Oscars: Cheryl Boone Isaacs re-elected Academy president after diversity row

The president of the organisation that stages the Oscars has been re-elected after pledging to improve diversity.

Public relations executive Cheryl Boone Isaacs will serve as president of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences for a fourth one-year term.

In January, she promised "big changes" following an outcry when all of this year's acting nominees were white.

In an attempt to widen its membership, Ms Boone Isaacs invited almost 700 people to join the Academy in June.

Of the 683 new members, 41% are from ethnic minority groups, taking the proportion of the Academy's membership from 8% to 11%.

And 46% of the new intake are female, meaning women will make up 27% of the Academy, up from 25%.

Image captionRev Al Sharpton led protests near the venue of this year's ceremony

In total, the Academy is made up of around 6,000 past Oscar nominees and winners plus other film professionals, who vote for the Academy Award recipients every year.

They have traditionally been regarded as disproportionately old, white, male and conservative in their tastes.

In January, after this year's nominations were announced and the subsequent #OscarsSoWhite backlash began, Ms Boone Isaacs said she was "both heartbroken and frustrated about the lack of inclusion".

She said: "This is a difficult but important conversation, and it's time for big changes. The Academy is taking dramatic steps to alter the makeup of our membership."

source:www.bbc.com