mediawatchwatch.org.uk

The Chtistian Institute’s High Court action against the BBC receives more coverage in today’s Guardian. Their attack, prompted by the broadasting of JS:TO, is two pronged:
1) That the BBC broke its royal charter by airing the show.
2) That the BBC broke article nine of the Human Rights Act

Article nine guarantees the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

This appears to be a change of focus from their original intention, which was to claim “discrimination” against Christians (discrimination is covered in Article 14).

The CI may have a chance of success regarding the charter breach, but any action based on human rights legislation must surely be laughed out of court. The fact that they can’t even settle on which article to invoke is evidence of the weakness of their case, and the CI director Colin Hart doesn’t exactly clarify things:

The BBC has a duty to uphold the convention on human rights as a public authority. Part of what we’re saying is there may be offensive things going on in West End theatres but we’re not paying for them […]
This is a denegration that’s particularly offensive because it comes from a public body. The BBC is acting as a public body so the offence is much worse.

There is nothing in Article 9, or anywhere else in the Human Rights Act, that mentions the right not to have ones beliefs “denegrated”. Colin Hart should refer to this website for consolation.
(Thanks to Flotsam for the info)
UPDATE: As Nick Barlow points out the human rights angle of this case is “either some of the worst legal advice ever received, or one of the most brazen uses of the Chewbacca defence ever attempted”.

Or maybe they set their videos and watched Lars von Trier’s The Idiots the next day. The Danish Dogme classic was broadcast at midnight on Monday as part of Channel 4’s X-Rated season. It contained a brief, unpixelated sex scene, which prompted “several” compaints to Ofcom.

“Massah” John Beyer, the Black and White Minstrels fan who likens himself to St Paul, told The Independent on Sunday,

Channel 4 is unquestionably pushing the boundaries and they are doing it quite deliberately. I guess that Channel 4 will be up there bidding for the television rights to 9 Songs along with all the other pornography channels. I just feel that Channel 4 is now beyond control, yet the regulator seems unable and unwilling to have anything to say about what Channel 4 is doing. I just don’t know what can be done to stop this collapse of standards.

Maybe he should join Christian Voice?

Observant readers may have noticed a new logo in the masthead. Concept and design entirely down to my friend Richard of Drawing Business.

Rather smart, don’t you think?

Those whacky Christians at CCTV have sent an mail shot to their subscribers urging them to email, write, and fill in web forms to ensure that the BBC’s new Charter (due 2006) “accountable to the 71.6% of the population” who ticked the Christian box in the last national census.

If you are angered by the BBC’s substitution of Christian moral values, such as honour, respect, heroism and fidelity, for pornography, violence, and ‘alternative lifestyles’ in the name of artistic merit, then make sure you have your say.

We like the way they claim honour, respect, heroism and fidelity to themselves. We love the way they misuse the word “substitution” so that the sentence means the exact opposite of what they meant to say. They clearly don’t put too high a value on literacy.

You can see the whole thing here.

Mediawatchwatch has already written to the Government expressing hope that they will not be unduly influenced by unrepresentative campaign groups. The proposals in the Green paper seem quite reasonable on the whole.

New prudes on the block Christian Congress for Traditional Values have piped up over the controversial British-made love story 9 Songs. Not to be outdone by the virginal Anne Widdecombe, who said it was an example of “moral anarchy”, CCTV told Channel 4 News,

There’s no artistic justification for the graphic sex scenes in this tawdry film, which are demeaning and degrading for the voyeur as well as the performer. ‘9 Songs’ is a rank piece of soulless pornography.

It is not known whether or not the spokesperson has seen the film. Or ever will. However, if the purpose of pornography is to cause sexual arousal in the viewer, most critics would not define this film as such.

9 Songs is scheduled for general UK release tomorrow, 11 March.

UPDATE (12 March) – It turns out that CCTV representatives were actually invited to see this film. Unfortunately, their statement on the website still does not make clear whether or not they actually took up the invitation. But what does that matter? They want you to stop it being shown at your local cinema by emailing the British Board of Film Classification, or writing to your local council.

UPDATE: (17 March) A page on the CCTV website revels in the “national prominence” given to them by Channel 4, and gives this extra review by one of their representatives who apparently did see the film:

This is not cinematic art but bleak, coarse and sordid indulgence in carnality and lewdness. There’s nothing prudish in our disapproval of such prurient material. It is the height of pretension for the film’s director to justify his crude creation as art reflecting reality. More explicit does not mean more artistic. It’s the classic trick of the intelligentsia to use the guise of art to justify the most excessive, offensive and abusive use of words and imagery.

“More explicit does not mean more artistic”? “Classic trick of the intelligentsia”? FFS.

A letter in today’s Guardian on behalf of the Iona Community publicly dissociates the group, which has members representing over 10 Christian traditions, from the “shrill and unrepresentative Christian Voice”.

A couple of new spoof sites of note. First Anti Christian Voice which amusingly mirrors the original right down to the dodgy HTML and evil frames. The second by someone who noticed Beyer had neglected to register an obvious domain name for Mediawatch UK, and took full advantage of it. The author of the latter suggests a “Mediawatch UK” Google bomb, which sounds like a fine idea.

UPDATE: Thanks to Nick for (almost) suggesting that it would also be fun if lots of Christian Voice links led directly to the spoof.

Mark Thompson’s speech last night is reported in The Times and The Guardian today. He defended the BBC’s showing of JS:TO, pledged “not to be swayed by short-run moral panics”, and predicted further controversy in the future, which the broadcaster would resist with “courtesy and sensitivity” as well as “conviction and muscularity”.

Only The Times thought it important to consult Stephen Green on the affair. Green said,

This is not an issue of freedom of speech, but a case of broadcasting people not knowing the civilised limits and having to be told them.

“Civilised limits” presumably stretching to the publication of private numbers on the net, and blackmailing cancer charities?

It must be frustrating for Mr Thompson that ordinary people have the cheek to phone somebody who takes a decision at the BBC.

What a profoundly silly man he is.

UPDATE: Predictably, Thompson’s speech enraged “Massah” John Beyer, the Black and White Minstrels fan who likens himself to St Paul. So he has written a letter to The Times, which hasn’t been published, but which you can view here if you are so inclined.

Stephen Green has been sending out letters to regional theatres in an effort to stop them from showing Jerry Springer:The Opera. The two-page missive, a copy of which is available here, threatens any theatre intending to stage the production with “prayer vigils” both “at shows running before the event, and certainly during any run of ‘Springer’ itself”, and also with prosecution for “the criminal offence of blasphemy”. The letter concludes,

I should be glad to learn from you whether or not your theatre has any plans to stage ‘Jerry Springer the Opera’ and if so, what stage your negotiations with the producers have reached.

Thanks to Gwenda Hughes, Artistic Director of The New Vic Theatre in Staffordshire, for the above information, and for sharing with us her magnificent response, which is quoted here in full:

For the attention of Stephen Green

Sir,

I have received your letter concerning JERRY SPRINGER, THE OPERA.

Future programming is a confidential matter between employees and our Trustees until a season is announced and our brochure distributed. Details of our current season are available on our website. Should you wish to receive our brochure, published three times a year, please ring the Box Office number and we will put you on our mailing list.

It is my responsibility to decide what plays, concerts and events are programmed at this theatre, subject to ratification by the Trustees.

I will continue to programme as I see fit and appropriate for the organisation. Neither I, nor the Trustees, will change the programme or the programming policy as a result of threats, bullying or intimidation from any outside body.

I hope this makes the situation quite clear.

Yours faithfully,

Gwenda Hughes

Ouch.

Another scoop from last night’s X-Rated on Channel 4: John Beyer claimed that he was like St Paul. It seems that these self-appointed guardians of the nation’s morals are fond of seeing themselves as biblical figures. With Stephen Green as John the Baptist, Beyer as St Paul, and new campaign groups springing up all the time, it won’t be long before we have the entire cast of the Bible watching over us.

Who, we wonder, does “Bishop” Michael Reid think he is? My guess is that he fancies himself as more of an Old Testament figure. Probably Moses.