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Rangers FC Media FA

FA head condemns clubs shunning the press but says the body is powerless to address incidents

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By John McCarthy, Opinion Editor

August 5, 2015 | 2 min read

English Football Association chairman Greg Dyke has condemned the growing number of clubs electing to deny journalists access to their staff, players and matches.

Speaking after the BBC boycotted Rangers for banning one of its reporters from Ibrox and Swindon Town fully foregoing press access instead opting to share news exclusively through an app, Dyke penned a letter to an increasingly concerned National Union of Journalists (NUJ).

He wrote: “As a former journalist, censorship of the media is an issue about which I have strong personal views, and I agree with much of what you say.

“In this instance, the clubs are members of the leagues in which they play and it is for their leagues to set down requirements for the clubs.”

He added that tackling each club’s media ban was “not within the power” of the FA.

NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet earlier this week dubbed the practice as “unacceptable” adding that clubs were instead “hand-picking writers to peddle propaganda from the proprietor’s point of view”.

Stanistreet added that Dyke's condemnation of this growing trend could mobilise UK football leagues to monitor the media practices of member clubs more thoroughly.

Rangers FC Media FA

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