Liverpool city council says it has ‘withdrawn co-operation’ from the city’s two daily newspapers, the Liverpool Echo and Daily Post.
But the Labour-run authority has denied suggestions it has ‘banned’ its staff from talking to the two Trinity Mirror-owned titles.
The row erupted over a story about the appointment of a temporary chief executive at the council last year, headlined “City did not follow QC’s key advice on CEO role”.
The council claimed that the article was based on legal advice contained in a leaked document which they said had been “stolen.”
In a statement on its website, the council said: “We cannot have a situation in the council where it is considered either acceptable or appropriate to steal documents and to pass them on to the press.”
A council spokesperson told HTFP that although it had “withdrawn proactive co-operation” from the papers, its staff would still respond to enquiries.
The editors of the two titles, Alastair Machray and Mark Thomas, initially issued a joint statement to BBC Radio Merseyside over the row, saying council leader Joe Anderson “clearly doesn’t like criticism.”
However a Trinity Mirror spokesman said yesterday it would not be commenting further and it is understood that efforts are now under way to resolve the dispute.
The row comes just two months after the council awarded the two papers the freedom of the city.
At the time, Councillor Anderson said: “The Liverpool Daily Post and Echo is part of the fabric of Liverpool. Along with the Mersey, the Three Graces, the football clubs and the Beatles, the Post and Echo have helped make Liverpool what it is today.”
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When will councils realise that you have to take the good AND the bad?
This just makes the council look incredibly childish and as if it’s trying to hide something.
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By saying the documents were ‘stolen’ it sounds like the council is just trying to latch on to lingering ill-will towards newspapers generated by the phone hacking scandal. It immediately makes me think that the document was deliberately leaked by a disgruntled staff member or (more likely) accidentally, carelessly exposed. Either way, it doesn’t make Liverpool City Council look very grown-up.
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Agreed MV. The council has clearly had a hissy fit because an employee is unhappy with the way in which public funds are being spent. There’s no reason why documents like this shoudn’t be in the public domain anyway.
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Well, if you’re managing to irritate Liverpool City Council, you are most certainly doing your job. Well done. Most council press offices are pretty near useless anyway.
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