A local authority has defied an order by Communities Secretary Eric Pickles to cease monthly publication of its newsletter.
As reported on HTFP in November, Mr Pickles wrote to Lambeth Council demanding it change the publication frequency of its Lambeth Talk magazine from monthly to quarterly, by January.
However, the South London authority has not complied with the instruction and has printed this month’s edition of the newsletter.
Lambeth Council has declined to comment on the matter, but it is understood it will continue monthly publication pending further correspondence from the Department for Communities and Local Government.
In September five local authorities were told by Mr Pickles to scale back the frequency of their newsletters or face legal action.
The Local Audit and Accountability Bill, which limits the publication of council newspapers to four per year, was passed into law in January.
In a letter to Lambeth Council, Mr Pickles said the government wanted to create an environment “which is as conducive as possible to the flourishing of independent and politically free local media”.
But the authority’s chief executive Derek Anderson responded that the benefit to people living in the borough of publishing monthly outweighed the possible negative impact on its local press, and that there had been no complaint that Lambeth Talk had affected circulation in the area.
DCLG has yet to respond to HTFP’s request for a comment on the issue.
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Ironic that a time when most local papers don’t cover council meetings in person (either too lazy or usually under-staffed) and rely on press releases from the press office the Government should limit the publication of council newsletters. Surely we are not afraid of council newsletters??
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Uh-oh. Town hall spin doctor alert.
Who says “most” local papers don’t staff council meetings?
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The arrogance of Lambeth council is breathtaking. First they believe they have the right to control the news and now they know better than anyone else what will or will not affect the sale of local newspapers.
The industry has just been through the worst ever recession , time to give independently owned papers as much help as possible
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Nothing compared to the damage police Twitter feeds are doing to crime reporting.
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Chamberpotty has a point if my local papers are anything to go by. No quotes from meetings just follow up quotes after press releases issued.
Councillors express surprise, unaware that some papers covering huge areas have as few as two inexeperienced hacks filling paper and website.
Familiar, anyone?
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“Independently owned newspapers?”
Are there any left?
I thought newspapers were owned by large monopolies whose only interest was maximum profit with minimum input. They’ve been closing offices and sacking staff by the hundreds, they clearly have no respect whatsoever for journalists, and they’ve been charging councils grossly inflated advertising rates for years.
These monopolies have been following the American publishing model where transcontinental syndicated “news” has totally destroyed the character of once respected independent newspapers.
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Ink In the Blood, I’m not aware of ANY evidence or research either way as to whether Council freebies affect sales or not. Please point me in the direction of your sources as I’d be very keen to read them.
And having a chief executive say ‘there had been no complaint that Lambeth Talk had affected circulation in the area’, strikes me as a factually correct statement, rather than arrogance.
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Spadeadam
I coulnd’t agree more. All newspaper groups want now is what’s easy, they’re probably terrified of council press releases drying up becaus ethat’s what most papers are.
I used to be a council reporter and had on average of 20 minutes in the morning to read through council agendas before our morning meeting, often having to try and read them at home instead.
Canny councillors often know how hard pressed newspapers are too and use it to their advantage, you could build a political career by supplying a local journalist with lots of easy copy while your rivals sit in the members’ room drinking tea.
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