Off the Ball, Radio Scotland, 20 January 2024

Complaint

A listener complained that the presenter Stuart Cosgrove had insinuated that a South African-born footballer who had played for a Scottish club was racist and in favour of apartheid.  The ECU considered the complaint in the light of the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½â€™s Editorial Guidelines on harm and offence.


Outcome

In the ECU’s view the comments in question gave the impression of being a personal attack on someone who did not have the opportunity of responding, and went beyond what would be considered generally acceptable in a programme of this kind.  The ECU noted that ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Scotland had already acknowledged the breach of standards and discussed it with Mr Cosgrove, and considered this sufficed to resolve the issue of complaint.

Resolved