Second Muslim becomes head of BBC religious TV programming

Feb 25, 2017 by Jill

by Katherine Rushton, Mailonline:

The executive who put a terror sympathiser on TV now heads BBC religious programming on screen.

Fatima Salaria provoked uproar by giving Anthony Small a platform on Muslims Like Us, a reality-style show.

The convicted fraudster and former boxing champion, now known as Abdul Haqq, was a member of hate preacher Anjem Choudary’s inner circle.

He had previously expressed support for Islamic State but was cleared last year of trying to join the terror group.

Mrs Salaria, who is a Muslim, argued in December that it was important to hear ‘authentic voices from a range of backgrounds’ so viewers could ‘gain fresh insights and not just have their prejudices confirmed’. Since then she has been quietly named commissioning editor for ethics and religion. This puts her in charge of all the BBC’s religious content on TV, including Songs of Praise and An Island Parish. It is the second time the BBC has put a Muslim in charge of religious television programming. Read here