The BBC and Ibrox have “resolved their dispute” this morning, a dispute that has been going on for ages and which kept the broadcaster from working at the ground on match days.
Not a single BBC listener has been materially inconvenienced by this, except for those who follow the club and most of them have been all for banning their journalists anyway.
This dispute was always going to be resolve eventually.
Ibrox, at some point, would have started acting in a saner and more rational manner, or so the theory goes anyway. Instead of waiting for that, the BBC moved first to bury the hatchet.
Again, this would not have been a great shock had it been done behind the scenes and kept there.
Instead, stunningly, the BBC has issued a grovelling – there is no other word for it – statement which has subjected the organisation and its journalists to a staggering humiliation.
“The BBC is committed to reporting the Scottish Premiership fully and fairly across all clubs. However, it recognises that the club has genuine concerns about the accuracy and balance of some coverage. The BBC acknowledges that there have been occasions when parts of the coverage of Rangers FC have not met its editorial standards. It has apologised for those instances and is happy to repeat those apologies now. We now look forward to a positive ongoing relationship with the club.”
The BBC is saying “yeah, at times we’ve been biased against Ibrox.”
Are you kidding me or what?
No club has had an easier, on freer, ride from the national broadcaster.
Or, indeed, the media as a whole.
The BBC is where ex-Ibrox players go to do PR for their club. How many of its senior journalists have pro-Ibrox leanings? Kenny McIntyre now runs the sports department there, and he’s a self-confessed Ibrox fan.
If this is his first step in moving forward, you can tell how bad the rest of it is going to be.
If I was a BBC journalist who valued my independence I’d be concerned, especially with the tone of that public statement, which is an epic embarrassment. This is particularly true in that Ibrox fan media sites are claiming that McLaughlin will still not be allowed to set foot in the ground. If that’s true the BBC has rolled over all the way.
Every journalist who works under McIntyre has just been put on notice; do not criticise their club or it’s you who will pay the consequences. That club has just bent the national broadcaster to its will, like some petty tyrant exerting control over the media.
I am appalled this lesson still isn’t getting through to people; the media is already paying Ibrox to attend press conferences. The SPFL has already bent for them and is allowing them to opt out of commercial contracts ….
At what point do people stop and realise that feeding this monster only makes it more aggressive and prone to bite? At what point do they stop pandering to this lot, who thrive on weakness, and act robustly?
None of the outlets which attend Ibrox could be rightly called “independent” when they are paying for access … the club itself spitefully refers to them as “official partners”, which doesn’t even hide the power dynamics of the relationship.
And before the rest of the “official partners” sneer at the broadcaster, don’t even bother.
Your own balls are in the same mason jar as McIntyre’s, whether you like it or not.
If Celtic instigated a similar policy the blogs would be outraged at the clear violation of the relationship … you lot are kidding yourselves on to pretend you are special.
You are gushing fan-boys, paying to ask questions and have access our sites get from our club for free, and because we’re not doing so we know that we’re free to write whatever we want. Don’t kid yourselves that you have any such rights.
“Welcome to the Ibrox press room … leave your cheque along with your credibility at the door before entry.”
Ibrox continues to ride roughshod over whoever it wants.
The media is on its knees.
The governing body is on its knees.
If we hadn’t just slapped them off the title podium and confirmed ourselves as the biggest club in the country you would think that they were the only team in Scotland who mattered.
Bhoys and ghirls, what a season lies in front of us, and as a good colleague of mine in the blogosphere warned Ange at his very first fan presser, amongst that lot we have no friends. The ranks of the Scottish press are filled to the rafters with the allies of Ibrox … or those whose bosses have pledged fealty and kissed the ring.
It amounts to the same thing in the end.
A very good summation of the situation. Feel sorry who have fell for speaking the truth. Thing Michael S provides a balanced approach but fear his days are numbered.
Does that mean as a fee paying licence holder l will be contributing to their policy of having to cow tow to them for access
The triumphalist/entitled nature of the beast has no limits. The tragedy is that fans of other clubs along with journalists in general seem more comfortable viewing Celtic as being just as bad as “them”. Having higher/better standards and being genuinely inclusive seems to count for nothing in the eyes of opposing fans or the media. Is this a reflection of Scottish society in general? I often wonder.
I think it’s safe to say BBC Scotland sport will be one of the many media outlets who will pay the £25000 for the privilege of asking The Rangers, vetted questions now that the relationship is back on! There is a lot of missed time to be made up by both outfits.Expect a very sycophantic public relationship here! It’s going to get extremely sentimental
Another few..Ritchie foster, Alan Hutton and Andy Halliday.
Definite fair and above board level of pundits from the BBC.
Like last season, let’s hope Ange and the bhoys give them plenty to be despondent about.
Love the hurt on their faces..they just cant handle it when we’re winning.
Fukin SCUM.. The FILTH & the BBC!! Who even cares, well win the TREBLE & the Knuckodraggaz will be Spewin.. AGANE!! BAWAHAHAHAHAHA!!
Tell us what you really think Kyogos dream team, Sean and many more names such as Starman now. Where do you get all these names from.
BBC Sport Sound employees Billy Dodds , Neil McCann , Derek Ferguson , Peter Lovenkrands , Maurice Ross , Kenny Miller , Alex Rae , Stephen Thompson , Kevin Thompson , Charlie Adam , Mark Hateley , Steven Naismith and Jon Daly will all be happy
Ach, it’s nothing new. Fk them all, the long and the short and the tall…..
Sevco can say, do and act as they please because of the 5 way agreement which is corrupt. They, the SFA/SPFL and EVERY OTHER CLUB knew it was a carve up at the time and said nothing! “Can we blame Sevco for acting as they do?
Its a corrupt society your running Nicola. No scrutiny, no accountability, no place for Catholics. Plenty of sectarian marches, put downs and assaults. Know your place is the message. Policed by the black shirts.
We are heading for an independently run orange country if this pathway continues to be followed. Another NI. A country where there is no dialog for change amongst those in power, no egalitarian representation of progressive action, no will for advancement, only a strengthening of their resolve and with all of your support for a pretentious independent Scotland, only one winner. What a bag of shite
You can say that but we’ve hardly been living in a union of love and harmony our entire lives, have we? Are you trying to say orange marches never happened before the SNP came along? As long as the UK exists nothing will change. If independence doesn’t come soon we will be turned into a mini NI anyway as the English state loves a bit of the old “divide and rule”. You can see it happen already, and I wouldn’t be surprised to find that agents of the crown are responsible for some of the most moon-howling of hun twitter accounts or even that Aberdeen banner today. “If you can’t beat them encourage them to beat each other” is the favoured mantra at Westminster.
Completely agree with you, this has gone on for long and weary and to say its got anything to do with the SNP is a distortion of history in Scotland. For nearly 100 years the governing parties in Westminster have been Tory or Labour and nothing was done to stop this sectarianism in Scotland and even the Loyalist Fascism in NI was accepted and sometimes encouraged by Westminster.
As far as football sectarianism practised at Ibrox is concerned this was accepted by the SFA for 100 years. The Celtic board didn’t cover themselves in glory with the 5 Way agreement. The BBC are just another British institution who have pandered to the Ibrox mob. To lay all this at the feet of the SNP is lazy and stupid.” We Walk On With Hope In Our Hearts” as we have always done.
The idea they can do as they please was reinforced by the Five Way Agreement that conferred immortality just by being constructed as it was It introduced the idea of a club being separate from the company/owner even though pre 2012 there never was a separate company operating old Rangers.
Scottish football will always be in thrall to that agreement not just Celtic It was an agreement that heightened the moral hazard in which Rangers placed their bets(ebts) but other clubs paid the cost in 2011 when old Rangers came third in the race to play in a UEFA competition.
“The BBC acknowledges that there have been occasions when parts of the coverage of Rangers FC have not met its editorial standards.”
True – every time they have published an article claiming “Rangers” are the same club. Sadly I don’t think this is what they are talking about.
Ibrox – Britain’s Kultural governor general in Scotland.
This pathetic apology exemplifies the underlying influence of sectarianism.
You reap what you sow. The chance was there to pour concrete over the grave when they died. Now the zombies have reclaimed their crown as the establishment club. Well done to the Celtic board for watching it happen as it all unfolded.
And that’s absolutely right.
That’ll be extra money from their press conferences, the licence payer will be picking the tab up for.
To be honest, i’m surprised that anybodys surprised. The BBC and the Scottish football media are always pandering to that lot. It’s hysterical. You only need to look at the already (predictable) hype on show from their droolin, deluded ‘reporters’ for this comin season, while at the same time, creatin negativity towards us i. e. Support being unhappy with some of our signings, other clubs after our big players etc. They’re a fuckin joke.
Didn’t lay any past sectarian history of Scotland at the feet of the SNP, that is a stupid and lazy point to add in to what I said and really sounds like some kind of denialist approach and distortion of the present. They’re not responsible for the past but in case it slipped your mind they’re responsible for governance of the present thus leaving little hope for the future prospects of a decent minded independent country. Keep doing what you’ve always done and you’ll keep getting what you always got