After commemorating 100 years of non secular broadcasting, the BBC has reaffirmed its commitment to proceed faith programming on each television and radio, emphasising the enduring relevance of non secular content in today’s media landscape.
Tim Pemberton, Head of Religion and Ethics for BBC Audio, and Daisy Scalchi, Head of Religion and Ethics for Television, have expressed enthusiasm for religious programming despite financial constraints.
Pemberton reflected on the importance of religion broadcasting through the pandemic era, stating, “Religion was as relevant because it was 100 years ago.” He highlighted the pivotal role of such broadcasts, together with digital media, when churches were forced to shut their doors to worshippers.
Having acknowledged the evolving patterns of non secular engagement, Pemberton noted, “Whereas formal religion may decline over time… that is different to people’s interest in religion and folks’s engagement in spirituality.”
Scalchi added insight into the complexity of recent religious attitudes, stating that despite more people identifying as ‘none’, this does not equate to disinterest in religion. “They’re actually a extremely complex group of people that often are quite warm towards religion,” she explained.
It stays culturally vital for believers to have key Christian events recognised and validated by reports and coverage from the BBC.
Despite budgetary challenges affecting all genres because of inflation, Scalchi assured faith audiences that their focus stays on maximising content reach. She cited successful digital series corresponding to ‘Love, faith and me’ and highlighted ‘Gareth Malone’s Easter Passion’ as a cross-platform initiative, bringing the Christian message to a large a spread of individuals as possible.
Scalchi further remarked upon this expanded range of output, stating, “It brought the Passion story to a extremely broad audience.” And reassuringly to the Christian community, she added, “We’re ensuring that that stays front and centre of our offering at Easter.”
