That was the ‘Rangers Tax Case Blog’, now for the film or the book?

I think I’m happy enough for Slugger to get shortlisted for the Orwell Prize, but it is hard to look beyond the Rangers Tax Case blog for an actual winner… If you are wondering why, then have a read of this from Alex Thompson on ‘succulent lamb’ journalism…

Back to Rangers Tax Case:

The year long history of this blog should tell any objective reader: we have the facts and we know how to use them. Yet only one Scottish journalist has contacted me to discuss this case. Over a dozen journalists from outside Scotland were able to get in touch. That tells its own tale. The Scottish media- tabloid and broadsheet & sport and business- do not want to cover the biggest story in the history of Scottish football or the biggest Scottish business story since the Darien Disaster.

The recent attention garnered by Rangers’ long-predicted descent into crisis presents this blog with an existential crisis. When no one would publish the story, blogs were the best way to get the story out. Today, there are now several options. The most succulent facts about this tale are still to be revealed and it strikes me that there are better platforms than this blog. As our first birthday beckons, there remains just three tasks before we wrap up this project:

– Get the rest of the facts out to the widest audience possible
– Stitch the whole story together in the form of a book
– Create a lasting online memorial to the failure of the Scottish sports media

The die is cast in the rest of this story. The First Tier Tribunal outcome will determine the size of Rangers’ debt to HMThe year long history of this blog should tell any objective reader: we have the facts and we know how to use them. Yet only one Scottish journalist has contacted me to discuss this case. Over a dozen journalists from outside Scotland were able to get in touch. That tells its own tale. The Scottish media- tabloid and broadsheet & sport and business- do not want to cover the biggest story in the history of Scottish football or the biggest Scottish business story since the Darien Disaster.

Mick Fealty

Mick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty