This is a copy of my weekly blog which I write for work and is published on the council's intranet.  The views I express in this log are my own, professional, views as the Head of Communications but do not necessarily reflect those of the authority itself.

I’m writing my log on the morning of Wednesday April 21, just hours after the first plane landed safely at Heathrow since Icelandic eruptions brought silence to our skies but chaos for travellers.

So does this mean six days of continuous and monotonous coverage by the media is about to end?  You know, reporters broadcasting live from numerous (empty) airports, saying the same thing day after day … ‘Good morning from Heathrow Airport, which would normally be really busy now …’ etc etc

Well thank goodness frankly.  I’m completely bored of it.

Of course, I have not been away on holiday and I’ve not had to spend thousands of pounds on hire cars to get myself home from Outer Mongolia, so I’ve been lucky.  I have no doubt for those people who’ve had to struggle home it hasn’t been a nice experience and I feel sorry for them.

However, if (like my mum) you thought 24 news was repetitive, then the last few days has been repetition-tastic.  I’m sure the BBC’s ‘breaking news’ ticker has been breaking the news for six whole days that there aren’t any flights.

Yes – we knew.

Mind you, there was some excitement yesterday morning on Sky News when, as the reporter was saying the same thing she’d been saying for six days, a man appeared in the shot behind her and starting taking photographs of the departure board.  Eammon Holmes, the anchorman, highlighted this to the reporter and at one point I thought he was going to get her to interview him.

I was also half expecting a Sky breaking news: ‘Passenger seen in airport …’

The ash has also been causing excitement among the local hacks in Leeds and yesterday we had three different reporters from the same paper asking different questions.  I get the impression they were quite disappointed that all of our schools were open and that we were getting on with it, despite the fact some teachers (and students for that matter) were stranded abroad.

At least the ash story means the election hasn’t dominated the news agenda.

Closer to home it has been an exciting week.

We now know the name of our new chief executive and if all goes to plan this afternoon, Tom Riordan’s appointment will be formally agreed by full council.

I was very keen that we broke the news of who our new supreme commander was going to be on the same day as the employment committee made its recommendation and I would like to think we achieved it.

If you were working late last Wednesday, you hopefully noticed that there was something on the intranet within about 90 minutes of the committee reaching its decision and the news was elevated to the portal before 8am on Thursday morning.  We didn’t tell the media until just before 9am and it took the Yorkshire Evening Post (the first to break the story) another 50 minutes or so before it appeared on its website.

I hope you agree with me that at least we did it in the right order for a change.

Clearly, the best way to have announced it would be to have had face-to-face meetings with everyone, but clearly that wasn’t (and never will be) realistic.  However, what I hope is that many of our colleagues got the news first from the council, rather than reading or hearing about in from the local media.

We’ll never get it perfectly right – but here’s hoping we’re trying to get significant news or issues published in the right order, eg you first, media second.  Please let me know if you have a different view OR if you spotted any massive chinks in our armour.

I’m keen to learn from where you feel we’ve failed.

Anyway, welcome Mr Riordan.  We’re a fantastically enthusiastic bunch here at Leeds City Council and we are keen to do what’s right for the people of our city.  I also know there are plenty of people who are looking forward to working with you once you join us sometime in the summer.

Watch out for a Staffnews special which will ‘hit the streets’ next week.

Other issues now and it seems there’s a rift developing between the newspaper industry and the body which supposedly represents it.

You’ll recall from previous logs that I’ve talked about how council newspapers have been criticised by the Newspaper Society for supposedly ‘killing off the local media’.  Clearly, you and I know this isn’t true and About Leeds is hardly a threat to any of the Johnston Press titles around it.

In fact, Johnston Press has said this.

The Society is lobbying government for the rules to be tightened so that councils are banned from producing their own newspapers.

Now it seems the industry actually has a different view and agrees with us, despite what its trade body has been saying.  Trinity Mirror group (it’s a big newspaper publisher) has come out publically to say it doesn’t have a problem with council newspapers, even ones that carry advertising.

Now, there are a few (six in fact) councils which I don’t agree with because of what they are doing with their newspapers.  Frankly I feel they are tarring us all with the same brush and that’s a real shame.

As you know I am a member of the local government communications national executive and a number of my colleagues on the group are pushing for LG Comms to name and shame the authorities who are trying to put their local media out of business.  I think, perhaps (and regrettably) the time has come to do this.  Having said that, it is good to learn that the Newspaper Society appears to be at odds with the companies it represents.  That’s something for us to exploit.

As ever, if you have any views or comments, please let me know.  It is always great to hear from my loyal readers, even if you don’t like what I’ve said!