So is Eric Pickles, the erstwhile secretary of state for communities and local government (CLG), at it again? CLG has announced a consultation on a draft revised Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity.
Is it a case of using a ‘hammer to crack a nut’? Even in opposition, the Conservative Party has long held a view that local council newspapers create an unfair advantage in the local media market and distorts it. Further to this, the Conservatives argued this was why local newspapers were being binned by publishers – this has continued now they are in power.
According to the CLG: “In recent years there has been a marked growth in the frequency and scope of council publicity techniques funded by taxpayers’ money, while local papers have struggled in a saturated news environment.”
Key elements of the suggested revisions to the Code in relations to newspapers are:
· new central principles that will "make sure", for example, that council publicity is lawful, cost effective, objective, even-handed and appropriate;
· a new rule that councils should not publish newspapers in direct competition to local press, and that these council publications should not appear more than quarterly (and should only include material directly related to council services).
Mr Pickles, adds: "An independent local press is an essential part of our open democracy helping local people scrutinise and hold elected councillors to account.
“The rules around council publicity have been too weak for too long, allowing public money to be spent on wasteful town hall papers that have left many local newspapers looking over the abyss.
"The proposals I am publishing will close off these inappropriate practices and encourage councils to focus taxpayers’ money on where it should be spent – protecting frontline services.”
It looks like lobbying from the Society of Editors (the member organisation that includes local newspapers’ editors) is succeeding with its campaign that says the main reason for the decline of independent local newspapers can be laid at the door of local council newspapers. The evidence to prove this, I would argue, is sketchy at best.
To counter that, David Holdstock, national chair of LGcommunications, the professional body for council communicators, said: "These proposals will limit councils' ability to communicate in the most appropriate and cost-effective way about local issues that matter to people. As restrictions are placed on council publications and local newspaper circulations continue to fall, residents will have less and less access to information about their local public services."
There is strong evidence that council newspapers are critical to the reputation of local councils. A report on LGcommunications' own research into the impact of council publications can be found at:
http://www.lgcomms.org.uk/documents/PrvngCommsWrks-ImptOfcnclPubs.pdf
It is easy to argue that local council publications are only distributed a handful of times a year and cannot be seen as competitors for advertising revenue, news and information for local newspapers. And the arguments put forward by the coalition government and other supporters of this initiative comes slightly unstuck here in terms of advertising; the Conservatives recently said that all local council recruitment advertising should be placed on council websites and no where else to save taxpayer money. So this possible area of where advertising could be placed in local commercial newspapers is being recommended, only for it not to be.
Local council newsletters keep residents informed about what the council does and can do for them. Whether it is by providing a telephone number to report opening hours of playgrounds, allotments, burial grounds or libraries, or even letting the public know what time the library is open or when and how you can meet your local police community support officer, these are the services that only local council publications can do.
No one would argue that local councils want some sort of totalitarian state system where there is only one source of news, what they want to see is a successful and vibrant local media. It is essential for local democracy that the workings of local councils are scrutinised and elected representatives held to account.
For more on the consultation please visit the CLG at: www.communities.gov.uk
I am writing in this in personal capacity and it in no way reflects the position of the National Association of Local Councils; which will be responding to this consultation shortly.
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