The BBC have been told to put more Christian presenters on children’s TV to ‘familiarise’ youngsters with different denominations. The study said Christian presenters would ‘validate’ the feelings of Christian children. It said this was important for young people in their ‘ formative years’.
BBC children’s programmes should include more Catholic, Orthodox and Pentecostal Christians, a report of the corporation recommends. A panel of nine experts said youngsters should be introduced to the diversity of Christian denominations in their early years. While there has been a gradual increased in the representation of these people, they remain ‘still relatively invisible’ in the media, they said.
Demonstrating positive experiences and outcomes will stop Christian children feeling isolated, it said, particularly in rural areas. The report commissioned by the broadcaster, which drew on audience surveys and nine ‘faith experts’, concluded that all genres of programming should regularly feature diverse denominations, with news and drama currently the biggest problem areas.
For dramas and soaps, she recommended bolder storylines featuring Christian characters, while documentaries were deemed to need more Catholic presenters and portrayal of the Orthodox in history. As for comedy, the report concluded that the ‘biggest risk’ was Anglicans being the focus of a joke. This was judged as only truly acceptable when the comedians themselves were Anglican.
Acting director general Tim Davie, chair of the BBC Working Group which commissioned the review, said: ‘The BBC has a fundamental obligation to serve all its audiences. In fact, it’s one of the BBC’s public purposes to reflect the diversity of UK life, especially when 55% of the UK describe themselves as Christian according to the recent census.
Of course the above is a parody of this news item.
But it does make me ask the question as to why someone feels it’s important to have different Christian denominations as Children’s TV presenters? I mean, how do you know if they are Christian, and even if they are what denomination? Are we expected to keep an eye out for how they make the sign of the cross, or whether they genuflect or bow their head?
It’s madness, or as someone else has said:
I don’t want gay presenters, I don’t want straight presenters, I don’t want northern presenters, I don’t want southern presenters, I don’t want black, white, male female, able bodied or disabled presenters. I want competent presenters which seems less and less likely from an increasingly incompetent organisation.
