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 for Leeds City Council but do not necessarily reflect those of the authority itself.

It’s amazing how early in the week my blood starts to boil.

Yesterday morning it was about 0605 when BBC Breakfast News reported that ‘local councils and the authorities requested permission to spy on people more than half a million times last year’.

This – as I’m sure you’ve seen – was the story about the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act and stems from a Freedom of Information request by the Liberal Democrat Party.  (There’s got to be some irony in that …)

Anyway, the reporter was going on about how (again) local authorities had used these powers ‘to snoop on phone conversations and read people’s emails’.  She then mentioned the fact that on most occasions this was to ‘investigate things like dog fouling’.

Now come on … that’s completely misleading.

To suggest that local councils have a team of officers listening to, for example, Miranda Miggins in Meanwood chatting to her great aunt Ethel in Australia just because Miranda’s pooch did a poo in Park Square once … is frankly ridiculous.

Now then, I am sure that – across the country – there are some authorities who have used the RIPA powers for dubious means.  But, having seen the response to the FOI request which was sent to the Lib Dems I don’t see any case where there wasn’t justification to use the Act to our advantage; especially where some kind of criminal activity was involved.  By that I mean benefit fraud or fly tipping.

But, because BBC Breakfast lumped us all into to the same boat then people like Miranda Miggins will assume that we are routinely ‘spying’ on the great people of Leeds.

The full response to the Liberal Democrats is attached to this edition of In Brief so you can see for yourself.  Please send any comments by return.

Next, a topic I’m dealing with in some depth in the extended podcast this week.

It was reported last week that Doncaster Council had scrapped its civic newspaper/letter ‘saving the tax payer £67,000’ and on last week’s Media Show on BBC Radio Four the question was asked ‘are council newspapers (like our About Leeds) killing off the independent local media?’

The presenter, Steve Hewlett spoke to former BBC reporter Andrew Gilligan and Joshua Peck the deputy leader of Tower Hamlets, which publishes something on a weekly basis.  You can imagine the differing points of view the two guests had (and you can hear it in the extended podcast).

The local newspaper in Tower Hamlets isn’t happy about what the council is doing and has suggested that his paper will go out of business as a result, because ad revenue is going to the council’s publication.

Meanwhile, in Donny, the new mayor has decided to scrap his council’s paper because he thinks it’s ‘nothing more than propaganda’.  But, if the article about it in the Doncaster Free Press is accurate, he seems more concerned about cost.

OK, so here’s what I think.

I don’t agree that Tower Hamlets approach is the right one.  I don’t believe that council publications should be chasing the same revenue as the local ‘independent’ media.  I think council’s should be supporting the local media and not taking them on at their own game.  Yes, despite all my previous Logs in which I express great concern about the standard of modern journalism, I do believe that the independent local media has a vital role to play in democracy and I respect their right to ask searching questions, even if I don’t like them.

As for Doncaster I think the mayor is making a mistake.

He says that he will use the Doncaster Free Press to ‘get out the news about his council’ in future.  Good luck Mr Mayor!  The DFP I’m sure will report on lots of the goings on in civic hall there, but he’s kidding himself if he thinks the paper is going to be full of positive stories.

Yes, a council publication is always going to border on propaganda.  No-one could expect us to run a front page story which slags us off.  It’s our job to talk up all the good things that are going on in our great city.

I’m happy with where I stand on this issue and I have the evidence to back me up.  As I mentioned in last week’s Log; the first results from the About Leeds survey show the vast majority of its readers say they prefer to get their council news via our civic newspaper.

The debate continues in my podcast, which you can access here: http://podcasts.andycarter.eu.

Until next week, take care.