BBC apologises to Rangers as dispute over coverage of Ibrox club ends

The BBC has repeated an apology to Rangers over coverage of the club and will resume full reporting of games at Ibrox from the start of the new football season.

The broadcaster has not sent reporters to Ibrox since 2015, when senior sports reporter Chris McLaughlin was told by Rangers that he was not welcome at the club.

Rangers believed that his reporting was unbalanced and unfair and refused to accredit him to cover events at Ibrox.

The BBC stood by their journalist and said that they would not send any reporters while McLaughlin’s ban was in place.

Rangers have also been unhappy with coverage of the club in general in recent years. Another flashpoint occurred when pundit Michael Stewart referred to then Rangers media chief James Traynor as “a bully. Stewart apologised earlier this year.

Discussions between the parties have continued in the hope of resolving the stand-off, which meant the broadcaster’s coverage of the Premiership has been incomplete.

However those talks have now resulted in an agreement that the BBC will now resume coverage of games from Ibrox, with the broadcaster repeating an apology of coverage it said ‘did not meet its editorial standards’.

A BBC statement read: “A disagreement between BBC Scotland and Rangers FC has limited the BBC’s ability to report from Ibrox Stadium over a long period of time.

“The BBC and Rangers FC have now agreed that it is in the best interest of the BBC audiences and Rangers supporters everywhere for the BBC and the club to resolve the dispute and to provide the fullest possible coverage of all Rangers’ matches.

“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.”

Rangers tweeted: “We acknowledge the recognition of past errors and the apology from BBC Scotland and the recent apology from Michael Stewart. Reporting of football matches at Ibrox will recommence at the beginning of season 2022/23.”