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Council tells journalists to use online form for press enquiries

Journalists have been told to submit press enquiries to a local council via an online form following a restructure of its communications department.

Oldham Council has announced the switch, urging newspapers to use the form “wherever possible” instead of contacting the department by other means.

In a note to local media, which has been seen by HTFP, the council’s head of communications, Carl Marsden, advised that journalists could still contact the department in case of “complex or confidential” enquiries.

As part of the restructure, the authority has also announced it will no long have dedicated press offices, although no jobs are at risk.

Oldham Civic Centre, where the council's communications department is based

Oldham Civic Centre, where the council’s communications department is based

Carl’s note reads: “I am writing to let you know that our communications team has recently undergone a reorganisation which has seen many roles changed to reflect new priorities. This means that we no longer have designated ‘press officers’ as such – but it will not affect the service.

“Press queries will continue to be dealt with but by various members of our team according to which service area they relate to.

“To make this process easier for both yourselves and our team, we are asking – wherever possible – for you to submit future press queries via an online form.”

“Finally you can, of course, still call us in case of complex or confidential queries on 0161 770 5034.”

The note also includes a link to the online enquiry form.

Newspapers which serve the town include regional dailies the Manchester Evening News and Oldham Evening Chronicle.

5 comments

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  • September 30, 2016 at 12:20 pm
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    Funny how all a sudden all press inquiries will be complex or confidential, ennit?

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  • September 30, 2016 at 1:52 pm
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    We’re not going to talk to you anymore, but ‘it will not affect the service’.
    Is this guy for real?
    Newspapers used to hold councils and councillors to account, but cuts to journalist numbers came hand in hand with the rise of the press office. Now, I guess, the regional industry is in such disarray, councils realise they don’t have to play ball.
    Journalists shouldn’t have to run stories through press offices anyway.

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  • September 30, 2016 at 4:02 pm
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    Around my neck of the woods, the district council has been encouraging us to submit queries in writing via email for some time – and actually, they’re pretty good at getting back in a timely manner even when the query is on a contentious matter. It can work in principle, but if this council doesn’t have the resources to do it properly then I can see it becoming a nightmare to deal with.

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  • September 30, 2016 at 5:20 pm
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    Well that’s great. Just contact the person you want to speak to directly instead then.

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  • October 4, 2016 at 11:48 am
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    Understand the concerns expressed in the comments above, but to clarify…

    The simple intention of the note was to alert journalists to the fact that they can now submit routine queries via an online form. For example, this might be a question like – who owns xx plot of land on Huddersfield Road, or what date is the Xmas Lights Switch-on in Oldham town centre, when does XX report go to Cabinet ? etc.

    Once filled in this simple form sends an email to an inbox which is now shared by several staff. That means the query will be spotted and picked up quickly. It also means journalists can submit a query out of hours and know it will be picked up.

    For the avoidance of doubt, at no point did I say that we are ‘not going to talk to you’ anymore. The note was clear that the service people are used to is “not going to be affected”. And that is a very clear and genuine commitment.

    We have very good relationships with all our local media outlets and that will – and has – continued. We are happy as before to pick the phone up and talk through issues with journalists. That will never change.

    I was not contacted to comment on this story, but if I had been – as I was by another outlet – I would also have explained the removal of the job title ‘press officer’.

    That has been done to recognise the changing nature of our work and how we engage with people. In 2016 our staff need a whole range of skills rather than just doing one explicit discipline. We removed the title Press Officer because we don’t think its’ a relevant description of that role anymore – it’s just one part of what they do.

    It’s not enough just to write a PR to get your story out there and resonating. To break through the noise you need to be able to be able to find the best ways to target your audience directly, use tools like video, audio, Social Media, Vines, Memes, and write for all kinds of different audiences, plus have broader comms planning skills etc.

    The term Press Officer these days makes me visualise someone standing over a fax machine in the 1990s – the world has moved on.

    Many thanks.

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