BBC Radio 4 to develop new formats for close cultural and political encounters

In a Britain apparently polarised, with people living in social media “echo chambers”, these new commissions seek to encourage what Pope Francis has called a “Culture of Encounter” - making dialogue and mutual understanding possible. 

The first of the new series, Encounters (from Wednesday 6 December), will explore how personal opinions and beliefs are shaped by formative experiences; the second, Across the Red Line (from Wednesday 3 January 2018), will use conflict resolution techniques to test and challenge opposing political views.

Mohit Bakaya, Factual Commissioning Editor for Radio 4, says: “Technology and social media suggest to us that we are better connected than ever before, yet, in reality, we seem to exist in a series of comfortable bubbles, communing with those that reinforce, rather than challenge, our beliefs and our view of the world.

“Do we really understand how the world looks from the other’s point of view? To many, recent events like Brexit and the 2016 US election have suggested communities are staring at each other over a series of barricades – mistrustful and wary, with little real opportunity to share stories and experience. These new Radio 4 programmes aim to do just that – bringing people together on air to listen, discuss and maybe find some common ground on some of the biggest issues of our time.”

To set the scene, in the one-off documentary, A Culture of Encounter available on iPlayer, former Labour minister Douglas Alexander explores how atomised Britain has become and what we might do about it.

SW

Programme information and broadcast details:

Encounters

Four-part series, from Wednesday 6 December, 8.45-9pm

Two people meet. They sit opposite each other in a room. They both hold profoundly different opinions about something. But both sets of opinions were shaped by raw life experience. Can these people come to understand one another better?

This new Radio 4 series, Encounters, will pursue stories that cross the fault lines of modern Britain - property ownership, social mobility, sexual equality and the role of the press. Two people come together to swap one story which shaped their views. They each listen to the other then they re-tell the other person’s story as if it had happened to them. Does this attempt at understanding one another bring new empathy? Can you really step into another’s shoes and see the world from their perspective?

• Producers: Polly Weston and Vivien Jones for BBC Radio 4

Across the Red Line

Four-part series, from Wednesday 3 January 2018, 8-8.45pm

Each week, Anne McElvoy takes guests and listeners alike to the edges of our certainties. She brings together two figures who are on opposing sides of a major political issue and invites them to do something rather unsual: she invites them to really listen to each other.

The aim of the programme is not to see who wins the argument - or even to reach agreement - it’s simply to see what happens when two people who are certain that they’re right explore the limits of their differences.

Drawing on techniques from conflict resolution, Anne leads her two guests through a series of games and structured conversations to encourage them to air the personal experiences, instincts and feelings that underpin their public positions.

Are their red lines really as fixed as they thought they were? Or can they be blurred?

This series gives people time to think on their feet not just about the 'line to take' but about the basic principles and the motives that drive them.

• Producers: Phil Tinline and Sarah Shebbeare for BBC Radio 4

A Culture of Encounter

Available on iPlayer

We may be more connected than ever but we are, in many ways, strangers to each other. How many of your close friends have radically different politics, values or life experiences from you? And when did you last share a meal with someone from a totally different background?

In this programme, Douglas Alexander tries to find out why we seem to have become so polarised as a nation and how we might come to know one another better. His time as a Labour politician convinced him that government alone cannot mend Britain's divisions. So what can we do as a society? And as individuals?

Douglas seeks advice from those who’ve studied Britain’s fault lines and traced their causes - from political and economic forces to neuroscience and psychology. Douglas hears from people with experience in bringing individuals from different backgrounds together – from the head of the UK army to the members of an Edinburgh cooking club. And he takes inspiration from Pope Francis, who has argued that, for human beings to flourish, we need to create a “Culture of Encounter”.

• Producer: Helen Grady for BBC Radio 4