Pacific Quay Musings?

[cooponthewing 1,139]

1 hour ago, JohnMc said:

Any argument about not needing BBC Scotland misses the rather large point that almost everyone resident in the UK has already paid for it. I, personally, am very annoyed I can’t get coverage of my side. Radio Scotland on Sunday for example seemed to be relying on the Rangers Twitter feed for updates, Rob McLean reading them out verbatim in the 1st half. That’s not acceptable, they should have someone at the match providing regular updates if not live commentary on one of their many frequencies. The club should be making representations about this. That every other top flight club in Scotland has someone attending their matches should be raised regularly by the club.

 

Over 85% of all radio is listened too either through a DAB radio, a smartphone or AM/FM. Radio is listened too by people doing something else. They are driving, working, walking the dog etc and radio accompanies them. Of the total ‘audio’ market ‘live radio’ has 74%. There is still a large public demand for ‘live’ radio broadcasts, whether that's music, news, weather or sport. Radio Scotland has a public remit to provide this. Following live football by any means other than radio involves the individual doing nothing else but that. That clearly won’t suit a large number of people. As such live sport on the radio is important.

 

What I’m not entirely sure about is do the BBC have exclusive rights to radio commentary in Scotland? If they do then we as supporters as well as the club should be making much more noise about this. We’ve a right to expect equal coverage of our club.

 

There are clearly a number of obstacles to this currently. As this excellent thread demonstrates there is a clear antipathy towards Rangers and their supporters from Pacific Quay. The origins of this go back a couple of decades. Back then radio coverage was split between between commercial stations like Radio Clyde, Forth, Northsound and BBC Radio Scotland. The unwritten rule and belief was commercial broadcasters focussed on the ‘big clubs’ in their area. Economics being the driver for this, the bigger clubs had more supporters and generated more interest, more listeners and so more revenue through advertising. In actual fact this was a bit unfair on Radio Clyde who covered all the Greater Glasgow sides as well as Junior football too. With the commercial stations focussing on the  ‘big’ clubs BBC Radio Scotland gained the reputation for giving smaller, provincial clubs as much focus as the big city clubs. Again, I’m not convinced this was accurate, but that was the belief. The introduction of ‘Off The Ball’, the Cosgrove/Cowan programme helped cement this belief. They very publicly ridiculed Rangers and Celtic in particular, something that didn’t happen on the commercial stations, much to the delight of supporters of other sides. Fair enough.

 

That was 20 years ago, things have changed now. For a start most commercial radio stations in Scotland are no longer locally owned or managed. Programming is done centrally from an air-conditioned penthouse office in central London, playlists are compiled with more than a nod and a wink to certain record companies and local presenters are replaced by ‘networked’ shows from out of town business parks in the English Midlands. In short Radio Clyde is now about as local to Glasgow as Netflix. The same thing has happened to almost all local radio stations in Scotland. Covering local sport is not a priority anymore as it takes resources they’d rather not invest in. Which leaves BBC Radio Scotland in an almost monopoly situation when it comes to local sport.

 

That becomes an issue when the overall culture of the sport’s department is ‘Rangers and Celtic are evil’. To their credit Celtic have managed to address this with BBC Scotland whilst we’ve just exacerbated it. Whatever anyone thinks of Jim Traynor he knows the Scottish sport’s media. He worked for Radio Scotland for years. He appeared alongside Chris Mcloughlin, Richard Gordon and co, he knows them well. On top of that he’s a former broadsheet and tabloid journalist who was himself on the receiving end of a ban. He was once kicked out of a Rangers press conference and banned from Ibrox by Souness who described him as a “little socialist”, in what I think was meant as an insult. Did that change Traynor’s writing? Did Traynor’s career suffer because of this? No, of course it didn’t, he went on to be the Sport’s Editor of the best selling paper in the country and regular on the radio show with the largest audience; Radio Scotland. So why does he think imposing any kind of restrictions on McLoughlin now helps things?

 

The other thing you see from this thread is of course the antipathy many Rangers supporters now have towards the BBC. Many think the station is biased against Rangers and its supporters and want nothing to do with it. Being apparently hard on the BBC isn’t unpopular with many supporters. That’s why I’ve always felt this is simply a PR stunt to get an active, vocal body of supporters ‘onside’. Fine, the support are onside. Any questioning of King and the board over the summer has been put to one side as the Gerrard juggernaut gains momentum and golden, sunlit valleys of the future appear on the horizon.

 

Removing Graham Speirs press credentials doesn’t impede any Rangers supporter’s ability to enjoy Rangers. However, the spat with the BBC does. BBC Radio Scotland massively over-reacted to McLoughlin’s credentials being revoked. It’s no hardship to send another reporter but they’ve chosen to ban Rangers instead. It’s all petty dick-waving between the BBC Scotland team and Traynor. The only losers, as ever, are supporters.

 

It’s fairly clear Rangers aren’t too bothered about this and clearly the BBC aren’t either. Getting no access to Gerrard isn’t ideal for them but it’s not hurt them yet. In the meantime I, and many tens of thousands of supporters, endure sub-standard radio coverage of my side. I don’t know if the Rangers SLO should be taking this up with the club and the BBC or not. Someone should be though. The BBC aren’t a commercial body so there is no financial incentive for them to sort this, Rangers don’t suffer financially either, their remuneration from the coverage is pre-agreed.

 

I’d estimate that about 10% of the population in Scotland are Rangers supporters, as only 50,000 can attend a match that’s 450,000 people who want to follow what’s happening in the match as well as the supporters of whoever Rangers are playing that day. That’s a lot of people being denied coverage currently being afforded to supporters of every other topflight side. That’s surely against the spirit of the BBC’s charter.

 

The argument over whether we’d get fair and even treatment from BBC journalists can’t be had whilst we’re denied the same coverage as everyone else. Whatever your views on the BBC we are entitled to that. The club and the BBC should be doing what they can to achieve this. 

There is nothing to stop someone reporting from the match. Frankie has already pointed this out. So really you should be taking this up with the BBC?

[DMAA 3,603]

1 hour ago, JohnMc said:

BBC Radio Scotland massively over-reacted to McLoughlin’s credentials being revoked. It’s no hardship to send another reporter but they’ve chosen to ban Rangers instead

Rangers know that this was inevitable though because press freedom is seen as a fundamental right for journalists. Any news organisation in the world would respond the same way if you banned one of their journalists because they see it as an attack on press freedom. Companies (including clubs) will never be allowed to decide which journalists can and can't attend their press conferences in western countries where freedom of the press is enshrined.

[Walterbear 557]

And that is 100% the reason given. BBC did approach Rangers to try and resolve the situation but neither party could give up on what they regarded as basic principles. In Rangers case this was a perception of bias. BBC lacked the bottle to address that. We’re talking about Chris McLaughlin here not Kate Adie. He is a senior sports reporter. You get that title in organisations like the BBC if you avoid being sacked for a few years and reporting in a biased manner doesn’t hinder you from acquiring a ‘senior’ position. 

[BlackSocksRedTops 3,473]

Just would like to say bravo to all involved in this thread. As someone who sees both sides to this debate, it's very interesting indeed to hear all points of view. Take a bow chaps

[JohnMc 2,468]

59 minutes ago, cooponthewing said:

There is nothing to stop someone reporting from the match. Frankie has already pointed this out. So really you should be taking this up with the BBC?

I don't disagree with you, however I don't have much clout. The SLO might have a bit more, and of course the club have considerable clout, so for me they should be driving this. We suffer whilst others posture. 

[JohnMc 2,468]

56 minutes ago, DMAA said:

Rangers know that this was inevitable though because press freedom is seen as a fundamental right for journalists. Any news organisation in the world would respond the same way if you banned one of their journalists because they see it as an attack on press freedom. Companies (including clubs) will never be allowed to decide which journalists can and can't attend their press conferences in western countries where freedom of the press is enshrined.

I disagree. Alan Green, one of the BBC's senior football commentators and interviewers was banned by both Alex Ferguson and Sam Allerdyce whilst they were managers. The BBC didn't stop covering Man Utd and Bolton though, they simply sent someone else. Indeed Ferguson and Harry Redknapp banned the BBC completely, but they still covered matches on radio  and TV involving Man Utd and whatever sides Redknapp was managing at the time. 

 

People in BBC Scotland Sport take themselves very seriously. They forget that they're not covering world affairs, holding national leaders to account or uncovering great injustices in society. They're trying to find out who'll be playing left back this weekend and did the referee make a mistake for their second goal. I get freedom of the press and all that but let's not pretend we're dealing with Woodward and Bernstein here.  

 

I think Rangers are being intransigent too, but there's an arrogance at Pacific Quay over this that needs addressing. 

[JFK-1 1,671]

1 minute ago, JohnMc said:

I disagree. Alan Green, one of the BBC's senior football commentators and interviewers was banned by both Alex Ferguson and Sam Allerdyce whilst they were managers. The BBC didn't stop covering Man Utd and Bolton though, they simply sent someone else. Indeed Ferguson and Harry Redknapp banned the BBC completely, but they still covered matches on radio  and TV involving Man Utd and whatever sides Redknapp was managing at the time. 

 

People in BBC Scotland Sport take themselves very seriously. They forget that they're not covering world affairs, holding national leaders to account or uncovering great injustices in society. They're trying to find out who'll be playing left back this weekend and did the referee make a mistake for their second goal. I get freedom of the press and all that but let's not pretend we're dealing with Woodward and Bernstein here.  

 

I think Rangers are being intransigent too, but there's an arrogance at Pacific Quay over this that needs addressing. 

I dunno. If you were to turn it into an analogy of say a family member being banned from a specific venue in your mind unjustly might you then think OK my entire family is going to boycott this venue?

 

And there are likely journalist union factors coming into play.

[Bluedell 5,329]

3 hours ago, JohnMc said:

I’d estimate that about 10% of the population in Scotland are Rangers supporters, as only 50,000 can attend a match that’s 450,000 people who want to follow what’s happening in the match as well as the supporters of whoever Rangers are playing that day. That’s a lot of people being denied coverage currently being afforded to supporters of every other topflight side. That’s surely against the spirit of the BBC’s charter.

 

The argument over whether we’d get fair and even treatment from BBC journalists can’t be had whilst we’re denied the same coverage as everyone else. Whatever your views on the BBC we are entitled to that. The club and the BBC should be doing what they can to achieve this. 

Yes, it definitely is against the BBC charter. However Ian1964 tried to go down that route and raised a formal complaint with BBC London and it got nowhere.

[Bluedell 5,329]

17 minutes ago, JFK-1 said:

I dunno. If you were to turn it into an analogy of say a family member being banned from a specific venue in your mind unjustly might you then think OK my entire family is going to boycott this venue?

 

But it's not a family. It's a publicly funded organisation that should have the public's best interests at heart. It is punishing those who fund it.

 

Also to go back to your analogy, if the venue had specific and reasonable reasons for the banning, I'd not necessarily boycott a bar if they banned my son for under-age drinking, for example.

[Walterbear 557]

There may have been Union factors in the background but I can categorically state the primary reason was due to ‘press freedom’. Sorry for ITK stuff but I really do know in this case. So you have an organisation publically funded not serving the people who pay for it because they cannot find another reporter despite their vast resources. Any sensible rational organisation would have found a way round this especially considering the clear bias from this reporter, but not BBC Scotland. It is entirely possible that CM stuck his heels in which shows that the management was weak or he is an intransigent person who does not understand that if you are going to accuse Rangers of sectarianism then you cannot avoid reporting in Celtic fans singing about the Irish terrorists who murdered innocent people. 

 

Rangers should absolutely not give in on this but perhaps need to be more open about the causes and more persistent in questioning the BBC. Or perhaps as I would prefer we go round them, develop our club our digital media and focus on winning matches. The battle with BBC Scotland is not going to reap any substantial benefits.