Just a reminder to all the Conservatives who seem to think photographs, filming, twitter and other modern media things should be expunged from Council meetings. Here is what Eric Pickles had to say on the matter:
"Fifty years ago, Margaret Thatcher changed the law to make councils open their meetings to the press and public. This principle of openness needs to be updated for the 21st Century. More and more local news comes from bloggers or citizen journalists telling us what is happening at their local council.
"Many councils are internet-savvy and stream meetings online, but some don't seem to have caught up with the times and are refusing to let bloggers or hyper-local news sites in."
He added: "Opening the door to new media costs nothing and will help improve public scrutiny."
We really can't have situations where people get arrested for filming a council meeting, where twitter is banned from meetings and where - as happened in Bradford - a press photographer is thrown out.
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1 comment:
As you may have guessed, I'm not Eric Pickles's greatest fan. But he's spot on here.
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