The Tablet on Sunday

Having formerly been the BBC beacon for incessant Benedict-bashing, Radio 4's Sunday effortlessly transformed itself into a cheerleading platform for Pope Francis following his election. You'd still almost think it was the liberal Catholic magazine The Tablet at times, so dogged is its coverage of Francis's every move.

Thus this morning's edition may have said it was beginning with the subject of Russia-Ukraine but the programme's approach to the story was to get David Willey on the line from Rome to tell Ed Stourton about what Frau Merkel said to Pope Francis on the subject, and about the Vatican's difficult position regarding the autonomous but Rome-facing Ukraine Greek-Catholic Church, which broke away from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church some four centuries ago. The Ukrainian church complains that Vatican diplomats "lean over towards the Russians" because of the worldwide Catholic Church's ecumenical hopes for reunion with the Orthodox world. This, David Willey said, is giving the Pope "a real headache". The Pope, however, is full of understanding for Ukrainian Catholics and made a "diplomatic" speech to his diplomats on the issue this week. 

Ed and David also talked about the Pope's position of priestly celibacy, with David saying that the Pope "is very much aware of the problem, the pressures, in various parts of the world for allowing married priests...and of course now with the Ordinariate there are a load of former Anglican priests who are now priests of the Catholic Church. So he knows about the situation."

David Willey's tone when mentioning the Ordinariate (including the words "a load of") wasn't a strictly impartial one. There was something of a sneer to it. Tabletistas, including those on Sunday, never liked the idea of the Ordinariate much, as we've observed before. It was one of Pope Benedict's projects and brought in lots of disaffected Anglican conservatives/traditionalists.

Tune in again next Sunday for Radio 4's Tablet on Sunday. 

The Pope, "walls", and the BBC's David Willey

BBC Watch's latest post on the BBC's reporting of the Pope's visit to the Middle East takes the BBC's veteran Rome correspondent David Willey [their "Vatican expert"] to task. 

Hadar is spot-on in describing his article (Pope Francis cements reputation for deft diplomacy) as reading in parts "more like a PR communique than a report by an impartial BBC journalist". 

There's been quite a whiff of that about much of David Willey's reporting about Pope Francis since his election as pope - in contrast to his evident dislike for Pope Benedict XVI. [There's a faint reminder of that here in, "Pope Francis has shown greater diplomatic skill than his predecessor, Pope Benedict, during his Holy Land visit in 2009."]

BBC Watch makes several criticisms of David Willey here, the first batch of which focus on the article's "context-free" description of Israel's security barrier [which has saved countless people from terrorist attacks over the years] as a "wall" (though Mr Willey does refer to it more accurately as a "barrier" soon after): 

On successive days he paused to pray in front of two of the most significant walls here, bowing to touch them with his forehead and his hand.

First in Bethlehem, an 8m-high, graffiti-covered concrete section of the barrier that separates the Palestinian territories of the West Bank from Israel; then, in Jerusalem, the Western Wall, the holiest place where Jews can pray.”

What of that eye-popping comparison between the two "walls"?

Hadar calls it "bizarre" and says that some might call it "tasteless" too - rather as if someone were to compare the Kaaba (the cube at the centre of Mecca towards which the whole Muslim World faces when it prays), with one of Star Trek's Borg cubes. 

This whole area is deeply fraught though. The BBC are never going to call the barrier "the anti-terrorist fence" - the term BBC Watch uses. They don't like using the word "terrorist" for starters. 

The BBC's own guidelines state:

BBC journalists should try to avoid using terminology favoured by one side or another in any dispute.

The BBC uses the terms “barrier”, “separation barrier” or “West Bank barrier” as acceptable generic descriptions to avoid the political connotations of “security fence” (preferred by the Israeli government) or “apartheid wall” (preferred by the Palestinians).

The United Nations also uses the term “barrier”.

Of course, a reporter standing in front of a concrete section of the barrier might choose to say “this wall” or use a more exact description in the light of what he or she is looking at.

David Willey's piece does, however, place the idea that the barrier is a "wall" firmly at the forefront of his reader's mind through that comparison with the Western Wall and, given that - purely factually-speaking - anyone who isn't a propagandist will admit that the barrier is at least 90% a fence and at most 10% a wall, it is always wrong for BBC reporters to leave their readers with the false impression that the barrier is a wall.

Hadar also takes the BBC's "Vatican expert" up on his use of the word "sacrifice" in the following passage:

At the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, Pope Francis paid eloquent tribute to the sacrifice made by six million Jews who died at the hands of the Nazis all over Europe.

As she says,

...by definition, a “sacrifice made” involves some sort of active personal choice which the millions murdered by the Nazis did not have the opportunity to exercise...

It was certainly an unfortunate choice of words, though I don't think that any malice was meant by it-  and I suspect David Willey would be mortified to think anyone thinks there was. 

Similarly, I think the the post's main charge is also unfair to Mr Willey.

...the fact is that – contrary to the inaccurate impression Willey gives to BBC audiences – the Pope did not mention the figure six million or the word ‘Jews’ throughout his entire speech at Yad Vashem, the full text of which can be read here.  

Yes, Pope Francis didn't use the actual words 'six million' or 'Jews' during his speech at Yad Vashem but David Willey surely isn't wrong to say that it was the Pope's eloquent tribute to them? [Sometimes BBC critics, like us, can't seem the figurative wood for the literal trees].

BBC Watch is like that. It's an earnest, thoughtful site which acts as a invaluable corrective to the BBC's skewed reporting of Israel, but sometimes [just like other BBC bias-related sites, including ours] it can paint the BBC in too harsh a light.

[Unlike some of mine] every article is worth reading closely though. 

Super dioceses, modern slavery, Catholic matters, art, COPEC, Trojan Horse, has Christianity lost its way?, Feminism and Orthodox Judaism & party politics on 'Sunday'

Good morning. Here's this week's review on Radio 4's hip 'n' happening Sunday.

1. A new Anglican diocese: Nick Baines, first Bishop of the new "super-diocese" of West Yorkshire and the Dales talks to Ed Stourton about his vision and mission for the future.

Sunday's favourite bishop (if his number of appearances is anything to go by), the Rt Revd Nick Baines, the present Bishop of Bradford, is about to become the Bishop of Leeds because of the creation of a new diocese - the first for 80 years. Regular listeners to Sunday have been hearing about the row over this re-organisation for a good couple of years now, but the row is now over and the new diocese is about to be born.

The new diocese, the Diocese of Leeds, will include four cities - Ripon, Wakefield, Bradford and Leeds - as well as huge swathes of the Yorkshire countryside.

Bishop Nick wasn't best pleased with what he'd just been hearing on the news from the BBC's religious affairs correspondent Robert Pigott, saying it's wrong to say it's all about saving money (as Robert Pigott must have done) and that no matter how many times you say it's not about saving money reporters (like Robert Pigott) will keep repeating that it is! He says the new 'super-diocese' was created to "relate better to the region", to "get the benefit of scale" and the "benefit of the local".

Edward Stourton raised the mix of urban & rural, "the very poor and the very rich" and also asked him (in a sad voice) about the closure of a coalmine in the area.

2. Vatican conference on human trafficking

This is a major campaigning issue for Sunday, and they cover the story on a regular basis. 

Cardinal Nichols, the Pope and the Metropolitan Police chief were in Rome this week discussing "the modern slave trade". The BBC's David Willey reported from there.

We heard stories from three women - one Czech, one Hungarian, one Chilean - who had been trafficked to Britain before being rescued by a Catholic charity. Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said that the Met is already working closely with the Catholic Bishops' Conference and Catholic charities. Only 1% of those trafficked come forward for help though, noted David Willey. 80% are believed to be involved in prostitution.

It was mentioned in passing that Theresa May was there too, but her involvement or views on the matter didn't seem to be of much interest to Sunday.

3. Catholic matters

David Willey then came on the line to talk directly to Ed Stourton about two new Catholic stories. Catholic stories are of prime importance for Sunday and its Catholic host. It's quite astonishing, when you think about it, how much time - week in and week out - Sunday actually devotes to Catholic matters. You might take it for the broadcast version of The Tablet.

The two stories concerned (1) priestly abuse and (2) the role of women in the Catholic Church.

On the former, Pope Francis has given what Edward called a "very powerful apology" over priestly abuse to a French NGO . David, describing him as  "a very smart person", speculated that he adds words to his speeches as the Vatican's speechwriters fail to word them strongly enough.

On the latter, a British sociologist, Margaret Archer, has been appointed to a position in the Vatican. David Willey said it was "wishful thinking" though to expect a woman to be appointed to a senior Vatican department.

4. Art: Sculptor Joseph Hillier talks to Ed Stourton as he puts the finishing touches to his re-interpretation of the '12th Station of the Cross', destined for a shipping container in South Shields, as part of the BBC's 'Great North Passion'.

This was a catch-up with someone they'd spoken to at the start of Lent, and another plug for a forthcoming BBC event.

Joseph Hillier says he's crated a figure lying on its side, made of steel, with sunlight coming through it. "It's almost like the contours of a map", "very industrial looking", "very digitally made", he said. He remains "not a believing Christian."

5. Christian social action: Frank Field reflects on the 90th Anniversary of what many regard as the greatest conference on social, political and economic questions in the history of British Christianity

Labour MP Frank Field (another Sunday favourite) discussed the establishment of the Conference on Christian Politics, Economics and Citizenship (COPEC) in 1924 by Bishop (Later Archbishop of Canterbury) William Temple. COPEC came about, Mr Field said, as a result of a 70 years build-up of Christian social concern, something Mr Field says continues today in response to hunger, with churches being behind  food banks. Ed Stourton said 1924 was when the Anglican church came out of its "sleepy rectories" and "really engaged with the reality of life in 20th Century Britain". Frank Field admired its spirit and sweep, saying that through William Temple, it led to the creation of the welfare state. Its importance was  that it helped set the debate, he said. Now, the Church is blown by the wind of other forces, making very precise statements on specific things (like pay day loans) but not making powerful God-driven arguments for action.

6. Trojan Horse: A Muslim-majority academy in Birmingham has been at the centre of a row over alleged Islamic fundamentalism. Ed Stourton speaks to the school Governor who claims the school has been the victim of a "witch hunt" and Liam Byrne MP who raised concerns about the school with Michael Gove. Plus analysis from BBC Midland's Correspondent Phil Mackie.

Well, the BBC is continuing to cover this story, which is good, but Sunday's coverage here was much less open about the specific allegations being made against hardline Muslim cliques in Birmingham. Unlike on Today, these were rather danced around here.

Phil Mackie outlined the story first - the claim that people with "ultra-orthodox Islamic views" are conspiring to take over schools in Birmingham and Islamise them. He said there's a "febrile atmosphere" there, with large numbers of people coming forward to express their concerns to Birmingham City Council. He didn't go into much detail about the specific allegations though. 

Edward Stourton then interviewed David Hughes, an Anglican governor at the school, Park View Academy. At least Ed did [gently] tackle him over some of the issues, if only to allow Mr Hughes to dismiss them and denounce the whole investigation as a "witch hunt". Ed says Mr Hughes "takes a dim view of the allegations". He said there's no conspiracy, that boys and girls are seated separately "by choice", that it's untrue that Christmas isn't celebrated or that Arabic has been made compulsory. He claimed the former teachers who complained left under a cloud, and may have had another agenda. He criticised the school's anonymous whistleblowers. Ed invited him to restate his claim that it's a "witch hunt", which he did, saying "the Establishment" are hunting them.

Next came Labour MP Liam Byrne. He began by saying there were "errors" in Phil Mackie's commentary [prompting the usual panicked clucking from Ed!], though beyond saying that describing the atmosphere in Birmingham as "febrile" was "provocative" and "wrong", Mr Byrne didn't spell out Phil's  other "errors" though. Liam Byrne also skirted around the allegations at the heart of the story, but he did say that the serious allegations by former and current members of staff shouldn't be ignored and that literally hundreds of such allegations have now been made. He attacked Ofsted's "gracial" investigations, the damaging leaks, thee uncertainty and the "media circus". He wants a joint advisor-led review. He also attacked Michael Gove. [Does Michael Gove listen to Sunday? He keeps getting attacked on it!]

Ed then invited Phil Mackie back to defend himself, not that he seemed to have much to defend given Liam Byrne's vagueness. He cited three direct messages from anonymous teachers, one saying 'I'm scared', the second saying 'I can't talk & you're only getting one side of  the story' and the third saying 'it's a nightmare'. He said they are "quite high-ranking" teachers.

A Department of Education statement was then read out denying Mr Hughes's claim of a witch hunt.

All in all, remarkably vague coverage of the story. Sunday just cannot help treading very gingerly over issues like this. 

7. Has Christianity lost its way?: Has Christianity lost its way in the East End of London? Trevor Barnes investigates claims by London Imam Ajmal Masroor that Christianity is becoming obsolete there.

And talking about Muslims...

Imam Ajmal Masroor wrote a piece for the London Evening Standard saying that Christianity is being irrelevant in the East End of London. He puts that down to Christianity's failure to offer a clear, coherent message about God and man's relationship with God, unlike Islam. He cites mosque attendance in London as evidence that Islam is replacing Christianity. 

Trevor Barnes's report interviewed various people who disagree with the imam. We heard from Denise Bentley, from the Tower Hamlets food bank. She says the church is very relevant, saving people from suicide - people like Jackie, an East Ender, who says she's got lots of bills, has come to the food bank and says everyone's "really nice", and the daughter of a Sri Lankan immigrant who says they just have bread at home. The Bishop of Stepney also says the imam is wrong, that the church is growing by 14% in his area and is busy working below the radar. Rev. Alan Green of the Interfaith Forum also disagrees with him saying that Christianity is about "being confident about our doubts, being confident about our questions". Then the director of the East London Mosque said he is "cautious" about reading too much into mosque attendance, praising the church's involvement in social work and saying that Muslims aren't doing enough in that respect.

Doubt and social work then: The winning Christian formula. Typical Sunday!

8. Feminism and Orthodox Judaism: Following the reversal of a bid to give women a greater role during services in a Synagogue Ed Stourton debates gender, faith and Orthodox Judaism with Dina Brawer and Rabbi Alan Plancey.

This was a debate between Dina Brawer of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance and Rabbi Alan Plancey, representing contrasting points of view on the role of women within Orthodox Judaism. It was a balanced discussion, though Edward Stourton - as so often when such issues arise - didn't entirely hide his own sympathies, interrupting and expressing his own confusion about Rabbi Plancey's remarks and encouraging Dina Brawer. Typical Sunday!

**********

Incidentally, I made one of those unsubstantiated assertions that bloggers like me must guard against a couple of weeks ago, when I wrote:

It's rare that you get a Conservative MP on Sunday - it's usually Labour or Liberal Democrat MPs who appear on the programme.

Just looking back though over this year's editions of the programme, that assertion can be backed up. Here's a list of all the politicians who have appeared on Sunday so far this year:

13/4 Liam Byrne, Labour; Frank Field, Labour
30/3 Conor Burns, Con
16/3 Stephen Lloyd, LD; Hazel Blears, Labour; Lord Griffiths, Labour
2/3 Stephen Lloyd, LD
23/2 Mary Honeyball, Labour; John Battle, Labour
9/2 Nick Clegg, LD
2/2 Sarah Teather, LD
19/1 Simon Hughes, LD; Sir Edward Leigh, Con
12/1 David Blunkett, Lab
5/1 Liam Fox, Con

That produces the following totals:

Labour = 7
Liberal Democrats = 5
Conservatives = 3

Of course, that's still a majority for the governing parties. It's also a left-right ratio of 12:3. 

A short Sunday

There's no time today for a detailed post about this morning's Sunday on Radio 4 (you may be relieved to hear), so here's a short one instead.

I will admit that it had me tutting even more than usual today - more tuts than a party involving Elvis' drummer Ron Tutt, actor Julian Rhind-Tutt and King Tutankhamun. 

Gay marriage was the leitmotif which ran throughout the programme. Archbishop Welby was asked about it, as was Chief Rabbi Mirvis, and so was a Catholic Conservative MP - so that's representatives of Anglicanism, Judaism and Catholicism. 

It's rare that you get a Conservative MP on Sunday - it's usually Labour or Liberal Democrat MPs who appear on the programme - but Conor Burns MP was invited on today to criticise his own Catholic bishop for excommunicating him over his vote for gay marriage. (This is a classic Sunday story.)

I may not be a Catholic but I've become slightly more clued-up on Catholic matters over the past couple of years or so, and if there's one English 'bogey-Bishop' for the likes of Edward Stourton and his fellow liberal Catholic Tabletistas, it's the new(ish), conservative-traditionalist Bishop of Portsmouth, Philip Egan. And, lo and behold, here he was being slated on Sunday - just as he's been slated in recent days in The Tablet. 

In fact, although I've never heard about  the story before, as soon as an unnamed bishop was mentioned as being the 'villain of the piece' I guessed it might be Bishop Egan. 

After the Bishop was well-and-truly bashed, Edward Stourton said, curtly, that they'd asked Philip Egan to come onto the programme to respond, and he'd said "No." I wonder why.

The opening report from an Anglican gathering of religious communities featured just two 'vox pops' out of the hundreds of people there, the first just happening to mention the hardship caused by the economic 'cuts'.

It wouldn't be liberal Catholic Sunday these days without some 'Pope Francis is great' piece, and here was Ed and David Willey (of the BBC) talking about how President Obama was wowed by the pontiff. David mentioned Pope Benedict in passing with that usual chilly tone in his voice. They also talked about a singing nun. 

They didn't talk though about the suspension of the Tablet's Vatican correspondent, Robert Mickens, for posting an offensive tweet about Pope Benedict. As Ed is a Tablet trustee, David Willey also writes for the Tablet and Robert Mickens used to be a regular commentator on Sunday, that may not be surprising.

I've written before about how Sunday has its own favoured charities. Islamic Relief is one of them and and, lo and behold, here they were again. 

This week Sunday went one step further and included a report from one manager of Islamic Relief, Martin Cottingham, followed by an interview with the director of Islamic Relief, Jehangir Malik. Mr Cottingham's report pretty much amounted to a puff-piece for the achievements of the charity - a Radio 4 appeal in disguise. (Is anyone on the Sunday team a trustee at Islamic Relief?)

Finally, Catholic script consultant Barbara Nicolosi-Harrington talked about the new Noah blockbuster, starring Russell Crowe. She give it two thumbs very firmly down - and rightly so by the sounds of it. 

Now, as Ed always says, enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Addressing the problem directly?

During the reign of Pope Benedict XVI, sections of the BBC personally hostile to Benedict - especially Ed Stourton's Sunday and the BBC's Rome correspondent David Willey - would feature regular criticism of Benedict's Vatican for doing too little about priestly child abuse in the Catholic Church. 

Here's one 2010 example from David Willey:

Pope Benedict has plenty of opportunity during his brief weekend visit to Malta to talk about the clerical sexual abuse which has scandalised members of his faith around the world, and created a credibility crisis for the world's largest Church, the Church of Rome.

But he has chosen to speak in generalities and metaphor rather than to address the problem directly.

Given that Sunday has been rigorous in its coverage of child abuse with regards to the Catholic Church, covering its every twist and turn, it will be interesting to see how (or if) it covers this story:

The former Pope, Benedict XVI, defrocked nearly 400 priests over a two-year period for allegedly raping and molesting children, according to a leaked Vatican document.

That's from Sky News today, and the Sky report goes on to say:

Before becoming pope, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger took action after determining that bishops around the world were not following church policy and putting accused clerics on trial in church tribunals.

This is not the picture of Benedict painted over time by Messrs Stourton and Willey, so how will they report this story?

Probably grudgingly, and perhaps in the manner of BBC News's online take on the same story which briskly mentions that "Close to 400 priests were defrocked in only two years by the former Pope Benedict XVI over claims of child abuse, the Vatican has confirmed", merely adding:

Benedict, who was elected in 2005, took the helm as the scandal of child sex abuse by priests was breaking.

We'll see.