Post by Teddy Bear on Sept 8, 2008 19:38:33 GMT
BBC favours Muslims, complain Hindus and Sikhs
The BBC has been accused of pandering to Britain's Muslims in its religious programming and ignoring other faiths.
By Ben Farmer
Last Updated: 11:11AM BST 08 Sep 2008
Sikh and Hindu leaders have complained that a disproportionate number of programmes have been made about Islam, at the expense of programmes on their own faiths.
An analysis of programmes from the BBC's Religion and Ethics department claims that since 2001, the BBC has made 41 programmes on Islam, five on Hinduism and one on Sikhism.
The Network of Sikh Organisations media monitoring group, which obtained the numbers, said Sikhs were shocked by the perceived bias.
Ashish Joshi, chairman, told The Independent newspaper: "We are licence fee payers and we want to know why this has happened.
"The bias towards Islam at the expense of Hindus and particularly Sikhs is overwhelming and appears to be a part of BBC policy."
Indarjit Singh, editor of the Sikh Messenger and a regular contributor to Thought for the Day on Radio 4's Today programme, said Sikhs felt "brushed aside".
He said: "I think it's probably unthinking, or inadvertent, but the bias is there.
"I do know that within the Sikh community especially there is a feeling of concern over the lack of portrayal of their religion on television."
He added: "Of course it is important to educate non-Muslims about Islam, but it is also important to provide informative, open and respectful programming on all religions."
A spokesman for the BBC said the broadcaster was committed to representing all of Britain's faiths and rejected any claim of bias.
He said: "In the autumn we will be covering Diwali from a Sikh perspective and we have a major new series for BBC Two in early 2009, including features on Hinduism and Sikhism."
The BBC has been accused of pandering to Britain's Muslims in its religious programming and ignoring other faiths.
By Ben Farmer
Last Updated: 11:11AM BST 08 Sep 2008
Sikh and Hindu leaders have complained that a disproportionate number of programmes have been made about Islam, at the expense of programmes on their own faiths.
An analysis of programmes from the BBC's Religion and Ethics department claims that since 2001, the BBC has made 41 programmes on Islam, five on Hinduism and one on Sikhism.
The Network of Sikh Organisations media monitoring group, which obtained the numbers, said Sikhs were shocked by the perceived bias.
Ashish Joshi, chairman, told The Independent newspaper: "We are licence fee payers and we want to know why this has happened.
"The bias towards Islam at the expense of Hindus and particularly Sikhs is overwhelming and appears to be a part of BBC policy."
Indarjit Singh, editor of the Sikh Messenger and a regular contributor to Thought for the Day on Radio 4's Today programme, said Sikhs felt "brushed aside".
He said: "I think it's probably unthinking, or inadvertent, but the bias is there.
"I do know that within the Sikh community especially there is a feeling of concern over the lack of portrayal of their religion on television."
He added: "Of course it is important to educate non-Muslims about Islam, but it is also important to provide informative, open and respectful programming on all religions."
A spokesman for the BBC said the broadcaster was committed to representing all of Britain's faiths and rejected any claim of bias.
He said: "In the autumn we will be covering Diwali from a Sikh perspective and we have a major new series for BBC Two in early 2009, including features on Hinduism and Sikhism."
