Post by aric on Dec 12, 2007 19:22:16 GMT -5
I thought this was particularly interesting since Vorch lives in the Netherlands. She probably already knows, but I thought I'd post it here for the benefit of those not in Europe.
Telegraph
Telegraph
Creationists rewrite natural history
Last Updated: 4:01pm BST 02/10/2007
Scientists complain about "sins of omission," reports Roger Highfield
The world's best known wildlife broadcaster, Sir David Attenborough, has called on the BBC to stop Christian fundamentalists from deleting references to evolution from his documentaries.
Censored versions of Sir David's award winning programmes have been broadcast in Holland without any references to evolution, speciation, descent and timescales of millions of years, after being censored by Christian creationists who are opposed to Charles Darwin's ideas.
"Instead of saying "70 million years ago, something happens," they say "a very long time ago something happens". They also omit paragraphs such as: "This is inherited from my warm-blooded ancestors,"" Sir David told the Telegraph. "I would much rather they kept to the letter, as far as that is possible, of what I said."
The edits by the public broadcasting organisation Evangelische Omroep (EO, Evangelical Broadcasting) have triggered howls protests about "deviations and sins of omission" from Dutch scientists, led by Dr Gerdien de Jong, an evolutionary biologist at Utrecht University.
With Dr Hans Roskam of the University of Leiden, she has organised a petition, signed by more than 300 biologists, including 50 professors, and letters of complaint to the Director General of the BBC, the director of the BBC Natural History Unit, and Sir David.
"I am entirely on the side of the biologist in Utrecht," said Sir David. "The BBC should take steps to make sure that the minuteness of the meanings are maintained."
"As its name indicates, the Evangelische Omroep is a fundamentalist Christian organisation inspired by the word of God as revealed in the literal text of the Bible," said Dr de Jong. "The EO denies all science that falsifies this literal text."
BBC documentaries have been made compatible with creationist views by replacing spoken English text by an adapted spoken Dutch text, or by cutting whole scenes. "Nevertheless, such sanitised documentaries are presented to the Dutch public as BBC documentaries," she said.
In particular, she singled out the EO DVD "Het Leven van Zoogdieren" - The Life of Mammals. The series is presented as written and "presented by David Attenborough. Yet it is censored and Episode 10, about apes and humans, is absent. In short, he said, it appears "in a mutilated form, cutting or rephrasing all passages relevant to evolution."
"The BBC as producer and copyright holder and the makers of BBC documentaries have therefore a responsibility towards the Dutch public to help preserve the broadcasting of scientifically sound nature documentaries," said Dr de Jong.
In the petition, the biologists call on the BBC to insist the programmes be broadcast intact, or carry a warning they have been changed.
A BBC spokesman said: "BBC Worldwide takes the protection of its brands and content very seriously. With thousands of hours being sold to hundreds of networks all over the world each year, BBC Worldwide allows local broadcasters to make edits but only up to a narrow margin of five minutes per hour.
"Their edits were less than the margin so did not involve BBC Worldwide on this occasion."
Last Updated: 4:01pm BST 02/10/2007
Scientists complain about "sins of omission," reports Roger Highfield
The world's best known wildlife broadcaster, Sir David Attenborough, has called on the BBC to stop Christian fundamentalists from deleting references to evolution from his documentaries.
Censored versions of Sir David's award winning programmes have been broadcast in Holland without any references to evolution, speciation, descent and timescales of millions of years, after being censored by Christian creationists who are opposed to Charles Darwin's ideas.
"Instead of saying "70 million years ago, something happens," they say "a very long time ago something happens". They also omit paragraphs such as: "This is inherited from my warm-blooded ancestors,"" Sir David told the Telegraph. "I would much rather they kept to the letter, as far as that is possible, of what I said."
The edits by the public broadcasting organisation Evangelische Omroep (EO, Evangelical Broadcasting) have triggered howls protests about "deviations and sins of omission" from Dutch scientists, led by Dr Gerdien de Jong, an evolutionary biologist at Utrecht University.
With Dr Hans Roskam of the University of Leiden, she has organised a petition, signed by more than 300 biologists, including 50 professors, and letters of complaint to the Director General of the BBC, the director of the BBC Natural History Unit, and Sir David.
"I am entirely on the side of the biologist in Utrecht," said Sir David. "The BBC should take steps to make sure that the minuteness of the meanings are maintained."
"As its name indicates, the Evangelische Omroep is a fundamentalist Christian organisation inspired by the word of God as revealed in the literal text of the Bible," said Dr de Jong. "The EO denies all science that falsifies this literal text."
BBC documentaries have been made compatible with creationist views by replacing spoken English text by an adapted spoken Dutch text, or by cutting whole scenes. "Nevertheless, such sanitised documentaries are presented to the Dutch public as BBC documentaries," she said.
In particular, she singled out the EO DVD "Het Leven van Zoogdieren" - The Life of Mammals. The series is presented as written and "presented by David Attenborough. Yet it is censored and Episode 10, about apes and humans, is absent. In short, he said, it appears "in a mutilated form, cutting or rephrasing all passages relevant to evolution."
"The BBC as producer and copyright holder and the makers of BBC documentaries have therefore a responsibility towards the Dutch public to help preserve the broadcasting of scientifically sound nature documentaries," said Dr de Jong.
In the petition, the biologists call on the BBC to insist the programmes be broadcast intact, or carry a warning they have been changed.
A BBC spokesman said: "BBC Worldwide takes the protection of its brands and content very seriously. With thousands of hours being sold to hundreds of networks all over the world each year, BBC Worldwide allows local broadcasters to make edits but only up to a narrow margin of five minutes per hour.
"Their edits were less than the margin so did not involve BBC Worldwide on this occasion."
