looking for different things and we are looking for different voices, and that’s a really good thing.’
The host of political TV show Peston said the competition for jobs is more intense now that organisations are making an effort to employ people from more diverse backgrounds.
He said: ‘Everyone else (working on Peston) is a woman or person of colour. It is the best team I have ever worked with.
‘They are phenomenally bright, creative, and (it is) just a transformed working environment for the better.’
And he admitted he was ‘astonishingly’ fortunate to do what he does but said he’ll have to leave his job as soon as people think he does not deserve it.
He said: ‘I am astonishingly fortunate to do what I do. As soon as people think I am not there on merit, I guess I’ll have to go.’
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