Tag: Broadcasting

Bishop of Manchester speaks in debate on current state of broadcasting in the UK

The Bishop of Manchester spoke in a debate on recent developments in broadcasting in the UK on 8th January 2025, highlighting the value of public service broadcasting and the need to retain a strong BBC:

The Lord Bishop of Manchester: My Lords, I declare my interests as set out in the register. I am regularly commissioned to present “Thought for the Day” on the BBC, as well as weekday and Sunday services. I also occasionally work with a range of other UK and global broadcasters, from GB News to Times Radio and LBC, providing comment on religious and ethical news stories.

As the noble Lord, Lord Fowler, has reminded us, broadcasting operates in an international context of increasing polarisation against a background where the greatest global political powers are retreating rapidly into levels of imperialist control and expansionism not previously seen in most of our lifetimes. It is a context in which truth is subservient to expediency and honesty is sacrificed to personal or political advantage. Many broadcasting organisations, especially those which are politically aligned, have little interest or incentive, except where regulators require it, to do other than collude with the political masters of the age. In such a world, the place of broadcasters who seek to offer a balanced range of perspectives and prioritise facts over partisanship has never been more vital. Public service broadcasting—and in the UK that does mean particularly the BBC—with a funding mechanism not wholly dependent on courting advertisers or placating the government of the day, enables a level of impartiality, and thereby public trust, that exists both here and beyond these shores. Moreover, the BBC, uniquely among mainstream broadcasters, continues to afford a place for the religious and ethical input necessary to support our British values.

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Media Bill: Bishop of Leeds emphasises importance of broadcasting in introducing new and challenging ideas to the public

The Bishop of Leeds spoke in a debate on amendments to the Media Bill on 20th May 2024, during a discussion on sports broadcasting, raising the importance of audiences encountering content that challenges preconceptions and introduces new ideas:

The Lord Bishop of Leeds: My Lords, surely at a time when we want children to get away from the telly and actually do sports, it is right that they be confronted by sports that they may know nothing about. Was it not curling, whatever that is, which became very popular and captured the imagination? Most of us could not believe that there was a sport where you push something along in that way.

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Media Bill: Bishop of Newcastle supports amendments on regional diversity in broadcasting production

On 20th May 2024, the House of Lords debated amendments to the Media Bill. The Bishop of Newcastle spoke in support of two amendments to the bill tabled by Baroness Fraser of Craigmaddie aimed at ensuring regional diversity in broadcasting, emphasising the importance of intentionality in supporting the arts and creative industries:

The Lord Bishop of Newcastle: My Lords, I rise to speak to Amendments 16 and 17, tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Fraser of Craigmaddie, to which I am pleased to have added my name in support.

Our country is one of diversity. The four nations that make up the UK include many regions, each with its own culture, sense of humour, accent, concerns and interests. As public service broadcasters are owned by the whole of the UK public, it is important that they truly reflect the public they serve in all their regional diversity.

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Media Bill: Bishop of Leeds supports amendments on standards and terms of reference for public service broadcasters

On 8th May 2024, the House of Lords debated the Media Bill in committee. The Bishop of Leeds spoke in support of a group of amendments on standards requirements for public service broadcasters, stressing the need for detailed terms of reference in public service broadcasting:

The Lord Bishop of Leeds: My Lords, I support the first four amendments in this group—Amendments 1 to 3 and 7—and will not repeat what has been said so far in the excellent two speeches. However, I support them for a different reason: I think that they lay the ground for later amendments, particularly Amendments 9, 13 and 32. I will make a serious point about those amendments now, partly because I may have to be on a train when the Committee gets to them.

If we take seriously the Reithian principles to inform, educate and entertain, it means doing what the inscription from George Orwell outside the BBC spells out: that people are enabled to be confronted by, or to hear and see things, that

“they do not want to hear”.

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Bishop of Leeds speaks of value of UK public service broadcasting

On 3rd November 2022, the House of Lords held a debate on public service broadcasting to mark the centenary of the BBC. The Bishop of Leeds spoke in the debate, with specific reference to the value of UK public service broadcasting worldwide, and the future of Channel 4:

The Lord Bishop of Leeds: My Lords, I too am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Foster, for securing this very important debate. Before saying anything further on the theme, I want to express thanks to and admiration for those who prepared the Library briefing. I have been knocking around these issues for a couple of decades, and this briefing is a model of narrative accuracy and concision.

Public service broadcasting in the UK is unique on the planet and one area in which this country is genuinely a world leader, which is why it is so important that, in the centenary year of the BBC and the day after the 40th birthday of Channel 4, we assess the value of what we have and steel ourselves against the ideologically driven impulse to diminish it. Yesterday, I asked a friend who works in public service broadcasting what she would focus on in a debate such as this. Her response was immediate: imagine a world without it. That is, imagine a world in which broadcasting serves only narrow cultural or political interests and is subject purely to commercial or transactional persuasion. I might put it like this: look at broadcasting in the United States. Price is not the same as value.

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Bishop of Chichester asks about public service broadcasting and skill development

The Bishop of Chichester asked a question during a discussion on the Broadcasting Sector White Paper on 11th July 2022:

The Lord Bishop of Chichester: My Lords, the Government’s Up Next policy paper claims that

“public service broadcasters … develop skills and talent, drive growth right across the creative industries”.

Will the Minister undertake to widen the Government’s vision for broadcasting to ensure that we also hear how skills and talents will be developed among pupils, students and young performers and designers when at present curriculum incentive and public investment are so often lacking in this area in our schools, colleges and universities?

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Bishop of Salisbury says BBC needs to be cherished, not disrupted

On 5th March 2020 the House of Lords debated a motion from Lord Young of Norwood Green, “That this House takes note of the role of the BBC and public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom’s economy and creative culture.” The Bishop of Salisbury, Rt Revd Nicholas Holtam, spoke in the debate:

The Lord Bishop of Salisbury: My Lords, the timing of this debate could hardly be better. I also want to thank the noble Lord, Lord Young, for his introduction. The Media and Telecoms 2020 & Beyond conference and the Culture Secretary’s contribution to it inevitably inform a lot of what is to be said. I also wondered whether I need to declare an interest, having been the vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields for 16 years, given that the first religious service ever broadcast came from there, by the BBC, in January 1924. The link continues. I never made much income from it, but it is a significant relationship with considerable affection for the BBC built into it. Continue reading “Bishop of Salisbury says BBC needs to be cherished, not disrupted”

Bishop of Southwark acknowledges the benefit of publicly owned broadcasting to the UK

SouthwarkOn 29th March 2017, Lib Dem Peer Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury asked Her Majesty’s Government when the Department for Culture, Media and Sport will announce its conclusions on the future status of Channel 4. The Bishop of Southwark, the Rt Revd Christopher Chessun, asked a supplementary question on the benefit of publicly funded broadcasting.

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