Humanists in the UK say the BBC should open up Radio 4’s Thought for the Day to non-religious voices. Humanists UK has campaigned for 16 years to open Thought for the Day. Last year, the BBCs review of religious and ethics output rejected any change to the format. The corporation said Thought for the Day Read more
Posts Tagged ‘BBC’
Criticism rejected of BBC show at Calais refugee church
Friday, August 14th, 2015
Church leaders have hit back at stinging criticism of a BBC’s Songs of Praise special edition recorded in a refugee camp in Calais in France. The setting is a makeshift Ethiopian Orthdodox Church, built by volunteers in the “New Jungle” settlement, in and near which 5000 people from Eritrea, Libya and Syria live. The programme, Read more
Former priest supporting Sir Cliff Richard in abuse crisis
Tuesday, August 19th, 2014
A former Catholic priest is believed to be one of those supporting singer Sir Cliff Richard as he faces an historic allegation of abusing a boy. Sir Cliff, who vehemently denies the abuse claim, is often in the company of former priest John McElynn, who is one of the supporters dubbed “Team Cliff”. The singer’s Read more
Pope: One year at the Vatican
Friday, March 14th, 2014
As Pope Francis completes his first year in office, David Willey reports from Rome on the changes that have taken place in the Vatican and the Catholic Church. Back in 1978 – which went down in history as the “year of the three Popes” – I remember meeting a gregarious American priest and journalist who Read more
The media and the vulnerable in 2012
Friday, December 21st, 2012
As I was looking for a lens through which I could frame a 2012 retrospective editorial, a colleague asked me to recommend a good article on the topic ‘the media and the vulnerable’. Looking at our archive, I discovered this was a constant throughout the year. Still current is the fallout of actions of 2DAY FM employees Read more
Now everyone is connected, is this the death of conversation?
Friday, May 4th, 2012
A professor at MIT who is also a psychologist, Sherry Turkle says that her students are almost able to keep eye contact with someone while texting to another person. In her opinion, such people are “alone together … a tribe of one”. Those who have 3,000 Facebook friends have no friends. In his opinion piece, Simon Jenkins Read more
BBC criticized for plans to broadcast live from abortion clinic
Monday, April 30th, 2012The BBC has drawn criticism from pro-life groups over plans to broadcast a live radio program from an abortion clinic. “News that a publicly funded radio station – BBC Radio 5 – is going to record inside an abortion clinic is being seen by many of us as biased support for the abortion lobby,” said Read more
BBC2 priest censored by Rome
Friday, April 27th, 2012One of Ireland’s best known priests, who is a prominent journalist and broadcaster, has been censured by the Vatican. Fr Brian D’Arcy, who is also a regular contributor to BBC Radio 2’s “Pause for Thought”, as well as a best-selling author and columnist with the Irish tabloid the Sunday World, has been told he must Read more
Christianity needs AK47’s for BBC to take complaints seriously
Friday, March 2nd, 2012
Mark Thompson the Director General of the BBC has admitted Christianity is treated with less sensitivity than other religions because it is “pretty broad shoulders” reports The Telegraph. Speaking in a wide-ranging interview about faith and broadcasting, Mr Thompson disclosed that producers were faced with the possibilities of “violent threats” instead of normal complaints if Read more
L’Osservatore Romano slams BBC decision on BC and AD
Friday, October 7th, 2011
In an editorial written by Lucetta Scaraffia in L’Osservatore Romano, the author rips into the BBC decision to change BC (Before Christ) to BCE (Before the Common Era) and AD (Anno Domini – the Year of the Lord) to CE (Common Era). She claims that non-Christians have generally expressed little concern about use of the Read more