An editorial boss has urged journalists to stop use of the word “woke” from being weaponised.

Darren Lewis has made the plea during a summit on inclusivity hosted by Reach plc, the BBC and Sky.

Darren, national content editor at Reach title the Daily Mirror, urged the media to “push back” on the way the term is used to “undermine the fight for decency”.

During the discussion, he also stated his belief that the industry had “always struggled with black men”.

Darren, pictured, told the summit: “The media industry wasn’t built for people like this panel. It was built for straight white men. Sport has struggled with, for example, straight white women covering the game.

“It’s always struggled with black men and the radar as society wasn’t accepting of anything that was different from the norm.

“The word ‘woke’ comes from the awakening, the realisation that black people are suffering in America.

“It’s been weaponised in a number of strategies to undermine the fight for decency, humanity and just being a decent person to your fellow man .

“We actually need to push back when people use that word – we do have that power.

“We’ve got all of these words we’ve stopped using, let’s add woke to that, because then we can push back on the weaponised use and show that those days are gone and now this is how we’re moving on together.”

The event at Manchester’s Central Convention Complex formed part of the two-day Include Summit, which is focused on equality, diversity and inclusion in sport.

The panel was chaired by Dr Julie Humphreys, group head of diversity & inclusion at Reach, with BBC sports journalist Emma Smith, Sky Sports News diversity and inclusion reporter Miriam Walker-Khan, and Peter Harding, founder of disability campaign Why Can’t We, also appearing on the panel.