Religious audiences

Ruth Deller
r.a.deller@shu.ac.uk, @ruthdeller
AHRC-funded PhD candidate, Sheffield Hallam University

 ‘Religion is alive and well in my in-
tray. No subject… creates hotter
debates or calls for more difficult
decisions' – M rk Tho m p s o n, BBC
a
Dire c to r G e ne ra l (BBC 2005: 2)

 Public service channels (BBC One-Four,
ITV1, Channel 4, Five), 2000-09.
 PhD research: factual programming.
 MA research: BBC soaps.
 Secondary research: Ofcom, BBC,
Channel 4 – with major religious groups.
 Primary research: Message boards,
blogs, YouTube, Twitter, mailing lists,
surveys, focus groups (online and off),
interviews.

 All four PSBs are required to provide
some religious content, however, the
quotas vary.
 All PSBs are meant to represent diversity.
 Ofcom guidelines state:
 Respect for divinities, beliefs, holy days etc.
 Care to protect the ‘susceptible’.
 Restrictions on the kinds of ‘claims’ that can
be made about certain practices and beliefs.

 Audiences place a low value on (narrowly-
defined) ‘religious’ programming, but
appreciate its importance, often for ‘others’
(Ofcom 2004/5, BBC 2005).
 However, when the definition of ‘religious’ is
expanded to include other genres, there is a
much greater interest:
 There is 'a strong interest in programmes… [on]
questions of faith, the manifestation of faith in
culture… the role of religion in world politics'
(Ofcom 2005: 2).

 White Britons tend to feel television
reflects multiculturalism, whilst minority
groups feel there is a lack of diversity
(Channel 4, 2007).
 Faith groups tend to feel their own belief
system is portrayed unfairly (or not
enough) – and often perceive other
groups as having preferential treatment.

 The BBC only falls over backwards to
please Muslims and sometimes
Christians, the rest of are trampled over
by them.
 To be fair I wasn’t expecting much more
from Channel 4, which in my eyes has an
anti-Christian agenda.
 Fair - yes it was fair if you love Israel and
hate Muslims! - it was great! However for
the unbiased many, it was nothing short of
propaganda.

I don’t know why I am shocked when I
watch such programmes as they are
always biased towards Christians.
 I have a major problem with the series in
that Channel 4 would never produce a
series that questions / undermines Islam,
Hinduism, Buddhism etc in such a way.
Why pick on Christianity?

 The whole thing was very anti-pagan in a
way. Or at least, they biased their material
towards sexual practices, fighting and the
darker aspects of the culture.
 Unfortunately, anyone who has any
religious belief is portrayed as a bit odd.
Even Dot, who seems to be the only
person with any serious conviction, goes
around quoting passages from the bible -
so unrealistic.

I think the BBC as a whole tends to fairly
reflect Britain's cultural and religious
diversity...[but] Ea s tEnd e rs , although a
great show (in my opinion) fails to
accurately show the true ethnic mix of the
East End and fails utterly to accurately
show the reality of its religious beliefs,
practices and diversity.
 Why [are there] no Muslim characters
(e.g. running the village shop)? The
A he rs has a diversity problem’.
rc

 In my experience, the BBC could not care less about the feelings of or
requests from the Hindus. They simply ignore them... The BBC also
ignores the significant Buddhist population in Britain. I remember well
when you mentioned the absence of any program or discussion to
mark the Vesak, which is one of the most significant in the Buddhist
calendar. That was perhaps 5 years ago. NOTHING has changed
since. But the coverage of Islam has increased by leaps and bounds.
Everyone now knows when Ramadan falls and has a rough idea about
it, thanks to the BBC. How many know about Vesak?
 I have been quietly observing the BBC intentionally not cater to or
involve Hindus and Sikhs… BBC have learned how to pronounce the
Muslim places of worship… but yet CAN NOT say the name of Hindu
Temples - Mandras , or the Sikh Gurdawaras… BBC involve and cater
much more for the Muslims, why? Is it because of fear? Or because of
pressure?

 Je rry Sp ring e r: The O p e ra
 Christian Voice
 Evangelical Alliance
 Dis p a tc he s : ‘Undercover Mosque’
 MPAC
 West Midlands Police/CPS
 Pa no ra m a : ‘Scientology and Me’.
 Panorama Exposed (and sequel)

 Stereotyping
 Small sample standing in for the majority
– focusing on the extremes
 Misunderstanding spiritual practices
 Being patronised or belittled
 A lack of visibility

 Visibility
 Wide range of depictions
 To be featured in a range of genres
 What seems to work?
 The Monastery
 Around the World in 80 Faiths
 Rev/Vicar of Dibley
 The Qur’an/7 Wonders (mixed response)
 Christianity: a History (mixed response)

 God's sense of humour here. Just when I
thought too many things about our society
have slipped into dark places, and that reality
tv ranked among the major pieces of
evidence for this (so decided not even to risk
being upset by watching one in a monastery)
- just then, here's evidence of God shows
how grace can touch us. Most of my friends
did watch The M na s te ry and I'm frankly
o
moved by what I'm hearing from them all.

 Atheists and humanists want ‘voices’ (and
not just Richard Dawkins!).
 Many non-religious people are interested
in programmes exploring different beliefs
and practices.
 As with ‘religious’ audiences, they want
less stereotyping, less patronising, more
openness.

 Jerry Sp ring e r, ‘Undercover Mosque’ and
‘Scientology and Me’
 Dis p a tc he s ‘What Muslims Want’ (see
MacDonald 2011), A Chris tia ns Be ing
re
Pe rs e c ute d etc
 Easter programming
 4thought.tv
 Dramatisations of the Bible

 The bigger question from our point of view would
be not that we don’t do enough in that area,
because it’s true, I don’t think we do enough, but
we try, you’ve no idea how much we’ve tried...
But the reality is if we’re going to be it prime time,
they’re gonna have to, you know if you chose to
do something really weak at the expense of doing
the Muslim funeral parlour film that we did or The
Qur’a n or something simply because you had to
tick a box then you’re hacking it and there’d
simply be no point doing the job.
(Aaqil Ahmed, 2009)

 PSBs do not fully represent diversity with
regards to religion/spirituality.
 White Britons are likely to see
broadcasting as more diverse than
minority audiences.
 Most faith groups perceive themselves to
be treated badly and often perceive others
to be treated better.
 Broadcasters are aware of the level of
feeling but often unsure how to proceed.

 BBC (2005) Re lig io n I p a rtia lity Re v ie w
m
 Channel 4 (2007) Ra c e , Re p re s e nta tio n a nd the
M d ia : Cha nne l 4
e
 MacDonald, M. (2011) ‘Discourses of Separation‘
in Brunt, R. and Cere, R. (eds) Po s tc o lo nia l M d ia
e
Culture in Brita in, Basingstoke: Palgrave.
 Ofcom (2004) O fc o m ’s Firs t Re vie w o f Public
Se rv ic e Bro a d c a s ting
 Ofcom (2005) Re lig io us Pro g ra m m e s a nd the
Bro a d c a s ting Co d e
 Ofcom (2009) O fc o m ’s Se c o nd Re vie w o f Public
Se rv ic e Bro a d c a s ting

Religious audiences

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