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Some members of the synod said the BBC was not broadcasting enough religious programmes. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
Some members of the synod said the BBC was not broadcasting enough religious programmes. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

Synod rejects motion attacking broadcasters over lack of religious programmes

This article is more than 14 years old
Church of England's parliament passes amendment praising TV and radio for communicating religious belief

Senior members of the Church of England's general synod today headed off an attack on the BBC and independent broadcasters for their alleged failure to produce enough religious television programmes.

Lay members of the synod – the church's parliament, meeting in London – claimed a decline in the number of religious-themed programmes in recent years was due to broadcasters' loss of faith and search for ratings.

However, a motion calling on the BBC and Ofcom to explain why British television's "once exemplary" religious coverage had become "marginalised" was replaced by a more anodyne amendment.

That expressed appreciation of the role of broadcasters in communicating religious belief and voiced more general concern at the reduction in religious broadcasting.

The attack on broadcasters was led by the synod member Nigel Holmes, a former producer with BBC Radio Cumbria, who launched a similar debate 10 years ago.

"Over the past 20 years the total output of the general programme channels on BBC television has doubled, yet the hours of religious broadcasting on television are fewer and generally scheduled at less accessible times," he said. "That, frankly, is not good enough."

Holmes and other speakers nevertheless acknowledged that there were some religious programmes they liked, including the long-running Songs of Praise and the recent History of Christianity, written and presented by the Oxford professor Diarmaid MacCulloch.

In a briefing document, the Church of England said: "We welcome regular reporting of religious affairs within the news, but are concerned that increasingly moving religion out of specialist slots and into news and magazine programming, given the lack of specialist knowledge in some newsrooms, can lead to the 'David Attenborough' effect.

"[That is] religion reported from the point of view of an observer of a fascinating and increasingly rare species rather than explored as something of fundamental importance to the majority of the country."

Philip Giddings, a senior synod member, said: "We are letting the BBC off the hook. We should stick to our guns. They could and should do better."

Other speakers, however, were more tolerant of broadcasters. Canon Jonathan Boardman, based in Italy, said there should be "no punch-up between the Victorian dad – us – and Aunty Beeb".

He added: "Encouragement is the best way, not a lot of bombastic upbraiding. Would the church's mission be best served by a return to the sort of syrupy, sentimental programmes like Stars on Sunday from my childhood in the 70s?"

Christina Rees, a representative from the St Albans diocese, said: "As far as I am concerned, the BBC fulfils its remit better than anyone else … we can't expect the BBC to do the churches' job. We cannot tell them what to believe."

And Elaine Storkey, a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4's Thought For the Day, said: "If you ask the average teenager whether they would rather give up television or the internet, they will say they could not bear to be without the internet.

"Digital culture is no longer the preserve of broadcasters – are we going to go on debating television for ever?"

The amended motion was carried overwhelmingly, but Dr John Sentamu, the archbishop of York, urged broadcasters present to convey the church's concerns to their employers.

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