Bella Caldeonia ran an article last week about two Herald columnists losing their jobs at the paper following alleged pressure from the board at Rangers FC.

Graham Spiers and Angela Haggerty were ditched by the Herald following an article in which Spiers 'questioned the willingness of Rangers directors to tackle offensive behaviour' but also claimed that un-named Rangers director had praised 'The Billy Boys' song. Following pressure and potential legal action from the football club board the paper carried this apology;

"In a recent column for heraldscotland, Graham Spiers said an un-named Rangers director had praised the song The Billy Boys. He also questioned the willingness of Rangers directors to tackle offensive behaviour, and The Herald and Graham Spiers accept this was inaccurate.”

However, in a statement on his blog Spiers insisted that his original column was based on 'a truthful account of [his] meeting with a Rangers director' and that 'the pressure brought upon the newspaper became severe.' See his full statement about the affair here.

On expressing her solidarity with Spiers, Angela Haggerty was also dismissed from her Herald column. The reason given for this was allegedly threatened legal action from representative of the Rangers board.

Bella Caledonia have described this as "nothing less than disgraceful intimidation by Rangers FC aimed at silencing critical voices. It has no place in a Scottish democracy and should be condemned by all regardless of affiliation or club support."

Haggerty writes: “The irony of this happening less than a week after my column about intimidation at the hands of Rangers fans is just beyond belief and I’m feeling quite upset about the whole thing tonight. I’ve been sacked simply for expressing support for a fellow journalist. They’ve just reinforced the mob mentality.”

Haggerty told Bella Caledonia: “I’m deeply saddened and disappointed by this decision. This is a very dark day for freedom of the press in Scotland. This dangerously reinforces the behaviour of all of those who have targeted me since 2012 with racist and misogynistic abuse, as well as more sinister threats and harassment. At times I genuinely fear for my safety in this environment. The only positive that can come from this is for all of us to respond with an even louder message: we will not be intimidated, we will not be silenced and these campaigns of harassment have no place in Scotland. It has gone on for far too long.”

The full article is available to read here http://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2016/01/29/scottish-media-failure-exposed/