Celebrity radio presenter Jeremy Vine feels he is not able to freely talk about Christ at the BBC.
Vine’s concerns, shared during an episode of BBC Radio 3’s Private Passions, echo remarks he made in an interview over 17 years ago, suggesting little has changed in the intervening period.
Roger Bolton, a former BBC editor and executive, recently called out a ‘relative illiteracy’ among BBC journalists about religion and urged the broadcaster to educate staff on its importance.
Claims of Christ
Vine told presenter Michael Berkeley of the “powerful example” of his father and mother, committed Anglicans, whose lives were marked by “grace and kindness”.
Asked whether his parents’ faith had influenced him, Vine responded: “I definitely have a faith, I think Christ is probably who he said he was. I just so rarely say that in a BBC building. I just feel it’s so contentious to say that.”
Across all public service broadcasters, the number of hours devoted to ‘Religion and Ethics’ programming fell from 243 in 2010 to just 140 in 2022 – a drop of 42 per cent over twelve years.
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