Public service broadcasting

In depth

Broadcasting – especially public service broadcasting – is one of the main ways in which citizens and communities can learn about and from each other.

The right to freedom of speech includes the right of access to broadcasting media for all religions or beliefs. We want to make sure that humanist voices and perspectives are reflected in public discourse and assist the non-religious to better understand their beliefs. We want broadcasters to fairly reflect the religions and beliefs found in the UK and therefore to broadcast programmes aimed especially at humanists.
Although the law makes clear that religions and beliefs, including non-religious beliefs such as humanism, should be treated equally in terms of broadcasting, the BBC has resisted this.

An example of this in practice is that there has been almost no programmes considering in detail non-religious beliefs or about humanism, in spite of there being large numbers of programmes about each of the major world religions, as well as programmes made by people of particular religions and for adherents of that religion.

Thought for the Day

Thought for the Day is a religious slot in the middle of the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme which offers ‘reflections from a faith perspective on issues and people in the news’. It plainly proclaims that reflective thoughts on the events of the day can come only from people with ‘a faith’. Humanists are banned from providing contributions to the programme. We believe it is entirely unacceptable to exclude speakers because they are non-religious.

What we’re doing

• We continue to campaign for fairer broadcasting coverage for humanists and the non-religious. We have long protested to the BBC about its failure to provide any detailed programmes about non-religious beliefs or humanism.
• We meet regularly with BBC officials and Ofcom to keep this on the agenda, most recently in 2025.
• We have responded to all relevant consultations this century on broadcasting and the BBC’s output. These more recently include the BBC’s consultation on its draft Editorial Guidelines in late 2024; Ofcom’s 2015 review of public sector broadcasting; its 2018 thematic review of representation and portrayal in 2018; and its 2021 consultation on the future of public service media.
• We have led the national campaign for Thought for the Day to include humanist perspectives. In 2018 we teamed up with our patrons and organised a joint letter to the head of the BBC calling for humanists to be included on the programme. The letter was published in The Guardian along with a story on our calls. Despite this high-profile intervention, the BBC later said it stuck by its policy to exclude humanists from the programme.
• That said, various regional BBC versions of Thought for the Day do now include humanists – most notably Northern Ireland’s, since 2021.

Appendix: Past work on this issue

• We were a key stakeholder in the 2017 BBC Religion and Ethics Review – along with Humanist Society Scotland we were the only non-religious or secularist group consulted. However, we were disappointed by the outcome, which did not propose equal coverage.
• We achieved considerable success with the passing of the Communications Act 2003 by ensuring that public service broadcasting includes programming on ‘religion and other beliefs’, with beliefs being defined in a way that clearly covers non-religious outlooks like humanism.
• That said, the Media Act 2024 abolished the reference to religion and beliefs entirely. Instead it now refers to including ‘a sufficient quantity of audiovisual content that reflects the lives and concerns of different communities and cultural interests and traditions within the United Kingdom, and locally in different parts of the United Kingdom’..

Thought for the Day

• In 2014, we ran ‘Thought for the Commute’, a poster campaign on London Underground, which highlighted the lack of balance in media coverage of religion and belief.
• Then in 2015 the Commission on Religion and Belief in British Public Life – of which our Chief Executive was a Commissioner – recommended that ‘The BBC Charter renewal should mandate the Corporation to reflect the range of religion and belief of modern society, for example by extending contributions to Radio 4’s daily religious flagship Thought for the Day to include speakers from non-religious perspectives such as humanists.’
• When the pandemic hit, we ran an equivalent slot on Prison Radio, which included contributions from our Vice President Alice Roberts and patrons Alf Dubs, Joan Bakewell, Christina Patterson, Frank Turner, and Nigel Warburton.
• We have also pushed for change in a large number of consultation and stakeholder exercises, as outlined above, and encouraged our members and supporters to write to the BBC and to sign petitions on this subject.