Following the Club 1872 update last week regarding BBC Scotland and their ongoing, dishonest coverage of Rangers Football Club, BBC Scotland responded refuting our comments and selectively addressing certain points.
BBC Scotland claimed in their statement that Rangers had not alerted them to the launch of the Everyone Anyone campaign and that the exclusion of Chris McLaughlin from Ibrox “severely restricts” their ability to report on Rangers.
Unfortunately, BBC Scotland are once again being economical with the truth. Several BBC Scotland journalists were notified, not once but twice, about the launch of the Everyone Anyone campaign and received a press release about the initiative. To say that Rangers did not alert BBC Scotland to the launch, and the broader initiative, is simply not true.
We would question why BBC Scotland would issue such a misleading and disingenuous response to our concerns over their refusal to cover a very positive initiative by Rangers Football Club. It is a serious matter for a publicly funded body to mislead licence payers who, however reluctantly, fund their work.
We also note that BBC Scotland did not address our concerns regarding the contributor that they continue to present as a neutral commentator on their current affairs programmes, despite senior production staff being aware of a back catalogue of hate speech by that individual towards Rangers supporters.
We fully back Rangers stance in not providing Chris McLaughlin with press privileges for Ibrox following his repeated, biased and dishonest coverage of our club. For BBC Scotland to suggest that his exclusion hinders their ability to report properly from Ibrox is also disingenuous. In fact, by any sensible measure, his exclusion marginally increases the chance that BBC Scotland might finally meet their obligations for fair and accurate reporting – something they continue to fall short of on a weekly basis.
Since BBC Scotland issued their response, they have been forced to correct a misleading headline about Steven Gerrard’s comments in a press conference ahead of a recent European tie. Even after the initial correction, the headline was still misleading. BBC pundits Michael Stewart and Tom English have also taken to social media and BBC Sportsound to make a number of offensive, ignorant and irresponsible comments about Rangers supporters who found themselves caught up in crushing outside Rugby Park on Sunday. These comments are the subject of further complaints to BBC Scotland.
BBC Scotland should stop short changing Scottish licence fee payers and begin to address the poisonous culture within Pacific Quay towards Rangers Football Club and our supporters.
Issued by Supporters Voice Limited, a Club 1872 company
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