TV's Religious output

Synod motion to criticise TV’s religious output

The Church of England’s governing body is to debate the ‘sensationalist and unduly critical nature’ of TV coverage of religion. Noting that the quantity of religious programming has declined, a lay member’s motion will also lament its quality. Former BBC producer Nigel Holmes will claim at the Synod in February that even the ‘few remaining programmes’ are being marginalised. He says that the BBC’s percentage of religious output has dropped by a third in the last ten years, while ITV’s has reduced to ‘next to nothing’, and broadcasters have ‘a lack of sympathy for, and ignorance of, religion’. The Guardian commented that our ‘sneering’ media as a whole is ‘almost uniquely out-of-touch with the world of religion.’

Sources: The Guardian (18/1, 19/1); Daily Telegraph (18/1); Church Times (22/1)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

'Thought for the Day'

The General Secretary of the Methodist Church has responded to the BBC Trust consideration of a non-religious Thought For The Day on Radio 4.

Martyn Atkins, General Secretary of the Methodist Church, said: “Faith-based communities have a distinctive voice, and large numbers of people listen to Thought For The Day for that very reason, so I would be saddened to lose those crucial few minutes of spiritual reflection. I recognise, however, that faith-based communities do not have a monopoly on ‘thoughts’!

“The BBC as a public broadcaster has a challenge to represent a variety of views in society, and it is important that this slot remains available as a pause to reflect on spiritual or ethical issues. Sometimes it serves to reassure, sometimes to challenge, but it is a vital space in the middle of a busy news programme.

“Methodists are not afraid to be challenged about what we believe, and we are not threatened by hearing secular voices on Thought for the Day. But we, along with other Christians, will hope to continue to be given opportunity to speak of the things that matter so deeply to us.”

Source: Methodist News Service 16/07/09

Christianity ‘sidelined’ by BBC - claim

Religious programming at the BBC is in decline, with minority faiths being given ‘preferential treatment’ over Christianity, it was claimed this week. Fears were voiced by members of the Church of England’s Archbishop’s Council after the recent appointment of a Sikh to produce Songs of Praise, and amid speculation that a Muslim may take over as head of religious programmes from Methodist preacher Michael Wakelin, who lost his job in a BBC re-shuffle. Four out of seven executives in the BBC religion department have been made redundant in the past year and the Churches’ Media Council says that Christians are now significantly under-represented at the Corporation. The BBC has said that the changes are intended to strengthen its religious offering. ‘We very much hope this is the case, and will be monitoring the situation closely,’ said Bishop of Manchester the Rt Revd Nigel McCulloch.

Sources: Daily Telegraph (29/3), Church of England Newspaper (3/4)

Britons back religious values

Most British people want religion and religious values to have an important role in public life, a new BBC survey has found. The ComRes poll of 1,045 people found 62 per cent in favour. Around the same number (63 per cent) said that British law should respect and be influenced by the UK’s traditional religious values. Despite secularist calls to ‘free’ society from the views and beliefs of religious traditions, the survey demonstrates public support for religious values. Researchers found a higher proportion of Muslims and Hindus supporting the role of the country’s traditional (essentially Christian) values.

Source: BBC (24/2)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7906595.stm

Concern expressed over BBC changes

In a letter to the BBC’s Director General, the Methodist Church has expressed ‘deep concern’ over the announcement of immediate structural changes to the BBC’s Religion and Ethics department.

The Manchester-based Religion and Ethics team will be combined with the BBC’s Factual department and the newly formed Factual and Religion department will be managed from Birmingham.

The full text of the letter follows:

Dear Mr Thompson,

We write to you to express our deep concern over the recent news of structural changes to the BBC’s Religion and Ethics department.

The Methodist Church would like to express our gratitude for the outstanding work of the BBC in the field of Religion and Ethics, on television, on radio and online. The BBC’s creativity and authority in their engagement with a vast range of ethical issues, faith groups and life stories not only reaches individuals to whom these matters are important, but also resources public awareness and debate, enriching the life of the nations.

We are seeking your reassurance that under the newly formed Factual and Religion department this work will not only continue to the high standards already set by your dedicated team, but will be given the space and resources to creatively develop.

We would like to express our pastoral concern and offer our prayerful support to all staff directly affected by these changes as they make this transition.

Yours sincerely,

Revd Dr Martyn Atkins
General Secretary of the British Methodist Church

Revd Stephen Poxon
President of the British Methodist Conference

Mr David Walton
Vice-President of the British Methodist Conference


Source: Methodist News Service 07/02/09

Press Reviews and Viewing Figures of 'The Passion'

Reviews of last night’s episode of The Passion have been generally good. Here are a few extracts…

Daily Express - Page 15 - Hickey - Fresh from plaudits which are already pouring in for his portrayal of Jesus in BBC 1's new drama The Passion which began last night, actor Joseph Mawle is preparing to star in a new play with a similarly Biblical theme at Islington's Almeida Theatre.

The Times - T 2 Page 19 - Greatest Story Told Again - Joseph Mawle, the hard of hearing actor from Soundproof, plays him as meek, mild and hangdog, as self-questioning as Hamlet. That had to be wrong. If He did not believe He was 100 per cent He was right how could He have persuaded everyone else? I longed for the panache of Dennis Potter, who took a grip of this story in his 1969 Play For Today: Son Of Man and made Jesus a political revolutionary. But the proof of the Passion will undoubtedly be its crucifixion scene.

The Independent - Extra Page 22 - Last Weekend's TV - Don't Pass Over This Easter Treat - If you believe Christ is your redeemer I can't so far see anything in The Passion that would have affronted that faith. And if you don't, its account of the politics of a week that was crucial in world history proved surprisingly gripping.

The Guardian - G2 Page 31 - The Easter story goes real-time in the BBC's down and dirty new adaptation - and it's brilliant. There's a vitality and realness about the whole thing that you rarely find with this story. A passion, you could even say, in another sense of the word.

The Guardian - G2 - Page 31 - picture - You could watch The Passion and totally forget that this story was central to a major world religion. And that's good.

Daily Telegraph - Page 30 - The Weekend On Television - A faithful retelling? - The programme provided exactly the kind of intelligent and engaging drama you'd expect from a series written by Frank Deasy and produced by Nigel Stafford-Clark.

Daily Star - Mike Ward On Telly - I must confess the whole thing goes way over my head. Try as I might during last night's opening episode, I couldn't see beyond a load of identical-looking beardy blokes in bits of old sack.

Daily Express - Page 51 - Television Express - Gritty take on Easter epic - A lavish enterprise with the production values of a feature film and a cast of known faces from the small screen who fit remarkably well into grimy biblical garb, it is clearly a serious attempt to set the Passion story in a convincing historical context, aiming at believers and not-believers alike.

Viewing Figures
The audience for episode 1 was 4.1 million. That is, to be really frank, a bit disappointing. But the big problem was that ITV chose to schedule against it in order to knock the audience. They ran the final of Dancing on Ice, which got an audience of 11.9 million. Even Eastenders, which was on immediately before The Passion, got a lower than usual audience because of Dancing on Ice. Such is show business!



The good news is that the BBC are running an omnibus of The Passion on Easter Sunday at 2.15 on BBC1. So people who have missed some or all of it can watch the whole thing in a run. The final episode is now confirmed for 7.30pm on Easter Sunday.


The popularity of Dancing on Ice is no doubt the main reason for lower than expected viewing figures, but a number of regular church-goers to whom I spoke last week were not intending to watch this new drama because "after all, we know the ending". I thought that it was a pity that they could not appreciate this opportunity to gain a greater understanding of at least the historical context. Unfortunately, I was unable to watch this first episode from the beginning because we had an unusually long evening service with a newly-returned mission partner as visiting preacher and it was quite late by the time I reached home. So I found it difficult to identify the characters and even in parts to follow the plot. I shall therefore be eager to watch episode 1 again on Easter Sunday. Thank you BBC.

Repeat Viewings of BBC1's 'The Passion'

"I'm not sure that I'm going to watch it!" said a very staunch church member to me this morning. Let's face it, 'The Passion' will not be cosy, easy viewing if it is to be a true depiction of the sufferings of Jesus, so I can understand any reluctance on the part of practicing Christians to suffer this new production of 'the Passion'. Yet it is being shown at peak viewing times, just after Eastenders, which means that in the days that follow it will be in the thoughts and conversations of millions of people who do not come to church.

If Christians do NOT watch 'The Passion', how can they talk about it confidently with their neighbours - thus losing an opportunity to answer criticisms (if any) or to share their faith in a natural context. So I am glad to pass on this message from Methodist Church House telling us that the BBC has decided to repeat the first 3 episodes en bloc on Easter Sunday afternoon. We have a Gospel to proclaim! Let us be ready to do so this Easter, so that others may hear God speaking and respond.

Easter Sunday scheduling
The BBC has announced that episodes 1,2 and 3 of The Passion will be repeated en bloc on Easter Sunday 23rd March at 2.15pm after the Eastenders Omnibus. This is intended for all those who've missed it during the week or would like to catch up.

The final episode, dealing with the resurrection appearances, will then transmit at 7.30pm

Follow-up material
The team at www.rejesus.co.uk have produced some fabulous resources to back up the series, including exclusive interviews. They are intended as a source for those who would like to go a step further in exploring faith. Please have a look, and if you can do anything at this stage to publicise that link, please do so.

GOING DIGITAL

May I draw your attention to the following post copied, as requested, from Tony Miles' blog Maybe2day concerning 'searching for values in the New Media environment'.
Tony is on the planning committee for the Churches' Media Conference. He writes:-


"The digital revolution has arrived. IPTV, social networking, blogging, gaming and mobile technology are changing all the rules. New platforms create new possibilities. Fresh expectations from audiences demand new ways of working from producers and communicators.

"This year’s Churches’ Media Conference will equip you to find your way through the digital jungle. There will be keynote sessions on convergence, media ethics, social networking, new initiatives in faith broadcasting.

"We will also have challenging questions to face; who is setting the values agenda for tomorrow’s media? Does Public Service Broadcasting mean anything in the new media environment? Is Religious Broadcasting coming to an end - or is it ripe for transformation?
Thankfully we have an outstanding range of contributors to help us. They include senior programme-makers like former Newsnight editor Tim Gardam, technology experts like the BBC’s Rory Cellan-Jones, and leading thinkers like David Wilkinson, James Hanvey, Julian Baggini and Bishop Nick Baines.

"We’ve also created even better opportunities to meet and work with colleagues from your particular media sector.

"Of course there will also be time to network and relax. I’m delighted that BBC Radio 4’s Milton Jones will with us. I truly believe he may be the funniest man in Britain.

"The conference will take place from Monday 9th - Wednesday 11th June 2008 at the Hayes Conference Centre, Derbyshire. For more information about the conference and to book your place please click here www.churchesmediacouncil.org.uk/conference

"If you don’t have a password just register on the site.

"The Churches’ Media Conference 2008 provides a unique opportunity for media professionals and faith leaders to engage in a lively debate about the challenges of the digital future. Please would you help us get the word out by forwarding this email to anyone you know who may be interested in joining us."

BBC1's 'The Passion'

BBC1's The Passion is expected to make a huge national impact.

The Passion series which tells the story of the last week of Jesus' life, his trial and crucifixion starts on Palm Sunday 16 March and will be scheduled in peak time on BBC1. It is likely to attract audiences in excess of 10 million. The last episode, to be broadcast on Easter Sunday 23 March, dramatises Jesus' post-resurrection appearances.

Andrew Graystone, Director of the Churches' Media Council, was profoundly moved by early versions of the series. "This is an extremely vivid piece of drama. You feel you are right there, in amongst the Passover crowds, alongside the disciples as Jesus comes out with these simple but earth-shattering messages. And then of course, he's taken away and makes the ultimate sacrifice, and like the disciples, you're left to decide what you are going to do about it."

A multi-denominational group convened by the Churches' Media Council launched a website to provide resources and information about the series. The group is encouraging the Christian community to seize this "golden opportunity to contribute to a contemporary public discussion about Jesus." Christian leaders have been invited to a preview screening of the series. Meanwhile, a panel of speakers has been formed to contribute to national press, radio and TV discussions.

The Passion website has ideas to help local churches prepare for the series and can be found at:

www.churchesmediacouncil.org.uk/passion