Giving them a hard time
May 19, 2008 by upyourego
British journalists, especially the likes of John Humphrys and Jeremy Paxman are notorious for giving politicians and business leaders a hard time.
It’s all about getting an answer, about demanding the truth and not letting them get away with spinning an nonsensical answer.
That sort of tough journalism exists across the BBC, the desire to be impartial and above all to get the truth and demand the facts from people in power or anyone trying to sell an idea.
In fact it isn’t just the BBC - this sort of jack russell journalism exists throughout the British news media.
Which made me wonder the other day - why is the media so soft on religion and religious leaders. But at the time this was just a passing thought.
OK so I’ve had blazing shouty debates with other people at work over the way we should report on and interview religion and religious leaders - but I’ve never spoken about it outside of work before.
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Then I was reading the Doctor Who Forum where a thread had been started on the supposed ‘Atheist Agendia’ running through the new Doctor Who.
Personally, if anything I’d say there is more of a religious/Christian agenda running through the series - lots of Christian iconography and messages - like saviours, angels etc.
But that’s not the point of this post - the point is how religions and religious leaders are seen and treated by the news media.
OK so I understand the need, want and desire for specifically religious programming like Songs of Praise where religion is allowed a free reign - religious people watch it and if those of us that aren’t religious don’t want to - then that’s our choice.
But the problem I have is where religions are given a free reign to share their propoganda in a programme aimed at a general audience.
However - in an interview with a religious leader (someone trying to convert people to their idiology) the leader will not be given a hard time or asked difficult questions or for proof of things he claims.
I think all religions should be treated with the same air of distance by the media as politics - just because it’s RELIGION doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be asked difficult questions and challenged.
A great example of how it SHOULD be done was an interview between John Humphrys and Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor of the Catholic Church on BBC Radio 4 Today.
The interview was about Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor’s claim that religion shouldn’t be marginalised in society and John Humphrys asked him some good questions about why religion should be a special case and recieve special treatment.
I’d just like to see all religions and religious leaders treated the same way as politicians and political groups when interviewed by the news media - especially the BBC.
An end to the ‘untouchable’ nature of religion when it comes to interviews, reporting and journalism in the UK.
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