MPs call for inquiry into 'Local Matters' magazine

Local Matters - Council 'Magazine'

The Office of Fair Trading should investigate council-funded newspapers, a committee of MPs has said.

The Culture, Media and Sport Committee said it was concerned about the effect council papers were having on local democracy.

Some were "misleading in nature" and showed political bias, the report said.

Rochdale Online has long campaigned for the scrapping of Rochdale Council's tax payer funded publication, Local Matters, warning, in the same way MPs are now doing, that the Council publication is a threat to democracy and is nothing more than council taxpayer funded propaganda beloved of the Council media team.

Paul Burstow, the Liberal Democrat MP, led a debate on the issue in Westminster earlier this year in which he highlighted the impact that council newspapers, funded by local taxpayers, were having on the health of the independent local press.

He said: "This has led to the closure of a large number of newspapers, many commercial radio stations becoming loss-making and the possible end of regional news on commercial television.

"This has serious implications for local democracy."

While it was important for local authorities to communicate with their citizens, it was "unacceptable" that councils could set up publications in direct competition to local news and "act as a vehicle for political propaganda", he said.

Frank Salt, Indepedent candidate in Castleton in the local election, says on his website: "Your council tax money is being used to fund a Media Team at the cost of around £2Million a year. The purpose of this team is to communicate information and ‘sell’ Rochdale to the public by means of publicity.

"Local Matters is a glossy magazine produced by the Media Team and distributed to ‘every’ household in the Borough. It is supposed to give useful information on Council services. It is not supposed to be a free sheet telling residents how wonderful the council is and what a fine job they are doing."

www.franksalt.org/issues/20/media-team-and-local-matters

www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/37467/local-matters-magazine-a-waste-of-money

www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/24941/antidemocratic-council-publications