BBC: The Importance of Impartial Reporting

Two hours after publication on the BBC Scotland website Guillem Balague has called out the spin of the shameless state broadcaster.

While commercial media outlets are entitled to publish any old junk that they wish to gather an audience for their advertisers BBC Scotland has a public service remit, it is expected to cover events factually, with balance.

The UK parliament describes the BBC charter as:

The BBC’s mission is set out in the Charter. The broadcaster is to “act in the public interest, serving all audiences through the provision of impartial, high-quality and distinctive output and services which inform, educate and entertain”.10 This mission to ‘inform, educate and entertain’ was initially articulated by the BBC’s first Director-General Lord Reith and has underpinned the BBC’s work ever since. In the early 2000s ‘public purposes’ were introduced to help clarify the BBC’s work and objectives.11 These were updated ahead of the 2017 Charter, which tasks the broadcaster with delivering five public purposes:

to provide impartial news and information to help people understand and engage with the world around them;

to support learning for people of all ages;

to show the most creative, highest quality and distinctive output and services;

to reflect, represent and serve the diverse communities of all the United Kingdom’s nations and regions and, in doing so, to support the creative economy across the United Kingdom; and

to reflect the United Kingdom, its culture and values to the world.

BBC Scotland employs Kenny MacIntyre, Alasdair Lamont, Tom English and Steven Thompson. For expert analysis they turn to Cammy Bell, Billy Dodds, Neil McCann, Scott Arfield, Steven Naismith, Shelley Kerr, Richard Forster and Rory Loy.

With absolutely nothing happening at Ibrox in terms of the alleged takeover or appointing a manager BBC Scotland decided to liven things up knowing that every legacy broadcaster in the country would pick up on the Modric aspect and spin it like the introduction of a billionaire from Motherwell.

Davide Ancelotti met Rangers last week and wants the Ibrox job – but could Luka Modric come with him? ✍️🤔#BBCFootball pic.twitter.com/nAo31OKucL
— BBC Sport Scotland (@BBCSportScot) May 28, 2025

On Luka Modric and Rangers.
Modric IS NOT GOING TO RANGERS, but you knew that, right?
The story I told about Modric is in the @BBCSport in relation to Davide Ancelotti and Rangers. Players he knows have asked him to take them to Rangers. And when Modric was asked about it, he…
— Guillem Balague (@GuillemBalague) May 28, 2025

Importantly Balague’s tweet mentions the story he told to BBC Scotland, not the story he wrote for the state broadcaster, clearly one of their creative bears is spinning the Modric line in the story:

Davide Ancelotti held fresh talks with Rangers about their managerial vacancy in London last week and wants the Ibrox job, with further discussions planned over the next few days.

The Italian was approached by representatives of the Scottish Premiership club earlier this month and was able to outline his vision at an in-person meeting.

It was one in a series of conversations between the Ibrox club and the Ancelotti, 35, who has been working under father Carlo at Real Madrid.

It is believed those discussions went well, Ancelotti is first choice, and that a resolution can be reached in the coming days.

Real players have heard about Ancelotti’s potential destination, including 39-year-old midfielder Luka Modric, who is leaving the Spanish giants this summer but has yet to decide on his next move.

Getting ridiculous the spin adds:

At Real Madrid, he was widely credited by players as the architect of many modern improvements. Internally, some believe Carlo wouldn’t have won as much in his second spell at the Bernabeu without Davide at his side.

And the players know it, including Modric. When asked whether he’d fancy coming to Rangers, he didn’t say no.

Whether or not that’s realistic, it shows the kind of gravitational pull Davide carries – backed not just by a famous surname, but by the trust of elite players.

Other players have also asked Ancelotti to take them to Scotland.

Yeah, the Galacticos on their holidays from Dubai to Vegas are waiting on the Group Chat message from Dave telling them to get in touch with their favourite Bearsden based Estate Agents to ensure that they are settled in time for pre-season training with James Tavernier, Lyall Cameron, Nedim Bajrami and Oscar Cortes!

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