Following an industry report, the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 will commit to trying not to use the term BAME "wherever possible" to collectively group all ethnic minorities.

Over the past few years, there has been a growing opinion that the term should be removed from official usage. 

The holistic term for black, Asian and minority ethnic people is to be replaced by more specific labels to describe these ethnic groups. 

The findings of the Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity reported a 'lack of trust' surrounding the term BAME.  

The research recommended that broadcasters remove the term to give way to better representation and increased diversity in recognising the individual experiences unique to each different ethnic group. 

The information has been based around interviews with journalists, focus groups and academics who have reached an understanding that the collective term is "used to hide failings in the representation of specific ethnic backgrounds".

BAME may still be used within reported speech and official documents but will need to be said alongside an explanation. For instance, specific information about a single ethnic group being inaccessible. 

However, all broadcasters will remove it from their corporate communications and from their newsrooms.

There are many reasons why the BAME acronym has been deemed problematic. 

Miranda Wayland, BBC head of creative and workforce diversity and inclusion, said "ensuring that the rich and complex lived experiences of individual ethnic groups are accurately reflected and truthfully portrayed on air and properly recognised in our workplace" was part of the corporation's commitment to inclusion and diversity 

Interviewees reported:
"The 'A' in 'BAME' means Asian, which, in itself, is a very broad term. Does it mean 'South Asian', 'East Asian', 'South East Asian', 'Indian', 'Pakistani', 'Chinese', 'Thai', 'Vietnamese'? The list goes on.

"We are very happy that British broadcasters are taking the issue of racial language seriously and were happy to undertake this piece of work," said Sarita Malik, Marcus Ryder, Stevie Marsden, Robert Lawson and Matt Gee."

"It misleads people into thinking that everyone who isn't white English should come under the term BAME. And on top of that, I'm mixed, which, for me, is even more confusing."