Hope Primus is a senior content delivery coordinator at ITV Content Services. She studied for her BA (Honours) in Broadcast Journalism within the Salford School of Arts, Media and Creative Technology at the University of Salford. Hope is also passionate about helping underrepresented groups break into the media industry.
“To me, Black History Month is every day. It means resilience, faith, passion and integrity. It means that against all odds, there is a way to achieve what you believe is right!”
Breaking into broadcasting
I grew up in Leeds, West Yorkshire and went to Roundhay School, then Roundhay Sixth form. After my A-Levels, I studied broadcast journalism at The University of Salford in Media City where I achieved a 2.1.
I’ve always been interested in all sides of the media industry. My first love was radio and I’ve volunteered at various radio stations throughout my career, both in Leeds and Manchester. Anything from researching, to editing on software such as AVID, Adobe and Reaper, and I eventually went on to produce and present on a range of radio shows.
Television has also been a passion of mine from a young age, but I found that a lot more difficult to break into before going to university. Whilst at university I co-presented and researched for Mad About Manchester – a weekly Facebook show which had about 50,000 followers.
Today, I’m a senior coordinator at ITV Content Services and my role consists of many things from ingesting 16mm/35mm film on Vintage Cloud Steenbeck scanners, working closely with the ITV Archive to send clips to daytime television shows such as Loose Women and This Morning, as well as offering archive digitisation and restoration/upscaling for internal projects such as Britbox and for external companies who are producing documentaries.
Creating more room for growth and learning opportunities for all
I think that the media/broadcasting industry has come a long way in terms of diversity, but there is still much more to be done. The industry has some incredible female talent in all sectors from producing, to writing, to the technical side and much more, however, it is still dominated by men.
I also think that representation of ethnic minorities has been a big issue within this industry, and now that it has been addressed through more Black roles — there is often uproar from viewers who are not ready to embrace the change though.
Broadcasting is ultimately representation in one way or another, so diversity of thought is one of the most important things to consider. It is extremely difficult, almost impossible to accurately represent something or someone who you know nothing about and this can often lead to unintentionally causing offence.
Diversity of thought allows voices to be heard and reflected as accurately as possible. It creates more room for growth and learning opportunities for all, not just the viewers, but everyone who has been involved in the process.
Achieving what you believe is right
To me, Black History Month is every day. It means resilience, faith, passion and integrity. It means that against all odds, there is a way to achieve what you believe is right! I wouldn’t be in the career that I am today if those who we remember during Black History Month didn’t fight the way that they did.
Celebrating Black History Month is more than about remembering inventors, it’s about remembering those who had a dream and vision and fought to achieve it despite the constant racism and feelings of being ‘less than’.
So many role models
I have so many role models! Harriet Tubman is at the top of my list. Her determination to free slaves was extremely dangerous yet she persisted. Oprah Winfrey has always been a role model for me, to see a Black Woman who has been through so much dominate the industry the way she does is nothing short of incredible. Issa Rae too! She is unapologetically Black and her career journey from YouTube to producing her own content to now starring in Hollywood movies is really inspiring to me.
Celebrating Black History Month
ITV is great at celebrating Black History month, we usually have a full schedule for colleagues which is organised by our ITV Embrace Network. We have events that celebrate different things about Black History and exclusive talks from ITV talent. In ITV Content Services we have a Diversity and Inclusion Team who give us updates every week and they are very active.
Coming up
I’m not sure what’s next for me but I plan on staying at ITV. I’m also part of Rise (not-for-profit, advocate group for gender diversity within the broadcast manufacturing and services sector) and I have a mentor who has a great career in the media industry. We talk about the next steps in my career and how I can use my skills to contribute to ITV.
I’d love to be a part of a scheme that helps young ethnic minorities break into the media industry, I’ve had some great support throughout my career and would love to be that person for someone else.
Harriet Tubman image credit: Photographer: Horatio Seymour Squyer, 1848 – 18 Dec 1905
