ITV News Central won the Diversity in the Media Award at the 2025 Asian Media Awards.
Journalists and filmmakers joined content creators and actors at the 13th ceremony in Manchester.
The awards celebrate achievements in a range of categories in journalism, investigations, TV, radio, stage, online and creative media.
The ceremony is supported by the University of Salford and took place at The Manchester Deansgate Hotel on Friday (October 31).
As well as producing content to serve all communities, media organisations have a responsibility to improve diversity at all levels within their groups. This is not something that can happen overnight.
No organisation can claim to have tackled issues relating to diversity and inclusion as continual development is necessary.
Over the past decade ITV News Central has made a concerted effort to improve representation and boasts a culturally diverse management team, with one in four of our editorial and technical management team identifying as Asian.
Furthermore, senior leaders of Asian backgrounds across ITV have benefited from development at ITV Central, including the current Head of News at ITV West Country and the ITV Border Programme and Digital Editor.
The channel says it actively supports management development through initiatives like ITV Amplify, which promotes culturally diverse and disabled leaders, and ITV Rise, which supports and coaches Black, Asian, and Minority ethnic talent.
The channel has two managers participating in Amplify and two managers and two non-managers in Rise, with one now serving as Deputy Chair of Embrace, ITV’s cultural diversity social network.
The channel’s employment figures for people of colour consistently exceed the 2021 census figures for the Midlands, with almost one in three of their workforce being people of colour in Q2 2025.
The team said it regularly reviews on-screen representation. When wider societal issues such as the anti-immigration protests, or racially motivated attacks happen in the area, the team are keen to check in with staff and offer support and opportunities to share experiences.
Because the channel has a diverse team unafraid to speak out, it says it constantly re-evaluates and reassess how they are performing and aims to produce relevant content that resonates with a wide range of audiences.
