The BBC has ended its seven-year boycott of Rangers and will resume full reporting on Giovanni van Bronckhorst 's side from the beginning of the 2022-23 season.
While the broadcaster still remotely featured Rangers matches in their coverage, BBC journalists will once again attend games at Ibrox and take part in press conferences for the first time since 2015.
The decision comes after the network apologised for past failures to meet its own editorial standards. The BBC's boycott began seven years ago after Rangers banned reporter Chris McLaughlin alongside another journalist, Graham Spiers, a columnist with The Times.
The 55-time Scottish champions said that the ban was placed on McLaughlin after he wrote a match report which included the news of unrest in the stands, as Glasgow-based Rangers faced Edinburgh's Hibernian in the Challenge Cup, saying "three arrests were made after sectarian singing." The article in question was also given the headline: "Arrests made at Hibernian v Rangers Challenge Cup match."
At the time, a spokesperson for the Scottish Premiership giants told the Sunday Mail that, in their opinion, the BBC did not "seem to be applying proper checks and rules within their sports department." They added: "At the game you had police praising both sets of fans but he led on the fact Rangers could be in trouble because two people were arrested for alleged sectarian chants."
In a defence which kickstarted the boycott, a BBC spokesperson told Press Gazette : "We believe [the ban] was unjustifiable and we stand by the integrity and the quality of our journalism."
But now last season's Europa League finalists will have full focus over the upcoming campaign, as a statement from the BBC read: "A disagreement between BBC Scotland and Rangers FC has limited the 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's 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." The BBC added that it "look[s] forward to a positive ongoing relationship with the club."
Rangers responded by saying they "acknowledge the recognition of past errors and the apology from BBC Scotland and the recent apology from Michael Stewart." Stewart was a former Scotland international and later a pundit for BBC Sportsound, who in February 2020 made inflammatory comments about the club's director of communications.
The ex- Manchester United academy issued his own apology in May, admitting: "I realise that my remarks and the subsequent social media storm caused Jim and his family a lot of upset which I sincerely regret. I am also conscious that my remarks have caused embarrassment to Rangers Football Club and I would like to apologise to them too."
