Leggat - BBC TRUST BROKEN BY JIM SPENCE’S LIE

[ian1964 10,431]

CAN the people of Scotland trust BBC Scotland? Can BBC Scotland be trusted with the news?

 

Can BBC Scotland be believed? Can BBC Scotland’s many staff journalists and its numerous regular freelance contributors be trusted to report the news in a fair, accurate, balanced and totally truthful way?

 

These are big questions, especially as we are the midst of a Referendum campaign which will decide whether Scotland remains as part of the United Kingdom or becomes a separate country, a decision which will impact on everyone.

 

It is therefore of vital importance that the language of this debate, when used by broadcasters, accurately reflects what is factual and verifiable.

 

The same is true of any other major political, economic, or, indeed any story, be it news, sport or the arts, which is reported by BBC Scotland’s broadcasters on television or radio.

 

Unfortunately the answer to these major questions are all in the negative. No, BBC Scotland cannot be trusted with the news. BBC Scotland cannot be believed. BBC Scotland’s vast army of staff journalists and their numerous freelance contributors cannot be trusted to report in a fair accurate balanced and totally truthful way.

 

These are the conclusions which must be drawn after the news has been leaked that BBC Scotland bosses are to challenge the judgement of the BBC Trust that Rangers cannot be referred to as a new club.

 

The BBC Trust, the final court of arbitration within the BBC, reached this conclusion when it studied judgements from two learned Scottish judges, Lord Glennie and Lord Nimmo Smith, from the Scottish Football Association and from UEFA, among many others, who have all ruled that Rangers may be a Newco, but remain the same club with all of its history intact.

 

At least two BBC employees dispute this. They dispute not one, but two legal rulings from two of Scotland’s most eminent judges. The two are BBC Scotland staff reporter, Jim Spence and BBC Scotland freelance employee, Graham Spiers – aka Odious Creep – who has now dragged the Herald into the row after being allowed by his supine sports editor, former Celtic View editor Donald Cowie, to write in support of Jim Spence.

 

He has been joined in this by the fiercely pro Irish Republican National Union of Journalists and the union’s Celtic and Liverpool supporting Scottish organiser Paul Halloran, plus some of the other usual suspects, the fanatical IRA supporting Philmacgiollabhain – who holds a senior positon in the NUJ and who the Press Complaints Commision agree is a bigot - and his pal Angela Haggerty, who has roped the once respected Drum magazine, which claims to cover local media matters, into the rumpus.

 

It is a curious alliance. Surely one would expect the National Union of Journalists to be a bastion in defence of truth and accuracy? The opposite, however, appears to be the case. The NUJ now seems to be saying that flying in the face of facts is to be accepted and admired as is official National Union of Journalists policy.

 

The NUJ further seems to be saying that Jim Spence’s blatant disregard for the facts, that his inaccurate and truly low standard of reporting is not only to be accepted, but actually actively encouraged.

 

Which is exactly the stance BBC Scotland appear to be taking. For a report in the Herald – the paper Odious Creep writes for – that BBC Scotland have apologised for what Jim Spence said, is more than wildly exaggerated. It is just downright wrong. As factually inaccurate and incorrect as what Jim Spence said on BBC Scotland to spark the row.

 

The story, headlined in the Herald “BBC SAYS SORRY OVER SPENCE’S RANGERS COMMENTS” was, boasts the Herald, the paper’s on line edition’s most read story this week.

 

Except, the BBC did not apologise, leaving the Herald looking as though it is colluding in BBC Scotland’s lie by printing a second lie.

 

Let us be clear. BBC Scotland has not apologised for Jim Spence saying that Rangers are a new club. That, unlike much of what you hear on BBC Scotland from Jim Spence and Odious Creep and what Odious Creep writes in the Herald, is the fact of the matter.

 

Now, the trouble for BBC Scotland is they have placed the organisation in a bad place by backing Jim Spence for what appeared his wilful disregard for the BBC Trust’s judgement and directive.

 

That place is alongside the Republican militant and publicly branded bigot , Philmacgoillabhain and his sidekick, Angela Haggerty.

 

It is a place which will see everything any of BBC Scotland broadcasters report or comment on, especially during the run up to the Referendum, disbelieved. That is what happens to a news organisation when its credibility is undermined and destroyed by rank rotten journalism.

 

There are many fine journalists within BBC Scotland, both staff and on the freelance payroll. Men and woman who are diligent and painstaking in the way they report the news. I know many of them are worried about their integrity and their reputation for honesty, being damaged by BBC Scotland’s support for Jim Spence’s lie.

 

A number of them may also privately express their concern at the nature of those who are lining up to support Jim Spence.

 

For they know that BBC Scotland’s backing of Jim Spence and his lie means that BBC Scotland cannot be trusted by the people of Scotland to report the news in a fair, balanced, accurate and more importantly, honest way.