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Theresa May under fire again over access for local journalists

A regional journalist has accused Theresa May’s staff of refusing local newspapers any “serious or worthwhile” access to the Prime Minister.

Get Surrey’s Zosia Eyres is the latest reporter to speak out after the PM visited her patch, echoing similar concerns highlighted by regional press journalists over an apparent lack of access.

In a piece on Get Surrey’s website detailing her experience when Mrs May visited Guildford last week, Zosia said she was refused permission to live stream the visit or watch her take part in interviews with national journalists.

Zosia was the only local journalist out of three present who was allowed to ask the PM a single question, but she was told she couldn’t film the interview on her phone.

Theresa May during her visit to Guildford

Theresa May during her visit to Guildford

Earlier this summer Bristol Post politics reporter Esme Ashcroft described restrictions imposed on her during a visit by Mrs May as like “being forced to stand in a patch of stinging nettles”, comparing the experience to a scene from satirical TV comedy The Thick of It.

During the General Election campaign, Mrs May was criticised by a number of regional media outlets over an “outrageous” lack of access – with Plymouth Herald chief reporter Sam Blackledge describing an interview with her as “three minutes of nothing”.

In her piece about the experience, Zosia wrote: “During the election campaign, local journalists from around the country had similar experiences as their access to Mrs May was restricted or limited. Local newspapers are being refused any serious or worthwhile access to the Prime Minister in their own back gardens.

“Just because the BBC gets our licence fee money doesn’t mean it should get unrivalled access – it’s not supposed to be a mouthpiece for democracy. And we don’t understand why national newspapers should get more privileges either, since we’re the ones in touch with readers on the ground outside the media bubble of London.

“Do Number 10 think that a local paper simply isn’t worth the effort or do they not want the Prime Minister to answer our readership’s concerns?

“We decided to ask her about affordable housing but would also have liked to ask about the increasing use of foodbanks in Surrey , to add just one key issue. Mrs May – next time you come to town, we’d love to sit down and chat with you properly. The invite is always there.”

HTFP has asked the Conservative Party for a comment.

5 comments

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  • August 30, 2017 at 11:28 am
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    Sorry but which other Prime Minister has given mass interviews to local media? Local journalists might be revered in their own minute kingdom’s but she is handling international stuff – Brexit, North Korea, a volatile terrorism spate of attacks or am I missing something? And boo hoo that she wouldn’t be filmed on a mobile camera. Whose rules again?

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  • August 30, 2017 at 3:10 pm
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    I agree with Liz justice
    I’m sorry to break this to you but Get Surrey doesn’t even register on the pm teams media radar so in answer to your question no it simply isn’t worth the effort to reach a handful of GS readers harsgss it may seem
    it has given Zosia a nice little anecdote to tell her friends but to expect the pm to take someone wielding a camera phone while asking a question seriously is beyond naieve
    Best direct your affordable housing questions to the local mp or even to the housing minister of yiu want real answers to the issues you raise

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  • August 30, 2017 at 4:29 pm
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    @Liz justice / Nelson: I’m sort of on the fence with this one. I don’t think the regional media should ever expect an in-depth interview on issues of national importance with the PM, and it seems a bit petty to gripe about not being able to film the interview on a phone (hint: having a smartphone does not a broadcast journalist make).

    However, in any given patch there might well be a handful of issues where the PM’s view would be genuinely relevant – like, I dunno, the closure of a major local employer, defence cuts or what have you. I don’t think it’s much to request two or three questions and expect something approaching a semi-coherent answer in return.

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  • August 30, 2017 at 8:30 pm
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    Agree with Jimbledon. Theresa May might be Pm but she’s an Mp with a constituents too.

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  • August 31, 2017 at 6:35 am
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    I agree with your point jimbledon but in reality it’s a matter of how credible a voice and how many people would see a piece in Get Surrey when the pm team is planning a media schedule, there has to be a limit and there’s only so much time available, the bigger publishers who have the reader numbers will always be favoured and a reporter turning up to interview the prime minister without a photographer and armed only with a smart phone cannot expect to be taken seriously. Its naieve to expect otherwise. Perhaps the reporter needs to look to her bosses and ask them questions about credibility and being taken seriously in order to save embarrassment in the future

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