Leggat - DIARMID O'HARA AND BBC SCOTLAND

[ian1964 10,461]

HIGH level BBC bosses based in London are starting to express their concern as to the way their colleagues at BBC Scotland are treating Rangers.

 

I can reveal that the recent run of stories slanted against Rangers by the Diarmid Oâ??Hara led staff at BBC Scotlandâ??s Reporting Scotland flagship programme has been brought to the attention of BBC management at a senior level in London.

 

A number of senior level Scots at the BBC in London have been keeping tabs on the way they believe the Reporting Scotland editor Diarmid Oâ??Hara sets what appears to many to be an anti Rangers agenda.

 

This is particularly true about the way Diarmid Oâ??Hara seems to indulge BBC Scotlandâ?? investigative reporter, Mark Daly. This includes sending Daly on an expensive licence fee payers funded junket to Monte Carlo for the sole purpose of being filmed, standing in front of the harbour there delivering a piece to camera relating to their probe into Ibrox owner Craig Whyte.

 

But concern about what some in London regard as what looks to many like a vendetta against Rangers by Diarmid Oâ??Hara and his Reporting Scotland, were further triggered by the way their most recent attack on Whyte and Rangers was handled.

 

The item made the lead story on Reporting Scotland was then touched on again at the start of the sports news slot in the programme. Then, on Newsnight Scotland, the Mark Daly report which had been aired on Reporting Scotland was repeated again, this time with a background of sinister sounding music.

 

There then followed a studio bound interview of Mark Daly, conducted by anchor Glen Campbell, which revealed nothing new and appeared as simply a device to extend the item.

 

I know of at least one London based Scot who has a senior management post who has been watching events at BBC Scotland closely and who, after speaking to another experienced expat, has now compiled his own report, featuring not only the Mark Daly reports, but also the many times and ways which reporter Chris McLaughlin handles stories concerning Rangers.

 

The most recent was when he clearly displayed on camera the name â??Hunskelperâ? on the Twitter responses he was using to crank up his story. Hun is a word which no less an authority that the assistant chief constable of Strathclyde, Campbell Corrigan, has outlawed as sectarian.

 

However, according to my high ranking London based BBC source, the man who pulls all the strings on Reporting Scotland and who has to be pandered to, is the man at the top, the editor of Reporting Scotland and all other BBC television news bulletins, Diarmid Oâ??Hara.

 

And he is a man who little is known of. In fact, it is not even known if he is Scottish or comes from elsewhere in the UK.

 

Diarmid Oâ??Hara has, as far as I can see, has only broken cover once. That was when he wrote a piece in the Scotsman whining about a dreadful journey back from a family holiday on Barra.

 

In the piece Diarmid Oâ??Hara told us that he is married, though not his wifeâ??s name. He did tell us that he has three children, who he was happy to name in the Scotsman as Cormac, Sinead and Patrick, as they also had to endure a nightmare trip back from Barra.

 

However, unlike many in the broadcasting industry, and that includes those who pull the strings, but do not appear on screen, Diarmid Oâ??Hara is curiously reticent and is not to be found on Twitter or Facebook.

 

He is a man who prefers to lurk in the shadows and do his work almost anonymously.

 

And his work is deciding what stories are carried by Reporting Scotland, how they are treated and how often they are repeated. Which in the case of anything which shows Rangers in a bad light means over and over and over again.

 

Even on another programme!

 

It now remains to be seen if the men at the top of the BBC in London will deem the situation in their Scottish outpost as worthy of their attention.

 

http://leggoland2.blogspot.com/

[Bluedell 5,356]

What relevence are the guys' kids? Why bring them into it?

[Juancornetto 1]

What relevence are the guys' kids? Why bring them into it?

 

This is why I can't really take Leggo seriously...no doubt he put the kids names in to highlight how Irish sounding they are when there was no need. The Dairmid O'Hara part illustrated that clearly enough to me. That aside, I've long thought that someone in BBC HQ would eventually start asking questions, let's hope that is the case.

[Bears 0]

What relevence are the guys' kids? Why bring them into it?

 

he does come over as a bumbling fool at times. I do enjoy his pops at Spiers though

[26th of foot 5,865]

What relevence are the guys' kids? Why bring them into it?

 

 

You are correct, our disagreements with Diarmid O'Hara should be restricted to his professional conduct.

 

However, why did Diarmid name his children in the original article? The Barra holiday was a middle class equivilent of your average Yahoo travelling to Plastic Paddyland, Santa Ponsa in Mallorca. Maybe Diarmid felt the need to advertise his credentials? Still, no need for Leggo to extrapolate on this.