Carmarthenshire council ‘respects the freedom of the press’

12:00pm Thursday 24th January 2013 in News

CARMARTHENSHIRE County Council does everything in its power to respect the freedom of the press, according to a secret meeting of authority bigwigs.

The news came after chief executive Mark James refused councillors permission to discuss the council’s dealings with the press following Guardian claims it had been blacklisted by the authority.

The revelation that all public notices and advertising had been withdrawn from the Guardian following an editorial criticising the council’s now notorious September Sainsbury’s statement led to calls for an open discussion in County Hall’s main chamber under the watchful eye of the public and press.

However, Mr James rejected the motion and ordered that the issue be handled in private by a group made up of council deputy leader Pam Palmer, assistant chief executive Chris Burns, head of democratic services Colin Davies and press manager Debbie Williams.

In the 25-minute behind-closed doors meeting, Mrs Williams told the group that the authority “made every effort to have a good working relationship with the press,” issuing around 1,500 press releases and dealing with an average 4,000 media enquiries each year.

The meeting resolved “there was no further action that the council could take in respecting the freedom of the press”.

Comments(1)

randall bevan says...
8:36pm Thu 24 Jan 13

There are two aspects of this report that should be of concern to those who are au fait with the Democratic process that we pay for. The first concerns the role of officers whatever the level. Officers have NO authority to instruct our elected representatives as I feel confident did not occur on this occasion as a former chief officer. There is an old maxim that officers have their say members have their way i.e. the ultimate decision for any matter concerning any authority rests with those we elect to manage OUR interests. Officers are employees appointed to advise elected members, manage services and the officer corps. The second aspect of this report that concerns me is reference to 'big wigs'. The electorate are the big wigs the elected mere servants. Elected members are 'there' by the grace and authority of the electorate and are expected to demonstrate the humility, gratitude and respect for that privilege during the period that they are given in office. I know that the majority at local and national level understand these conventions. This unfortunate episode has provided a golden opportunity to re visit these principles and for the readers, who might have forgotten their omnipotence in the democratic process, to remind their representatives accordingly. Transparency is the essence of democracy as is the freedom of the press - very many have given their lives for both. Vox populi!

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