
The characters we haven't met. The stories left untold. For too long, media and entertainment have marginalized too many and represented too few. Using rigorous research and data to inform a new wave of inclusive storytelling, Content for Change will transform how the world sees people.
Mission
MISSION
Transform how the world sees people
Manifesto
Media shapes minds. In good ways. Bad ways. And ways we have yet to understand. We know that with that kind of power comes a responsibility to take action.
Content for Change was set in motion by BET to break down the societal narratives that allow for racism and hate to exist. Now, the entire Paramount family is joining forces to support and amplify this work. We’re starting inside our own walls and leading the industry to ignite systemic change.
We’re digging deeper to create narratives that express the full, complex spectrum of identity. And we’re challenging the media world to join us in using the power of storytelling to change the way people think. Together, we can reach screens everywhere with content that will change the way the world sees people.
Here’s how our President & CEO Bob Bakish publicly asserted our commitment to bringing more inclusion to media:
About Content for Change
Paramount's Content for Change is a global companywide, cross-brand initiative that seeks to use the power of the company’s content creation ecosystem to break down the narratives that enable intolerance, hurtful stereotypes, and systemic racism to exist and grow. Content for Change is centered on using scientific research, rigor, and data to transform Paramount's creative ecosystem across three pillars—the content it produces, the creative supply chain that powers it, and the culture that underpins everything the company does.
The companywide initiative is informed and inspired by BET’s groundbreaking Content for Change campaign. BET created the campaign in 2020 at a moment of national reckoning, building on its 40-year history of trailblazing leadership in audience education and celebration of Black excellence. In partnership with corporate, civil rights, and social justice organizations, the campaign leverages BET’s unique position and platforms to positively impact social justice outcomes for Black Americans and supports the creation, distribution, marketing, and promotion of content that will help drive the critical changes needed to eliminate systemic racism and inequality in America.
About Paramount & Its Commitment to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Paramount is a leading global media and entertainment company that creates premium content and experiences for audiences worldwide. Its portfolio includes iconic consumer brands, such as CBS, SHOWTIME, Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, BET, Paramount+, and Pluto TV, among others. The company delivers the largest share of the US television audience and boasts one of the industry's most important and extensive libraries of TV and film titles. In addition to offering innovative streaming services and digital video products, Paramount provides powerful capabilities in production, distribution, and advertising solutions.
Paramount believes that to best serve its audiences, employees, communities, and partners it must reflect, celebrate, and elevate the diversity of all people. Because of this, the company strives to make diversity, equity, and inclusion part of who it is: woven into the fabric of its workforce and culture, seen in the content it creates and the partners it works with, and reflecting the many audiences and communities it serves. The company’s commitment to DE&I is central to its business, a cornerstone of its culture, and will remain foundational to its future.
Visit paramount.com/inclusion to learn more about its efforts.
SHAPING THE FUTURE
Content for Change is using data-driven insights to transform the Paramount creative ecosystem—from the content we produce to the creative supply chain that powers it to the culture that underpins everything we do.
CONTENT
Counteract racism, bias, stereotypes, and hate with insights-informed content and amplify stories of underrepresented audiences across our ecosystem
PRODUCTION
BET Program
As part of its Content for Change campaign, BET is delivering groundbreaking programming to help address inequities faced by Black Americans. Recent specials and series include:
- “American Injustice: The Fight For Police Reform,” featuring award-winning journalist Soledad O’Brien with key politicians, law enforcement officials, and activists addressing the fight for police reform.
- “Disrupt & Dismantle,” a six-part investigative documentary series that follows O’Brien as she tackles injustices across the nation affecting the Black community, from police brutality to redlining, from the school-to-prison pipeline to the infant mortality crisis fueled by systemic racism.
- “Black x Jewish,” a primetime special produced by award-winning filmmaker Lacey Schwartz Delgado and Truth Aid Media that examines legacies of hate and how Black and Jewish communities have united in the face of increased anti-Semitism and racism in America.
BET Studios
BET Studios is an unprecedented studio venture that offers equity ownership for Black content creators. Propelled by the infrastructure and financing of BET and Paramount, BET Studios will create premium television series and films for an array of internal buyers, including Paramount+, SHOWTIME, CBS, Nickelodeon, BET+, and BET, in addition to select third-party platforms that seek best-in-class content from both leading and rising Black creatives. BET Studios launched with principal partners Kenya Barris, Rashida Jones, and Aaron Rahsaan Thomas, with more talent to be added to our expanding roster in the Studios’ first year of operations.
VIS Social Impact Studio
VIS Social Impact is a new studio division part of Paramount International Studios and Content for Change. VIS Social Impact is dedicated to the development of groundbreaking social impact-driven content addressing climate, equity, and health for the Paramount portfolio of brands, including Paramount+, and for third parties.
Research
Annenberg Inclusion Initiative – Mental Health Depictions
To understand the challenges and opportunities related to mental health storytelling in their programming, MTV Entertainment Group partnered with the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative to study mental health depictions across 29 shows in the Paramount portfolio.
The study found that while nearly one in five Americans experience a mental health condition, fewer than one in ten of our series regulars did—and around half of the characters with a mental health condition were shown in a context with disparagement or stigma.
We used those insights to inform our approach: partnering with mental health experts to create the Mental Health Media Guide to help creators portray mental health in an accurate and authentic way.
Annenberg Inclusion Initiative – Expanded Content for Change Research
As part of Content for Change, Paramount expanded its partnership with the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative to analyze 62 series across key demographics—like race and ethnicity, gender, LGBTQ+ identification, and disability status. The research identified areas where Paramount excels at representation and where there are gaps—including among the people behind the camera and such as series creators, producers, writers, and directors.
Stanford University
Additionally, as part of Content for Change, Paramount has partnered with Stanford University to test new hypotheses for how the power of content can be harnessed to shift perspectives. The study will examine individual bias among all audiences, the impact of longstanding oppression inflicted upon and internalized by audiences of color, and systemic racism across society.
Paramount Insights – Reflecting Me: Global Representation On Screen
Reflecting Me: Global Representation On Screen is an exploration of how people around the world feel about on-screen representation, shedding light on various aspects of diversity, including ethnicity, gender identity, sexuality, disability, and more.
With more than 15,000 people surveyed from 15 countries worldwide, the study found that nearly nine in ten people globally agree that TV shows and movies influence perceptions in the real world. Globally, 79 percent say more diversity is needed on screens, and more than half of those who feel poorly represented say they are not represented accurately on-screen.
Much more work needs to be done to improve representation around the world. This study is just one step in that direction.
Nickelodeon’s Shades of Us – A Study of Race, Identity & the American Family
Today’s kids are growing up in an increasingly multicultural world characterized by cultural fusion and diversity—as well as racial stereotypes and discrimination. Nickelodeon’s study on race, identity, and the American family unpacks how kids and families perceive their own culture and identities, how others perceive them, and how these perceptions impact their opinions, behaviors, and values. For more information, please reach out to Andrea.Strauss@nick.com and Makeda.Maysgreen@viacomcbs.com.
Paramount Consumer Products – More Than Dolls: A Study of Diversity & Dolls
Dolls are more than just toys. They help girls understand themselves and the world around them. Girls want to see themselves in their dolls. Choosing a reflection of their image equals seeing their own value. This study from Paramount Consumer Products found that while we have come a long way in helping girls feel represented by their dolls, we have further to go.
In America Series
Paramount's In America series explores the history and experience of Black, Asian, and Latinx communities in America. In a three-part, deep-dive presentation, the series goes beyond numbers and demographic descriptions to uncover the passions, concerns, and cultural anchors of these unique audience groups, underscoring the ways in which they drive cultural production and consumer conversations.
CREATION
Transform the content creation lifecycle to remove bias and ensure equality in how our content gets made and the partners we work with across our entire creative supply chain
ANNUAL/RECURRING PROGRAMS
Content for Change Academy
The Content for Change Academy is a talent program that aims to remove barriers to entry for new storytellers, build equity, and invest in the industry’s next generation of leaders from nontraditional pathways, including individuals from community colleges and certification programs, who are historically marginalized from entry into the entertainment industry.
Paramount Directing Initiative
The Paramount Directing Initiative aims to create a meaningful network of people of color and women who are aspiring television directors and wish to establish a sustainable career. Participants must have experience and be members of the Directors Guild of America.
Paramount Writers Mentoring Program
The eight-month Paramount Writers Mentoring Program is designed to help new and emerging writers improve their craft and build relationships with network executives and showrunners.
ViewFinder Emerging Directors Program
Our Paramount ViewFinder Emerging Directors Program provides a path for underrepresented directors to enhance their skills and grow their network. Selected applicants participate in a two-year curriculum focused on honing their craft and professional development.
SHOWCASE
Paramount's SHOWCASE started in 2005 and is a highly anticipated annual hybrid comedy show with live performances and original, creative writing. Casting agents, showrunners, and other entertainment executives attend the annual event.
Nick Writing Program
The Nick Writing Program gives participants exposure to seasoned writers and executives and a chance to embark on a career as a writer for Nickelodeon’s scripted live-action and animated television productions.
Nick Artist Program
The Nick Artist Program offers aspiring artists from diverse backgrounds the opportunity to hone their skills while working on our animated television shows in three tracks: storyboard, general, and computer graphics generalist.
First Time Directors Program
Launched in 2020, MTV Entertainment Group’s First Time Directors Program provides opportunities for first-time BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) filmmakers and women filmmakers to give rise to multicultural narratives and voices that resonate with audiences around the world.
CBS Sports Eye on the Future
CBS Sports Eye on the Future is a community-based initiative sponsored by CBS Sports and Paramount's Content for Change partnering with Careers in Sports High School to provide high-school students with access, opportunities, and training in the world of sports media and entertainment. The initiative will create a bridge between the sports media industry and local NYC youth, including through programs across CBS Sports’ production, operations, talent, programming, communications, marketing, management, diversity & inclusion teams, and much more at the CBS Sports NYC headquarters and Careers in Sports High School campus.
CULTURE
Create a culture of diversity, inclusion, and belonging, built on equal opportunities for access and advancement
CULTURAL & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT INITIATIVES
MTV Entertainment Group Culture Orientation
MTV Entertainment Group’s Culture Orientation aims to nurture the creative community with a baseline understanding of key themes to integrate into more nuanced storylines to improve and expand portrayals of pressing social justice issues, diverse representation, and historically excluded communities. The immersive employee-led initiative is in partnership with Anti-Defamation League, CAPE, Color of Change, Define American, GLAAD, IllumiNative, The Jed Foundation, The Museum of Tolerance, MPAC, NALIP, RAINN, RespectAbility, and Storyline Partners.
Social Impact Non-Profit Partner Workshops
Strategic Sponsorships & Contributions
In honoring the kickoff of Content for Change, Paramount is awarding $1 million in Q1 2022 to community-based organizations on the front lines of enabling and celebrating more inclusive storytelling, with a broader commitment that the guiding principles of Content for Change will steer the company’s giving going forward.


So many of our assumptions come from media-driven stereotypes we associate with others without our conscious knowledge. Take our quiz to see what we mean.
1
You’re challenging your biases.
We’re challenging ours, too.
Learn about the research Content for Change is conducting internally and in partnership with Annenberg, Stanford University and more.
behind the change
Learn how fellows in the very first class of Content for Change Academy are fulfilling their creative potential and making a difference while they do it.


Working with CBS Sports taught me that there are so many paths in production—whether in the office, behind the camera, in front of the camera, or away from the camera. There are many places to land and roles to grow in.
Shamar Darden, Content for Change Academy


Because of the Content for Change Academy, I am a better creative thinker. I have new relationships. And, I earned the position as a PA with BET.
Tenia Hardy, Content for Change Academy


Content for Change opened my eyes to the many opportunities a production provides. Thanks to this program, I have gained a stronger understanding of where I want to fit in within this industry.
Marvin Hernandez, Content for Change Academy


Before the Academy, I was unaware of how much work and effort go into content like promos and trailers. I'm beyond excited to carry all my new skills, connections, and experiences into my next professional role.
Georgia-Rae Lyken, Content for Change Academy
Latest News

When diversity becomes a box to check rather than a core value, it shows. A stove-piped, piecemeal approach will no longer cut it; this moment demands nothing less than systemic transformation.
Bob Bakish
President and Chief Executive Officer of Paramount Global

For forty years, BET has been a unifying space for Black people to be seen, heard, showcased, and celebrated. As many in America move more boldly and with a greater sense of urgency to address racial inequities, we will utilize the full breadth of our capabilities and partnerships to help drive this critical change.
Scott Mills
CEO, BET

It requires more than an earnest desire to do better; we must find concrete ways to hold ourselves accountable.
Bob Bakish
President and Chief Executive Officer of Paramount Global