The month of Ramadan is well under way and the BBC is encouraging all its employees to demonstrate empathy and support for their fasting colleagues.
New advice has been issued. Regular staff have been urged to recognise that while ‘Ramadan is spiritually significant’ it can also be ‘physically challenging’ and Muslim colleagues ‘may seem quieter or different during Ramadan’ but this ‘should not be taken personally’.
Managers have been given pointers too. ‘Consider adjusting work hours to support fasting employees,’ the advice states. ‘This might mean starting and finishing earlier or offering remote work options if possible.’
This guidance is available via the internal BBC Gateway website, which carries a notably large amount of information about Ramadan. There are even some ‘top tips’ for employees who are fasting, including ‘focus on your most important tasks during peak energy times’ and ‘remember to take short breaks to rest and recharge, which can help maintain focus and energy.’
A new staff group called the ‘Salaam Network’ has been created to ‘support Muslim staff and allies’ at the Corporation. In addition to this, the BBC has a host of articles about Ramadan on the external BBC News website, and the CBBC website for children.
All this information is provided in the name of inclusivity and with the laudable goal of pushing back against the sort of ill-informed prejudice and bigotry that drives racism. The BBC also has one eye on its Royal Charter duty to ‘reflect, represent and serve the diverse communities of all of the United Kingdom’s nations and regions.’ Yet the enthusiastic promotion of the precepts of Islam in the workplace raises some awkward questions about the coherency of BBC values, and risks further eroding trust in editorial impartiality.
On the question of values, the BBC goes out of its way to make ‘LGBTQ+’ staff feel welcome and seen; similar efforts are made to serve the wider community. A senior journalist reporter is paid to focus on the issues specific to this colourful cross section of our society. So is there a conflict of editorial values when the BBC demonstrates its indulgence of a religion which has such a problem with homophobia? A 2016 survey found 52 per cent of British Muslims thought homosexuality should be illegal in the UK. Census data for England and Wales in 2021 showed Muslims were the least likely of any of the major religious groups to identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or another minority sexual orientation. This isn’t because Muslims are less likely to be gay – often they’re just too afraid to admit it.
More concerning than this collective cognitive dissonance on the part of BBC executives is the impact the embrace of Islam could have on BBC impartiality.
As detailed by Jonathan Sacerdoti in The Spectator, the BBC’s reputation has been battered recently by the airing of the documentary, Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone which was narrated by the son of a senior Hamas official. The BBC’s pitiful response has been to point the finger at the independent company that produced the film. It’s still unclear whether any of the ‘limited’ fee paid for the boy’s work has found its way into the coffers of a proscribed Islamist terror group.
I believe there is an undeniable link between devastating editorial blunders like this and the progressive worldview of BBC decision makers. Allow me to explain why.
I would have no compunction about criticising aspects of Christianity out loud in the newsroom. When it comes to Islam, however, I wouldn’t dare. Not only would I fear disciplinary action but the distinct possibility of the police being called to record a ‘non-crime hate incident’.
So it should surprise no one that when the flawed Gaza documentary was first shown at a special screening, with no less than BBC News CEO Deborah Turness present, sitting alongside other senior editorial executives, nobody dared to ask, ‘Are we absolutely sure this programme isn’t connected in any way to Hamas?’ Better to stay schtum than sound ‘Islamophobic’.
The painful truth is that BBC decision makers seemingly choose to ignore the uncomfortable reality that some aspects of Islam are not aligned with the values of modern Britain and, as was clearly demonstrated by social media posts in the wake of October 7th (some allegedly made or endorsed by BBC Arabic journalists), many Muslims here and overseas sympathise with Hamas.
To be clear, my concerns are nothing to do with race, skin colour or heritage. I judge whether people are good or bad by the old Martin Luther King ‘content of character’ yardstick. Backing murderous terrorists and condemning homosexuality is bad, it’s that simple.
The BBC is quick, and correct, to condemn ‘far-right’ thuggery and would only interview the likes of Tommy Robinson in a bid to expose him as a bigot. But radical Islamic preachers are platformed with little scrutiny presumably because of the BBC’s desperation to ‘celebrate diversity’ and reach ‘underserved audiences’.
One such underserved audience is arguably Christians. Christianity may be on the wane but it remains the predominant religion in the UK, accounting for 46 per cent of those questioned in the latest Census. In a revealing 2012 interview, the then BBC director-general Mark Thompson claimed Christianity was treated with far less sensitivity than other religions by broadcasters because other faiths had a ‘very close identity with ethnic minorities’ so more care was taken. He also alluded to the consequences of getting it wrong and the possibility of violent threats: ‘Without question, “I complain in the strongest possible terms”, is different from, “I complain in the strongest possible terms and I am loading my AK47 as I write”. This definitely raises the stakes.’
Since that interview was given, the grip identity politics and woke ideology has on the BBC has only tightened. The Corporation has moved inexorably from simply taking care over the way it reports Islam to actively promoting it.
My view is simple: journalists should deal in facts, not faith. When reporters asked Tony Blair about his Christian convictions during his time as PM, Alastair Campbell famously said, ‘We don’t do God.’ The BBC would do well to heed his advice – because prayers won’t be enough to salvage what is left of the Corporation’s reputation if it continues to turn a blind eye to faith-based bigotry.
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