BBC accused of intellectual arrogance covering religions

RELIGIONS NEWS AGENCY (REDNA) – BBC on its coverage of religions is accused of an intellectual arrogance.

As “Religion Media Center” reported Ernie Rea, the BBC’s former head of religious broadcasting from 1989-2001, criticized the BBC as above.

He said with 82 per cent of the world belonging to a faith tradition, it was “absolutely plain the BBC should be covering it, should be exploring it, should be criticizing it…It should be part of the asking questions to power, but it’s not doing it.”

Speaking about his time as head of religion, he said BBC radio network controllers always gave him a fair hearing, but BBC TV controllers were “of a secular hue”.

He said: “I can remember in the early 1990s, proposing a series on Islam in Britain and the controller looked at me and he said, ‘I can’t imagine that anybody would be interested in that’.

You look back on that and there’s such an intellectual arrogance about that, that it’s almost breath-taking. I think that distinction probably still applies.”

In response, a BBC spokesperson said Ernie Rea was talking of his experiences 20 years ago and since then, the BBC had reaffirmed its commitment to religion and ethics broadcasting across television and radio.

It delivered “a range of high quality religion and ethics content, including documentaries, news coverage and content marking key faith festivals, far exceeding what we are required to do”.