Channel 4 has appointed a Muslim as head of religious programmes, the first time such a position has been filled by a member of the Islamic faith.
Aaquil Ahmed, 33, joins from the BBC where he specialised in producing religious programmes, including the corporation's recent Islam season.
Channel 4 said yesterday that while there had been no "conscious decision" to appoint a Muslim, it was committed to encouraging religious and ethnic diversity at the station.
The appointment follows criticism by church leaders of the BBC's failure to recruit a practising Christian as its own religion chief.
The corporation provoked an outcry in 2001 when it broke with tradition by appointing an agnostic, Alan Bookbinder, as its head of religion and ethics.
His predecessor, the Rev Ernest Rea, had resigned seven months earlier, accusing the BBC of sidelining religion and "dancing to a secular tune".
Channel 4 stressed that, unlike the BBC, it was not required to broadcast active Christian worship. The previous incumbent, Elizabeth Clough, who left a year ago, was not religious but insisted that it did not matter.
Janice Hadlow, Channel 4's head of specialist factual programmes, said Mr Ahmed's role would be to bring a "distinctive approach to all forms of belief".