BBC’s head of religion Aaqil Ahmed calls for more ‘literacy’ at the top

[rug]

Ian Burrell
Media Editor
Friday 26 December 2014

The head of religious programmes at the BBC has complained that a lack of diversity and religious literacy at the top of British public service television is letting down modern audiences.

Aaqil Ahmed, the BBC’s head of religion and ethics, complained of a “lack of religious literacy” in modern society and said viewers from minority faiths complained that television often failed to understand their beliefs and reflect them in its output. “We have got to do better,” he said.

Mr Ahmed noted that census statistics showed that 2.7 million people in Britain and about one tenth of babies are born into the faith. “What [Muslim viewers] want is more programmes that explain what they believe in and more programmes where they see themselves,” he said.

Highlighting the lack of religious diversity at senior levels of the industry, he said: “I’m not the first person to commission religious programmes for the BBC or Channel 4 but I’m the first person to have done (programmes on) the Koran and the life of Muhammad.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/bbcs-head-of-religion-aaqil-ahmed-calls-for-more-literacy-at-the-top-9945604.html

[Jim__]

1. I wonder if any US cable companies carry BBC4.

Mr Ahmed has commissioned a three-part series for BBC4 on the teachings of Buddha, Confucius and Socrates, which will be shown early next year. Presented by the historian Bettany Hughes and provisionally titled Three Minds, it will explore “the notion of what virtue and ethics is”, he said.

I might even be willing to miss, say, an episode of Survivor to watch that.

[rug]

2. I can't find any cable but it looks like you can livestream it. Not the same though.

http://www.livestream.com/bbcfour

If you have better luck finding it, let me know. Good content there.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour