Author: Sal and Simon
Isle of Wight Council Press Office Cuts Off VentnorBlog
Saturday, 14th June, 2008 at 4:18 pm, Isle of Wight
Oh, we forgot to tell you … the council ‘communications’ department have cut us off from … communicating with the council.
Hands up those who think it’s right that little old VentnorBlog should be cut off, just because the council doesn’t like the way a particular opinion piece was written.
In response to the article about the closure of the Ventnor Skate park, Claire Robertson, head of the press office told us,
“I have a fundamental problem with it because it doesn’t actually state the facts, in the way that it should do”
In the way that it should do?
Good to know that she’s not disputing the facts that we’re stating, she just doesn’t like the words around those facts.
She went on to state that if we want the press office to take VentnorBlog seriously as an accredited news source, that we must only publish balanced articles and not continue with what she refers to as our predetermined agenda.
Update - Along balanced articles (which we have been at pains to provide previously), there’s a long tradition of Opinion pieces in the media. Newspapers even have a term for it - Op-Ed. From her line, the only conclusion that you can come to is that Claire clearly doesn’t like the idea of people expressing their opinion.
A couple of skips along in the conversation later and we’re being told that we need to come in for a meeting - or as we like to refer to it around VB, ‘thought re-alignment’.
You know what, the funny thing is that this was around this same time that we’d been asking the press office specific questions about Joe Duckworth’s financial package and … the communication department budget. A total co-incidence, we’re sure it must be.
Bottom Line
We do want access to the council, because it helps in being able to get answers to questions and provide an alternative response to news on the Wight. We’re just not prepared to put up with the crap that the press office are giving us.
Despite their actions, however, we’re looking forward to meeting them.
The meeting will of course be recorded for your delectation.
Further links: Background On Council Press Office Fun
Press Office: On or Off?
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June 14th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
someone was complaining to me this morning about the `package` offered to (my local borough) southwark’s chief executive.
the complainer made a request under the freedom of information act and discovered that the CE is being paid £3,000 subsistence in addition to his munificent salary.
although, i suspect, complainers are often jealous.
i’d like a big package with perks!
June 14th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
careful…while your cut off, the council will come up with all kinds of bizarre schemes which you won’t get to voice you opinion of
June 14th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
“an accredited news source”
By whom? Hope you survive your visit to Room 101..
June 14th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
If the council have stopped communicating with Ventnor Blog they obviously must have even more to hide than we thought they had!
They only have themselves to blame,if the council did not keep doing stupid things VB would not have to pull them up on them. Thank goodness that you do, sadly you are about the only news outlet on the Island that actually tells it as it is. All the rest have already been muzzled by the council.
June 14th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
Heheheheh…This made me chuckle! I think you may have got them rattled. Be prepared for some very long words and a thought re-alignment.
June 14th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
Very democratic.
How the bloody hell were you supposed to report the council giving Ventnor skate park a week to find 60K to stay open????
Claire Robertson should take issue with those in the Council for making such stupid decisions, not the VB for being brave enough to take them to task occasionally. If a council press officer isn’t capable of dealing with criticism from the press on matters that blatantly deserve criticism then I would politely suggest she find alternative employment.
June 14th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
I meant to add that I am well impressed by your choices of picture to illustrate VB pieces. The one for the Susan Scoccia item on the 10th was inspired, too.
I also take the view that the press office wouldn’t complain if they didn’t take you seriously. Years of issuing spin to a gullible County Press has made them lazy, and suddenly having their version of events questioned must be a rude awakening. Keep up the good work!
June 14th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Keep rattling their cage, as they fear the truth!
June 14th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
This reminds me of the news from Ireland that, despite a majority of the electorate voting “NO” to the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty and the rules are that if ONE member State votes “NO”, it is dead in the water, our PM is STILL going ahead with ratification.
All the servicemen and women who have given their lives for this country to assure democracy and freedom must be turning in their graves.
Still, there are large numbers of residents who will not stand for this garbage and those numbers are growing by the day.
I trust we shall get a comment from the tea boy!
A LARGE presence at HRH’s Flag waving ceremony on Monday would seem in order.
June 14th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
“I have a fundamental problem with it because it doesn’t actually state the facts, in the way that it should do”
Surely this an admission by IOWC that facts can be stated in many ways - selectively, spun, enhanced etc. Keep up the good work VB - we will find out the facts, just like Private Eye does.
IOWC will rue the day they cut you off. “Keep keep your friends close, but your enemies even closer”
June 15th, 2008 at 11:03 am
I’m a little confused. Is is the remit of government organizations to decide who is a legitimate news provider? Have I just woken up in in USSR? Or has the local council potentially handed VB an opportunity to give them a legal bloody nose as far as their practice of being economic with the facts are concerned.
June 15th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
What an incredibly stupid own goal from the IoW council press office. It doesn’t say much for their PR skills - if they don’t like the what’s appearing on the VB and feel it is unbalanced they should redress that by providing better information more promptly and trying to win you over, not rap you on the knuckles. But there’s nothing like a news ban to get journos digging around for the hidden story…
June 15th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
it just shows what the council are like, council ‘communications’ department cutting you off from communicating with the council, how childish dont they want to play anymore because you have an opinion.
just remember the ‘freedom of information act’ quote this and they’ll have to speak to you.
June 15th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
I did think of putting a link to this on the Council forum but don’t want to complicate life for Sal and Simon.
The moderators would probably jump on it anyway, which would at least confirm our view of their attitude to ’stating the facts’.
I can’t decide whether they really don’t know what we think of them, or whether they do and have just ‘gone Egyptian’.
(That means they’re in denial - sorry.)
June 15th, 2008 at 10:01 pm
“..it doesn’t actually state the facts, in the way that it should do”
When/if you reply to Ms. Robertson, you could do worse than quote the following, from my favourite philosopher, the Danish mathematician/poet Piet Hein. Rather appropriately, it is called ‘The Overdoers’..
Truth shall emerge from the interplay
of attitudes freely debated.
Don’t be misled by fanatics who say
that only one truth should be stated:
Truth is constructed in such a way
that it can’t be exaggerated.
June 16th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
[...] Isle of Wight We didn’t want to flood you on Saturday with all of the details behind the council press office posting, but here’s a bit of background if you happen to be [...]
June 20th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
[...] Either we’re cut off or we’re [...]
October 21st, 2008 at 6:37 pm
Exactly what you would expect from a totalitarian regime….hmmmmm
October 21st, 2008 at 7:53 pm
with so many leeks and cock ups from this council does it really matter?????
November 4th, 2008 (3 weeks ago) at 5:20 pm
Keep the strength VB!
November 4th, 2008 (3 weeks ago) at 10:45 pm
Strangely enough, before I read today’s message on VB, I was looking something up on the council’s website and noticed their links to Isle of Wight News sites, and it reminded me that Ventnor Blog ought to be listed there, along with the others. You’re my first port of call for island news, actually. It does the council no credit to exclude you. Hope they see sense.
November 5th, 2008 (3 weeks ago) at 12:33 pm
“We have .. been assured a number of times by David Pugh, Leader of the IW Council, that we should leave it to him to sort out.”
You owe me a new keyboard. I’ve just spluttered coffee all over this one..
November 5th, 2008 (3 weeks ago) at 10:29 pm
Control of the media is a priority in the development of any totalitarian political system.
Democracy, particularly at a local level, really is very fragile, hence the constant debate over written and unwritten constitutions and things like the USA’s 5th amendment and a bill of rights. In Britain we are all the more vulnerable because mostly we don’t guarantee rights directly, or didn’t until Europe imposed a Human Rights act on us. That’s going to take some getting used to! This vulnerability is not necessary a bad thing though, so as long as those involved are aware of their responsibilities to uphold democratic values.
In a democracy there is a duty or obligation on the state, to its citizens, to uphold certain freedoms that in turn preserve democracy and control the natural tendency of individuals and groups to increase their hold on power. In a system like ours particularly, ordinary people need to engage and defend their freedoms, including the freedom of the press. I think this is even more important at a local government level because there is often less understanding of the importance of democracy, probably because it seems rather a high flown idea more the preserve of Parliament then the local authority. It is a more a matter of “things need to be done and we need to find the best way to do them”. Democracy plays little part in the process aside from elections, which is the one thing that is done locally with absolute regard for democracy. But there it all too often ends. Once elected, democracy frequently goes out the window. And officers are not elected at all…they work for the Authority and that word says it all. If we called national Government “The Authority” people would very soon start worrying. Authoritarianism has such a bad reputation!
After five years of confronting and challenging the Local Authority through the local media, I can tell you that there is all the appearance of desire for media control by the Council. Editors seem to be forced to tread a difficult path, always mindful of their relationship with County Hall but at the same time wanting publish the true facts and opinions. I know from private conversations with journalists that life is not easy as far as relations with the council are concerned. Interestingly in my experience the local BBC and ITV outfits, being far less vulnerable to being “cut off” have often provided some of the most challenging coverage of controversial issues. Remember the Independent newspaper’s coverage of the schools debate back in March. The council really went to town on them but to no avail. The Independent was having none of it. Island based news teams too have had their moments when they have gone ahead with a controversial story and I have seen them suffer the consequences of overstepping the mark. SNT itself has been threatened by the Council with libel for simply stating the facts. It’s not a nice feeling to be on the receiving end. But unless we challenge them they will do what they please.
I think Ventnor Blog is a small but extremely painful thorn in the side of the Isle of Wight Council. Bullies always pick on what they perceive as small targets. In this case the bully may have picked on the wrong victim. Imagine this for a moment:
“Anti-Democratic Conservative Controlled Council Condemned by Leading Human Rights Activist”
This might be a headline the Isle of Wight Council would rather not see splashed across the front page of the Times or the Independent.
My advice to the council, I am sure they are all ears, is: pull in your horns. Democracy in Local Government is far too important to be subverted, even inadvertently, by an over zealous communications department looking to exercise disproportionate control over the local media. The long term consequences will be far more damaging than any injury you may feel you are suffering at the hands of the likes of Ventnor Blog. And if you followed the rules and did things right in the first place there would be nothing bad to report anyway, unless you are saying that they make it all up. But that’s not what you’re saying is it? You just don’t like the way they report it!
November 6th, 2008 (3 weeks ago) at 7:21 am
In response to Stephanie’s comment on the Standards Board blog: Suppression of the media started the day of the first cabinet meeting. Mike Fisher, the CEO, read a statement relating to the duty of officers to develop policy in accordance with elected members requirements. Andy Sutton made a statement rejecting our call for the resignation of Messrs Pettit and Johnson for doing exactly the opposite. Mike Fisher’s statement was not reported despite the CP being there. The tapes no longer exist and there are no minutes. Even my call for their resignation was not carried by IWR on the day.
At the time I was very new to all this and it was simple frustrating. I now know that IWR were heavily leaned on at the time. My calling for the resignations was a fact - it happened but they did not report it. The officers daring to defy the new council was a fact but it was not reported. News is news regardless of its impact on the Council. It’s a matter of culture too. The relationship between the media and the Council didn’t spring up over night. It was happening with the LibDems in power too. Now it is taking an even more serious tone and something needs to be done about it, now.
November 6th, 2008 (3 weeks ago) at 8:18 am
Couldn’t agree more. There’s an interesting article in the CP tomorrow, which may hopefully be followed by an interesting debate at the TC on Monday.
There are a growing number of residents across the island who are sick of these tin-pot, arrogant uncivil servants, accountable to nobody but themselves.
Well they had better get used to the idea that the “good old days” have now gone.
I have informed the Leader of the Council that if he cannot control these bullies, then we shall find someone who can. And believe me, we shall.