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Alistair Burnett

Viewing the religious


Religious freedom in this country is under threat - that's the view of a coalition of organisations - including Muslims and Christians as well as trade unions and other groups all backed by the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone. They are planning a rally in central London tonight calling for "an end to Islamaphobia" and "to defend freedoms of religion, thought and conscience".

worldtonight_logo.jpgThis comes on the same day that a BA check-in worker lost her appeal against the company's ban on her wearing a cross outside her uniform - BA says wearing the cross contravened its uniform policy; she argued the cross was a symbol of her faith and it was discriminatory to stop her wearing it.

On The World Tonight, we have covered the debate over religion and social integration - especially as it relates to Britain's Muslim population - in depth over the past few years and one of the themes that has come through in many discussions is that many people who have religious faith feel they don't get a fair hearing with government and the media, including the 主播大秀. Indeed when we were deciding whether and how to do this story in our editorial meeting, some of the team who are religious said they sometimes feel they are considered a bit odd because of their faith.

The UK - and Europe in general arguably - are different from other parts of the world in this respect. In the US, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and South Asia for example, religion and the outward expression of religious faith are normal and not as controversial as they seem to be closer to home.

If today's rally on religious freedom; the recent high profile debate over the veil; and now the row over the wearing of the cross at work are anything to go by, Britain's religious population are beginning to reassert themselves. So far on The World Tonight this has been generally been reflected obliquely in discussions we have had on such things as integration and multiculturalism; or the teaching of evolution in school. So we decided we should consider the issue head on. I'm not sure we'll be able to reach a consensus though, as both sides of the debate - the religious and secular - tend to take absolutist positions when they go head-to-head on air.

Alistair Burnett is editor of the World Tonight

Richard Jackson

A day in the life


Please beg my indulgence, but Breakfast on Five Live has never received a text message like this before: "To the Breakfast Editor: Good programme idea."

Radio Five Live logoSteve, wherever you are, thank you.

Of course, it wasn't really my idea, but heh, you've got to take the plaudits wherever you can find them. It's also very gratifying when a plan - developed by the programme team - makes a big impression on air.

Our broadcast from the home of Khalid Anis and his wife Sara certainly generated a big response. Nicky Campbell spent the whole of the programme with them, and various other guests. The idea came about when Khalid e-mailed us to complain about the fact he only seemed to hear "radical" Muslim voices on air. "Where are the moderates like me?" he moaned.

We took him up on his challenge to spend a day in his company. In fact we went further. Jags from our interactive team took a camera and filmed a day in his life. (You can watch a day in Khalid's life here, hear the programme here, and see pictures here.)

Of course not all the feedback was positive. There were several texts and e-mails along the lines of "Oh no, not Muslims again" . In fact, Khalid and Sara told Nicky they too are fed up of hearing about Muslims in the news. Some people who work here were sceptical too. Was it patronising? Would we get the tone right?

But there's been a lot of positive reaction too. Some other bits of 主播大秀 News told us they wish they'd had the idea. A couple of sceptics told us they were won over, not least by Sara's passionate arguments.

And we also had a lot of questions from people. Some were challenging what the Koran had to say about certain issues, others wanted to know practical details (why do you have to pray five times a day? Why not six - or four?) Others were just grateful to hear some calmer voices in a debate which so often gets taken over by the more strident opinions.

Predictably, others wanted to know when we might spend a day with a Christian or a Jew or a Hindu. It's something we would certainly consider. What do you reckon, Steve?

Richard Jackson is editor of Five Live Breakfast

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Newswatch/Feedback

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  • 20 Nov 06, 12:42 PM

Newswatch, the programme which discusses viewers complaints about 主播大秀 TV News, this week debated a docu-drama about bird flu, and also the media's coverage of mental health issues. You can watch the programme here.

Feedback, Radio 4's programme for audience response, asked Today programme editor Gavin Allen about the changes to its messageboards. You can hear the whole of Feedback here.

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主播大秀 in the news, Monday

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  • 20 Nov 06, 11:37 AM

Sun: Children in Need likely to raise more than 拢33m.
Guardian: Column on the popularity of radio among young people. ()
Guardian: TV News is up for grabs, says Peter Preston ()

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