Herald under attack as storm grows over Haggerty sacking

The Herald’s decision to sack Angela Haggerty has created a storm for the ailing Glasgow broadsheet.

Haggerty was ditched from her role at The Sunday Herald after tweeting her support for Graham Spiers who produced a statement at odds with the Herald apologising for comments made in an opinion piece about the singing of The Billy Boys at Ibrox.

Condemnation has come from various publications, from politicians with even the heavily censored state broadcaster reporting on the statement issued by the National Union of Journalists.

Responding to the criticism, without mentioning Haggerty, the Herald issued a statement saying: “A Graham Spiers column published on heraldscotland in December made a claim about an un-named member of the six-strong board of Rangers.

“This presented a legal issue which had to be addressed and which was discussed at length, by all parties involved.

“The issue was whether we could defend in court a contentious statement and the advice given was that we could not. Finally, on clear legal advice, we were left with no option other than to apologise and seek to draw a line under the matter.

“After the apology was published we had to abide by it and the spirit in which it was published. Unfortunately that apology was then undermined and we had to take appropriate action.

“Our titles have a long history of supporting quality journalism and defending free speech and robust comment. This made all the more difficult the action we had to take.

“While one of our advertisers is on the board at Rangers that was never an issue and we shall continue to report and comment on the pressing issues of the day without fear or favour.”


Distancing himself from the decision to fire Haggerty, Neil Mackay Editor of the Sunday Herald tweeted: “Important: the decision to remove @AngelaHaggerty as Sunday Herald columnist was not taken by me but by the editor-in-chief Magnus Llewellin.”

Responding earlier to the issue Dominic Bascombe, assistant organiser NUJ Scotland, issuing a statement saying: “The NUJ has already defended Angela over the bullying and harassment she has suffered for doing her job. The axing of her column sends a message that The Herald is unwilling to stand up for its contributors and is willing to sacrifice journalists when commercial interests are involved. This is totally unacceptable.”

Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, said it was “outrageous that commercial meddling has led the Herald to sack a respected columnist. This pandering to the mob does the freedom of journalism and the reputation of the Herald no favours. We call on the editor to reinstate these columnists at once.”

With the story being covered by The Guardian, the BBC and media publications such as the Press Gazette, Hold The Front Page and The Drum the reputation of The Herald is taking a pounding.

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