War of words as PR guru Jack Irvine warns Rangers Twitter leaker Charlotte Fakes of 'serious consequences'
Media House founder Jack Irvine has fired a warning shot at the anonymous individual behind the Charlotte Fakes email leaks as the Twitter account began releasing more information, claiming the tweeter will face “serious consequences”.
Consequences: Jack Irvine has broken his silence on Charlotte
The @CharlotteFakes Twitter account has for months been leaking email correspondences apparently between Irvine and some of the key figures involved in the financial crisis at Rangers, which has indicated the extent of PR influence over the media.
Until now, Irvine has stayed quiet on the leaks – which The Drum revealed were subject to a police investigation in July – but broke the silence this week in an interview given to Scottish football website Scotzine.
“It is illegal,” Irvine said in reference to Charlotte. “It is a breach of the Data Protection Act and the perpetrator faces serious consequences when he is caught.”
Last month, Professor Roy Greenslade accused the Scottish media of turning a “blind eye” to the leaked documents and expressed concern about indications in the material about the strength of influence Irvine’s PR had over the media coverage of the Rangers story.
In one email, Irvine apparently said that “morons” in the Scottish media needed to know who they were dealing with and claimed he knew the “little secrets” of editors.
The club’s financial turmoil led to liquidation last summer and a resurrection of the club has been dogged by boardroom turmoil and public spats between Media House and the club’s in-house PR department.
In the interview with Scotzine, Irvine reinforced his bullish attitude towards the media in Scotland and disputed claims by Rangers’ supporters groups that his approach hadn’t been aggressive enough.
“I seem to remember we banned the BBC and if you knew me at all you would know that I am not slow to tell editors and journalists when they are talking bollocks,” he said.
“I worked with or trained a lot of the current crop of journalists. I’m not going to publically traduce them although I will make an exception for some of the more stupid ones.”
Media House was recently re-appointed by Rangers chief executive Craig Mather – apparently to the surprise of in-house director of communications Jim Traynor – and in the interview he urged fans to “give the board a chance” amid wrangling for control from various factions.
The comment came despite admitting earlier in the interview: “Our role at Rangers is crystal clear. We carry out the wishes of the board in an attempt to help the business survive and prosper.
“However much I sympathise with the agonies the fans are going through, and I speak as one of the original Bond holders, it is not they who instruct me. It is the board. It is naïve to think otherwise.”
Meanwhile, Charlotte Fakes has begun a fresh release of documents and audio material after all previous leaks were removed last week.
Police Scotland said enquiries into the account are still ongoing.
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