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Black Lives Matter: a note from Network N

Hi everyone,

In a world where silence is complicity, businesses and individuals need to deliver concrete steps to show that #BlackLivesMatter.

The racism and injustice that has led to civil unrest across the USA right now, has given us all much pause for thought. As we pay attention to what’s happening in the USA it’s become increasingly apparent we must focus even harder on what we do here. It is clear that racism and injustice are not exclusively American issues but global problems.

Many of us are looking at how we ‘show up’, and go beyond a post or tweet to take action, right now, to improve the situation. It’s easy to know what to say but harder to know how to do the right thing.

What we do know is that the people in our business care deeply about diversity and inclusion. We know that we want to take an active stance against racism and injustice. We also know we haven’t shown up in a way that represents how much we care and it’s sad that it’s taken these tragic events for us to reflect on that. We all need and can do more, but for us at Network N, here’s where we will begin:

  • With immediate effect we will be taking steps to increase the visibility of BAME and other minority voices within our editorial output. As a first step we will allocate an additional 25% editorial freelance budget to commission content from minority writers. And we commit to reexamining the mix of our editorial voices every quarter.
  • We will donate $250,000 of advertising space to charities and educational organisations already fighting racism and injustice globally. While we work with our teams to identify the best partners we will, in the first instance extend this offer to two global organisations; Amnesty International and Solidar.
  • We need to be better allies but we don’t yet know how. We will host an open allyship forum for our employees, partners, and broader network on a video call. We invite and encourage as many stakeholders as possible to attend. For those that can’t we will post the session online and encourage further feedback.

As an industry and individuals, we are often focused on community mental health and actively speak out in ways to eradicate toxicity in our gaming communities. But these issues dwarf our gaming worlds. We may not take all of the right actions at all of the right moments, but now is absolutely the time for us to start.

Thank you

Tim and James

COO and CEO, Network N.