THE BBC has defended a documentary about Glasgow which sparked allegations that the broadcaster was presenting Scotland’s largest city as a “backwater of drunks”.
On Monday evening, the BBC broadcast an episode of Disclosure examining claims that Glasgow had “become a 'no-go zone' because of crime, homelessness and antisocial behaviour”. A accompanying online article was headlined: “Drugs, violence and racism: A week in Glasgow city centre.”
The BBC reporting focused exclusively on an area around Glasgow Central station, speaking to police, victims of crime, and the organiser of a vigilante street gang calling themselves “Scots Active”, but faced heavy criticism for failing to balance the view of the far-right activists.
Writing anonymously in The National due to receiving threats at their workplace, one Glasgow-based team that works with refugees said the programme had followed an “alarmingly similar structure” to films produced by Tommy Robinson.
“Show fighting, drugs, homelessness and disorder, then give a far-right group the opportunity to explain those problems through migration and cultural difference,” the workers wrote.
“Why did Disclosure not give a second of airtime to refugee or anti-racism organisations?”
European TV anchor Ika Ferrer Gotic – who formerly worked with CNN but is now with Newsmax Balkans TV – said the BBC had shown “an entire city and its people through the darkest lens available”.
“If I hadn’t spent real time in Glasgow; walking those streets at 3am feeling safer than in most European cities; I might have swallowed the latest BBC framing wholesale,” she said.
Glasgow deserves better than periodic ritual condemnation. If I hadn’t spent real time in Glasgow; walking those streets at 3am feeling safer than in most European cities; I might have swallowed the latest BBC framing wholesale. But I have been there. I’ve seen the city at… https://t.co/rDh2JkEMjf pic.twitter.com/rg15l9u6OD
— Ika Ferrer Gotić (@IkaFerrerGotic) August 17, 2026
“But I have been there. I’ve seen the city at night, felt its pulse, and known its people. So when pieces like this reduce Glasgow to drugs, violence and racism, it lands as something more than journalism. It feels like a selective, recurring campaign that shows little regard for the community it claims to examine.”
Ferrer Gotic’s post was shared by Alison Thewliss, the SNP MSP for Glasgow Central and the Scottish Government’s Community Care Minister.
Past Glasgow, a website which records the city’s history through photographs, also took issue with the documentary, claiming it showed “exactly how the BBC sees this city: a backwater of drunks and stereotypes” .
They went on to brand the programme “televisual click bait”, writing: “The issues raised are real. The five-year increase in sexual assaults and violent crime can't be allowed to continue. But this sort of wafer-thin safari into crime in Glasgow is the kind of thing you could make in a dozen other UK cities.”
The BBC has now defended the Disclosure programme.
“The documentary was fair and balanced, accurately reflecting a broad range of perspectives about the issues raised,” a spokesperson said.
The documentary was also praised by Thomas Kerr, Reform’s deputy leader in Scotland, who said that it vindicated his repeated claims that Glasgow is “lawless”.
“For months, Reform UK and I have been highlighting what's been going on in the city centre of Glasgow yet the establishment have time and time again dismissed us and attacked me personally – so I'm glad to see the mainstream media finally wake up,” he said.
“Drug use, violent assault and public disorder is the stark reality facing Glaswegians when they walk through their city centre.”
“This lawlessness, illegal migration, and anarchy must end,” he added.
