The BBC has recently launched this consultation which focuses on Radio 4 and Radio 5. Recently the BBC has been in the news following allegations of bias in its coverage of the Autumn Statement. However, as BBCWatch reminds its readers, editorial standards and impartiality have been deemed outwith the remit of this particular process. But there are still plenty of topics to take issue with. Unsurprisingly, the National Secular Society is encouraging its supporters to complain about the way religion is privileged through the Thought for the Day slot.
NSS campaigns manager, Stephen Evans, said: “It’s important that as many people as possible take this opportunity to tell the BBC that discriminating against the non-religious, and thus giving the impression of promoting religion as the only source of ethics is simply not acceptable in this day in age.
I’m not sure that the BBC, as a whole, is guilty of ‘promoting religion as the only source of ethics’. Ethical questions are debated within a secular, or at least pluralist, context in another Radio 4 standby, The Moral Maze. The main problem with Thought for the Day isn’t so much that it’s religious but that it is almost unfailingly vapid, annoying or both.
Do Harry’s Place readers have any other targets in their sights?
