Our clerk has cut and pasted a Media & Comms Policy from a neighbouring council. It is a good policy document.
However, the clerk has chosen to change a paragraph which materially changes the meaning of the paragraph and could easily be interpreted as restricting a councillors free speech. The original paragraph was perfectly acceptable and as was it related to council staff - officers - we only have one the clerk. But by including councillors who are not paid employees she has create a problem.
The original paragraph read as follows:
Interviews
Any officer contacted by a journalist requesting an interview should refer the journalist to the Clerk, the Mayor, or the appropriate Committee Chair. The person put forward for interview will depend on the situation and the information required by the journalist.
Officers should never give their opinion on specific Council policy but must keep to the corporate line and key messages. Their role is to provide expertise and factual knowledge only, in support of the Council’s approved and agreed policies.
The amended paragraph reads:
Interviews
Any Councillor contacted by a journalist requesting an interview should refer the journalist to the Clerk, the Chairperson, or the appropriate Committee Chair. The person put forward for interview will depend on the situation and the information required by the journalist.
Officers and individual Councillors should never give their opinion on specific Council policy but must keep to the corporate line and key messages. Their role is to provide expertise and factual knowledge only, in support of the Council’s approved and agreed policies.
I would like the council to use the original paragraph but the clerk will not accept this. Any suggestions?
