Revelation found to be in breach

Revelation TV is a UK Christian satellite television channel, often featuring discussion and personal view programmes which, according to Ofcom, "from time to time engage viewers with challenging debates on topical issues".

A single compliant was recently received by Ofcom alleging that an edition of the programme Vision for Israel presented by theologian, teacher and author Dan Juster, made abusive and inappropriate comments regarding Islam.

According to the Ofcom broadcast bulletine, during this hour-long programme, which compared the Christian and Muslim faiths, Dan Juster stated that it was his belief that “Islam cannot be defined as a peaceful, loving religion…Islam enforces its own viewpoint through the power of the sword through death…” and “Islam believes that violence is a legitimate means to establish and extend Islam”.

The programme was a lecture, entitled Israel, Islam and the Church, given by Dan Juster at a conference in Israel in 2007 and was the final part of a seven part series.

Revelation TV admitted that they had failed to properly screen this episode of the programme for compliance prior to transmission and that, had they done so, it would either not have been shown, or they would have arranged a discussion/debate on the issues raised.

The Ofcom decision regarding this complaint bore in mind the fact that broadcasters have a right, enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights, to freedom of expression. This includes the broadcaster’s right to transmit creative material, information and ideas without interference but subject to restrictions proscribed by law. Ofcom state that "broadcasters should therefore always take care to ensure that material it transmits is in accordance with both the general law and the Code".

Ofcom found that the comments made in the programme were said in the context of a specialised religious programme made for a particularly niche and predominantly Christian audience.

Ofcom state that they have "always considered that it is possible for the follower of one religion to reject or critique other religions in the course of sermonising or proselytising and remain within the requirements for Rule 4.1. of the Broadcasting Code. However, this Code Rule requires broadcasters to exercise the proper degree of responsibility when, for example, using hyperbole which may include more extreme views which could be deemed offensive to people in the audience who hold different views and beliefs."

Ofcom found that Revelation TV, having failed to review the content of this programme prior to transmission, placed itself in a situation in which it was not able to put the potentially offensive comments into context. Ofcom therefore found that Revelation TV "did not exercise the proper degree of responsibility with respect to the content of this religious programme as required by Rule 4.1" taking the view that this was a serious compliance error which therefore placed the programme in breach of Rule 4.1 of the Code.

• Ofcom Broadcast Bulletin No. 120
• Revelation TV

Challenges to TV News

One in three Scots watch BBC Scotland’s flagship news programme, Reporting Scotland, at least once a week.

In five years’ time, it is expected the number will be one in five.

The news and current affairs of BBC Scotland have the consolation of a massive growth in the number of people getting their news from the BBC Scotland website.

Speaking at the Scottish Society of Editors’ conference on Friday, Atholl Duncan, head of news and current affairs at BBC Scotland, said that, while 80 per cent of the UK population will “consume BBC news at some point in the week”, programmes such as Reporting Scotland can no longer be considered “king” of news scheduling.

“It is continuous news, now,” he said. “During Reporting Scotland’s heyday, a bottle of champagne was opened every time we hit the one million viewers mark - and that used to happen quite often. Now, if we get half a million, we are happy.

Today, more than 60 per cent of Reporting Scotland viewers are aged 55 and over.

Unique visitors to the BBC Scotland website has increased from 800,000 last year, to 1.4 million this year. And over 50 per cent of our online audience is younger than 40.

Duncan added: “Reporting Scotland is not alone. A downward trend in viewing numbers is being experienced by all TV news programmes, because of multi-channel and the ‘digital revolution’.”

Comment

• Perhaps only one UK Christian TV channel is even trying to do some news reporting.
• Who is trying to provide reliable and authorative Christian news comment online?