The BBC & Greenbelt–a tale of Freedom of Speech?

For someone who doesn’t especially like The Guardian, least of all some of its self-righteous, self-opinionated, and generally fairly nauseating commentators (I’m looking at you, Miss Toynbee), I do refer to it an awful lot.  Maybe I’m in denial…

Anyway, my attention was drawn to this article via Twitter earlier.  The link was preceded by “BBC religion producers forbidden to speak at [Greenbelt].”

I’d be interested to know what you make of it.  Mr Ahmed perhaps has a fair point when he says that the producers in question “are still BBC employees and therefore anything they say about programming in the genre they work in has to be seen as official,” although I don’t understand why we have to assume that they are not entitled to their own opinions.

One of the issues at stake, of course, is the fact that Britain still has a Christian constitution.  It may be trendy to assume otherwise, and in many ways we do actually live in a secular society – but at the end of the day it is still perhaps incongruous for the British Broadcasting Corporation to get uppity about being seen at a large national Christian festival.

I would also like to ask Mr Ahmed whether BBC Producers are also banned from attending Muslim gatherings.

Readers of The Telegraph evidently had their doubts about Mr Ahmed long ago, and this article also makes for interesting reading.  Some of the comments are particularly thought provoking… 

Comments

Sean and Emma Lawson said…
Toynbee obviously isn't as confident in her opinions as previously thought given she pulled out of a debate with William Lane Craig on his reasonable faith tour. I guess she's learning the limits of her opinions and the universal applicability to all humankind!
Thu Sep 08, 08:28:00 PM GMT
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