hackwatching

Bias or incompetence? The Scottish media

Well that’s the Daily Record got the lot when it comes to Celtic. They have slandered our Chairman (Fergus/Saddam), our first team (Thugs and Thieves) and now our greatest ever manager (Big Jock Crew).

The Retard printed a pathetic two line apology inside the back page stating that they “regret any offensive caused to football fans as a result of a headline in the Old Firm Winner”.

Celtic were not even mentioned never mind the slander.

Of course this paper has previous when it comes to apologising to Celtic. The following are a few more examples:

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“On January 6 Record Sport reported that Chris Sutton was furious after having been left on the bench for a game against Inverness last month. Mr Sutton has asked us to clarify that he did not leave Celtic Park under a cloud and he has no problems with anyone at Parkhead. We are happy to clarify the matter for him.

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Paul Hackney, for Martin O’Neill said: “These allegations, which questioned his loyalty and commitment to Celtic and integrity, were republished widely through the media and caused the claimant to issue further denials in the media that evening and in the following weeks.”
He said the Daily Record had accepted the allegations were “without foundation and should not have been published”, had apologised and agreed to pay damages and O’Neill’s legal costs.
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“We regret this article alleged that it was highly likely Neil Lennon had pursued and robbed a Daily Record photographer of £12,000 worth of equipment. We accept this allegation was without foundation and we apologise sincerely and unreservedly to Mr Lennon for the distress and anxiety caused to him.”

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Funnily enough, apologies for slighting, defaming or lying about Rangers chairmen, managers, players or fans are extremely hard to come by. Remember that the apologies are only for the blatant lies that made it to the court and doesn’t take into account the daily drip drip stuff we get. You know the lies about fantasy clauses in Nakamura’s contract, Bayern Munich’s interest in Artur Boruc etc etc.

But to be fair to the Daily Record, there are other outlets who do a damn fine job of apologising through gritted teeth.

For example:

“On the Real Football Phone-in programme broadcast by Real Radio on January 13th this year, I alleged that Peter Lawwell, in his role as chief executive of Celtic plc, and the board of Celtic plc had been untruthful to Celtic supporters and to the media in relation to player contracts.

“Real Radio and I acknowledge and accept that these allegations were completely without foundation, were unreasonable and ought not to have been broadcast. Real Radio and I wish to retract the allegations and to apologise unreservedly to both Mr Lawwell and the Celtic Board for the distress and damage caused by the broadcasting of the allegations.”

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“Scotland Today broadcast a report suggesting that the SPL was ‘set to investigate Celtic supporters for sectarian chanting’. It subsequently became clear that at no time did the SPL confirm that this was the case. STV apologises to Celtic FC and its supporters for this inaccuracy and regrets if any offence was caused.”

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All of which begs the questions - How can so many media outlets continually get stories wrong about Celtic. And more importantly, why is it that every time they get a story wrong it puts Celtic in a negative light ?

If these were genuine mistakes then the law of averages would assert that we would have at least one story where lies were told that put Celtic in a positive light. Maybe some lie about our stadium getting a £700 million facelift perhaps ? Or that Manchester City were about to become our feeder club ?

Some sort of lie along those lines would be sufficient to prove honest mistakes are being made.

More paranoid ranting available at www.celticparanoia.blogspot.com

 

TONY BANANAS & HACKWATCHER