London, England - The BBC will today face renewed criticism from its own board of governors for continuing to cut the amount of religious programming on BBC1 and failing to find new ways to engage viewers.
Research to be published by the BBC governance unit ahead of a day-long debate on the topic to be headed by chairman Michael Grade on Friday, will give further ammunition to those who accuse the channel of sidelining religion.
A review of the impact of a previous edict from the governors in 2002 to beef up "high quality, wide impact" religious shows on BBC1 will say that the corporation has comprehensively failed to do so. "The strategy has not resulted in religious output with a wider impact on BBC1," it says. A strategy of screening one-off shows in high-profile slots has "failed to deliver greater impact on BBC1", adds the review.
Far from increasing the amount of religious programming on BBC1 as demanded by the governors, it finds that the channel has cut back on the number of shows.
The review found that BBC1 broadcast 87 hours of religious programmes in 2003-04, less than the 101 hours previously, and that fewer programmes were scheduled in peak time. This led to a significant decline in the share of audience reached by religious programmes, down to 54% from 62% the previous year.
Audiences for Songs of Praise were also half a million lower, at 3m, as a "result of earlier and irregular scheduling on this key strand", the review found. It points to the success of BBC2 in boosting its audiences for religious programmes through shows such as Seaside Parish and Country Parish and urges BBC1 to take note.
A second paper, based on the findings of an independent panel and viewer focus groups, will examine religious impartiality across all the BBC's output, including news and current affairs. It found significant shortcomings in the knowledge of programme makers, who, the panel suggests, require more training. It also says the BBC should do more to depict the reality of religion as lived by ordinary people, including more examples of religious characters in drama, and schedule programmes better.
Religion, a particularly sensitive topic since the furore caused by the BBC's decision to broadcast Jerry Springer - The Opera in the face of more than 50,000 complaints earlier this year, is the latest area to come under scrutiny by the governors. Other critical reports have focused on coverage of European issues and boosting current affairs output.
BBC executives will argue that many of the shortcomings identified in the reports are being addressed. The director of television, Jana Bennett, recently charged John Willis, director of factual and learning, with championing innovative coverage of religion at board level. The BBC's arts and music commissioner, Adam Kemp, has been asked to handle religious programmes too, alongside Alan Bookbinder, head of the BBC religious department.
Mr Bookbinder argued that the governor's reports were too narrow in scope and did not take recent successes into account. "I am puzzled by [the] air of crisis around it. A lot has been achieved, there's more to achieve ... But we are upscaling the importance of religion. If something good has come out of this report, it's 'let's beef it up'".