Shelley Bishton has been named head of diversity, equity and inclusion at News UK. In this role Shelley will focus on furthering the diversity, equity and inclusion strategy across News UK and its brands including The Sun and The Times, among others.

News UK’s DEI team works to support the business in its aim to create a pathway to a 50/50 gender split across the company’s workforce, with a 20 per cent target of representation of ethnic minorities. The business is focused on three key priorities:

• Attracting, developing and retaining young talent from a much broader pool
• Driving gender and ethnic diversity in our wider leadership
• Ensuring diversity and inclusivity in our workforce as well as the journalism and content we produce

Over the last 18 months, News UK has hired over 60 apprentices, of which 60% are ethnic minorities and 66% are female. The company has also created over 40 internships as part of the Government’s Kickstart scheme. Journalism outreach programmes and partnerships have also been developed with The Raheem Sterling Foundation, The Aziz Foundation, The Black Collective of Media In Sport and Media Trust.

With a career in media spanning 15 years, Shelley joined News UK in 2018 as Head of Brand Partnerships across The Times and The Sunday Times. In 2018 she was recognised as one of Loyalty Magazine’s 30 under 40 for her work in the partnerships space. 

In October 2019, Shelley was instrumental in establishing News UK’s first network for Black, Asian and ethnic minority employees, now called the Cultural Diversity Network, ensuring more meaningful representation across News UK.