ian1964 10,831 Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 PETER LAWWELL is set to effectively become the new editor-in-chief of the Daily Record and Sunday Mail. That is the stunning, sinister and bombshell news I can bring you today â?? a sad sorry day in the history of two one mighty campaigning newspapers, but newspapers which have now fallen to such a low they are willing and even eager to surrender their independence by getting into bed with Celtic. Meaning the names Rangers supporters have been calling the two newspapers â?? the Daily Rhebel and the Sunday Liam â?? will be a truer reflection of the market the two sad sorry and now totally discredited publications will cater for. It is all part of a grubby commercial deal which will see the Daily Record and Sunday Mail sign up to take money from Celtic to do all of Celticâ??s printing. Which will effectively silence the voice of a free press in Central Quay as far as football matters, as well as many political and cultural issues, are concerned. Making it is a sad sorry and sinister day, not merely for the two newspapers, but for Scottish journalism and for freedom and democratic debate in Scotland, which is becoming an increasingly dark, dangerous and undemocratic nation. And the man at the Daily Record and Sunday Mail who will now be forced to do just whatever Peter Lawwell tells him to do, yet who will masquerade under the title of editor-in-chief, while the real power lies with Peter Lawwell, is the cowardly Alan Rennie. Any editor, indeed any man, worth his salt would have told any management which tried to impose such restrictions on his journalistic freedom, where to stick their job and walked away. Just as Jim Traynor told us all, in his last column for the paper whose coffin he has publicly driven a nail into, he did, in the wake of him discovering just what was going on behind his back. Dark deeds and a commercial tie in for profit between Peter Lawwell and Celtic and the Daily Record and the Sunday Mail, which the powerbrokers inside Ibrox first got wind of last week. No doubt Alan Rennie will protest that his decision to downplay the Anthony Stokes-IRA story last week â?? a story which any honest, decent and honourable journalist would tell you should have been the splash â?? was not influenced by any commercial tie up with Celtic. Well, he would, wouldnâ??t he? But how many people will believe him? How long talks have been going on between Celtic and the Daily Record and Sunday Mail is not known, but it is reasonable to believe they have been taking place behind locked doors for some time and I believe the final contracts, which have yet to be signed, will be inked any day now. However, it is reasonable now for reasonable people to wonder at some of the events which have already cast a cloud over the judgement of Alan Rennie in recent months and to question his impartiality, to ponder on whether some of his actions were based on sound news values and on journalistic integrity, or driven by a desire inside the Daily Record and Sunday Mail to get their hands on Celticâ??s money. For instance, ten months ago Traynorâ??s exclusive about the row over ticket payments for an Old Firm game, led to Rennie getting set to print a grovelling apology to Peter Lawwell after Lawwell complained it was untrue, only for Rennie to become distraught when the emails which proved to story to be 100 per cent correct, true and accurate, were produced. Then there was the disgraceful banning by Celtic of Hugh Keevins when he had the temerity to question Peter Lawell, which Alan Rennie allowed to happen in an act which looked, at the time, like one of cowardice, but which now assumes a darker and much more sinister hue. It is likely that people will now start to wonder just how many stories which would have shown Peter Lawwell and Celtic in a bad light have been hushed up by the Daily Record and Sunday Mail in recent weeks and months. Scots are entitled to ask such questions and to voice such legitmate concerns regarding the Daily Record and Sunday Mail, two once mighty independently minded newspapers which have now sold their journalistic birthright for a mess of Celticâ??s pottage. I have always refrained from going down the road which sees Rangers supporters brand these two now totally disgraced and disgraceful newspapers, as the Daily Rhebel and the Sunday Liam. After all, I spent eight happy years with the Sunday Mail when it was a fine strong and independent newspaper selling close to a million copies each week. But that is how I will now refer to them in the future. For that is what they have shamefully become. This is the day freedom of the press took a lurch towards the grave, in a nation staggering blindly towards a dark and sinister place where Peter Lawwell is omnipresent and omnipotent. Not content with having control of Celtic, a tight grip on the Scottish Football Association and having the Scottish Premier League in his iron fist, Peter Lawwell is now about to assume control of the editorial decisions of the two papers which will now become the Daily Rhebel and the Sunday Liam in the eyes of every sceptic, and any hack who is not a sceptic is no hack at all. At this point, all decent, honest and independent journalists should pause for a minuteâ??s silence. There are others inside the Daily Rhebel and Sunday Liam, who can adopt another pose. They can indulge themselves in a minuteâ??s applause. After all that, as the Parkhead tannoy announcer informed us, is the Celtic way. And from now on the Celtic way will be the Daily Rhebel and the Sunday Liamâ??s way too. If I may coin a phrase beloved of a former First Minister. This is Scotlandâ??s shame 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueMazza 0 Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 If this is true it's bad. Beeb & DR now? I know the DR is a trash rag but it's still putting a message out. Conflict of interest or what. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian1964 10,831 Posted December 4, 2012 Author Share Posted December 4, 2012 If this is true it's bad. Beeb & DR now? I know the DR is a trash rag but it's still putting a message out. Conflict of interest or what. If there are still any Rangers fans who purchase these papers then it will now be the catalyst for a boycott from all Rangers fans 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexscottislegend 2,592 Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 I think Leggat is talking crap here. Does he not know that Keltic supporters have always called the Record the Daily Ranger? We can take this bias thing too far y'know, despite the disgraceful decision not to lead with the Stokes IRA story. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueMazza 0 Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 I think Leggat is talking crap here. Does he not know that Keltic supporters have always called the Record the Daily Ranger? We can take this bias thing too far y'know, despite the disgraceful decision not to lead with the Stokes IRA story. The sports editor is a massive Celts fan so to be honest Leggo could be on the ball with this. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexscottislegend 2,592 Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 The sports editor is a massive Celts fan so to be honest Leggo could be on the ball with this.After the Leveson report can this not be deemed conflict of interest? Must be some body, Mergers, monopolies whatever, can step in here if this is so.. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Bluenose80 Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 I think Leggat is talking crap here. Does he not know that Keltic supporters have always called the Record the Daily Ranger? We can take this bias thing too far y'know, despite the disgraceful decision not to lead with the Stokes IRA story. I'm not so sure Alex as it would explain Traynor walking out this week. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Blue Pimpernel Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 (edited) They choose to run a non-story which reflects yet another dim light on Rangers whilst burying a scandal? Never mind the more far-flung of Leggo's claims, he is however forming an excellent counter-propaganda front without which along with McMurdo and that ilk we would have little or no representation Honestly these guys deserve medals Question is how far do you want to take denial of the blatant and disgraceful anti-Rangers bias which prevails to the point whereby a blind man running for his life can see it? Edited December 4, 2012 by Blue Pimpernel 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
the gunslinger 3,366 Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 has something changed because a while back the record weren't even printing the record. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
der Berliner 4,054 Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 I was actually astonished to read anything about the Stokes IRA-bash in the Daily Record at all. (Did any other Scottish newspaper covered this?) 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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