CofE Vs BBC (yet again)

If the media are to be believed, there is a fight on between the BBC and the good old CofE.  The CofE believes that the BBC doesn't 'get' religion in general or Christianity in particular, and is out to cut religion out of its output.

This story is being recycled yet again by the latest intervention from the good old CofE in response to the BBC Trust consultation.  The response is a long one, and is actually very wide-ranging, but the news stories have picked up on the piece where the Church's submission focused on the need to avoid any cuts to religious broadcasting.

What is remarkable from this is how at odds the news coverage is from the actual submission.  The good old CofE appear to be making the reasonable argument that balanced religious broadcasting plays an important role in fulfilling the BBC's charter obligations around citizenship and civil society, so should not be cut.  There is no accusation that this has happened, and the submission actually acknowledges that there has been an increase in religious output from the BBC in recent years.

Yet we get the headline "Church of England is losing faith in the BBC, says bishop" from the Guardian. Mouse cannot find anything to back this up.  Oh well, its a good headline.

Here is the relevant section from the CofE submission so you can form your own view.

1.5 ‘Getting religion’
Unsurprisingly, the Church of England is particularly concerned with ensuring that appropriate resources are allocated towards ensuring high-quality provision of content that reflects and explores religion. At its recent meeting, the General Synod passed a motion to: “Express its deep concern about the overall reduction in religious broadcasting across British television in recent years, and call upon mainstream broadcasters to nurture and develop the expertise to create and commission high quality religious content across the full range of their output, particularly material that imaginatively marks major festivals and portrays acts of worship”.


1.6 The Synod’s debate included acknowledgement that BBC TV’s religious output has risen in recent years (especially on BBC Four). Given the caveat in the review that “some programme budgets cannot be reduced much further (if at all) without damaging quality” (p.14), we are concerned that religious broadcasting is one such area where output could not sustain further cuts without serious deterioration of the BBC’s proud record of providing engaging content. Our concern about the quality and quantity of religious content provided by the BBC is not just about self-interest for the Churches, but about holding the BBC to account for one aspect of its public purposes: the requirement to “sustain citizenship and civil society”, which requires a properly informed society, aware of the factors motivating people and giving their lives purpose.


1.7 As we stated in our submission to the BBC Trust in December 2009 on your service review of BBC One, BBC Two and BBC Four: “The importance of religion in the public sphere, and its particular importance on the lives of many under-reported and under-represented groups in the UK, demands the highest quality of programming that in turn requires the availability of high-level expertise and understanding, both for the production of specific ‘Religion and Ethics’ output but also as an in-house resource for other departments.


“In relation to religious programmes, concerns exist about the extent to which the BBC is committed to ensuring that it has a sufficient amount of in-house expertise and the resources to guarantee the long term quality of its religious output. Retaining and nurturing a core team of specialists is absolutely crucial to maintaining the current stable of regular programmes and developing innovative new formats.”


1.8 We reiterate that the implied benefits of having a more mobile and flexible workforce outlined in the Director-General’s proposals (p51) need to be balanced not only against the human and social costs of operating in such a work environment, but also the importance of retaining sufficient in-house knowledge and skills in a range of specific ‘knowledge’ areas.