Media Needs to Retain Opportunities for ‘Working-Class Voices’ – Lorraine Kelly
TV presenter Lorraine Kelly stressed the importance of better representing working-class voices in the media. She stated, “If you’re only going to hear elite opinions we’re never going to get anywhere.”
Career and Current Challenges
Kelly, a familiar face on national television since the mid-1980s, recently appeared on the BBC’s Desert Island Discs. She discussed the ITV cutbacks that will reduce her show to 30-minute episodes airing only 30 weeks a year from 2026.
“Things have to change. I have been through so many regime changes in my life. For me this is just another one, but it’s seismic.”
She expressed her distress over the breakup of the “great team” she works with and said they are trying to save as many jobs as possible. “But you know what, it’s just the world we live in,” Kelly added.
Background and Personal Experience
Raised in Glasgow and later moving to East Kilbride as a teenager, Kelly revealed feeling “crushed” when told she wouldn’t get a job at the BBC due to her “working-class Scottish accent.”
“I really worry about working-class people not being given the opportunity that I had.”
Her break came when an Australian at TV-am hired her, not recognizing her accent.
Summary
Lorraine Kelly highlights the ongoing need to maintain strong working-class representation in media to ensure diverse voices are heard and valuable opportunities are not lost.
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