Aaqil Ahmed, the BBC’s head of religion and ethics, has criticised the Sunday Telegraph for the way it presented his comments in an interview
This an interesting follow up to this post:-
BBC head of religion and ethics disputes Sunday Telegraph article
Aaqil Ahmed, the BBC’s head of religion and ethics, has criticised the Sunday Telegraph for the way it presented his comments in an interview. In a BBC blog post yesterday, Ahmed writes that he had given an interview ahead of the Church Of England’s Synod debate and its motion on the issue of religious broadcasting on televisions:
The article appeared on Sunday under the headline “Church is ‘living in the past’ says BBC chief”. Great headline – but the truth lets the story down. The problem is: I am that BBC chief and I definitely didn’t say that. In fact there were a lot of things in the Sunday Telegraph article that surprised me when I read them.
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The Sunday Telegraph article quotes me as saying that the BBC should not give Christianity preferential treatment. The question I was actually asked was whether minority faiths should be treated differently from other faiths – to which I replied that all faiths should be treated in the same way and that I don’t believe in treating any faith differently. It’s all a bit different when you put it in its proper context, isn’t it?
Aaqil Ahmed has made his first major commissions since joining the broadcaster from Channel 4 last year:-
If you have stumbled onto this blog and are not a Christian, get yourself a hot drink, pull up a comfy chair and then tuck into the following article written by one of the best in the business:- All Of Grace by Charles SpurgeonIn BBC1’s Are Christians Being Persecuted?, presenter Nicky Campbell will investigate what it means to be a Christian in Britain today. The doc will attempt to go behind the headlines to explore a number of high-profile legal cases, and examines the changing nature of how Christianity and Christians are viewed in society.
Meanwhile, The Day That Jesus Died will look at the meaning of Christ’s death on the cross, and features a series of interviews with leading Christian figures such as Rowan Williams and John Sentamu. BBC1 will also transmit Pope Benedict XVI’s traditional Easter message and blessing.
On sister network BBC2, Private Life Of An Easter Masterpiece explores renowned artwork The Descent From The Cross by Rogier van der Weyden, which recently became one of the first paintings to be featured on Google Earth.
Describing the slate as “eclectic” and “thought-provoking”, Ahmed, the BBC’s head of religion and ethics, and commissioning editor for TV, said: “Christian programming is the cornerstone of our output on television, radio and online.”
Ahmed joined the BBC in May last year, an appointment that caused a minor furore among right-wing newspapers in the UK, on account of the fact that the top BBC religion role had never before been held by a Muslim.
Tags: Christianity, Media