FOI Friday: 10 things we’ve learnt this week thanks to the Freedom of Information Act
A council with 100,000 unsuitable images on its computers, a police force revealing it doesn’t investigate almost a quarter of reported crimes and the rising cost of parking fines – here are 10 stories made possible this week thanks to the Freedom of Information Act.
Councils up and down the country are tasked with promoting their local economies, and they often nick ideas from each other – hence why nearly every town seems to have a German Christmas market (started in Birmingham, I think) or a big wheel (started in Manchester, again, I think). But how far do councils go to ensure they are supporting the local economy through their purchases? The Countryside Alliance used FOI to ask councils if they had a formal policy in place to ensure they tried to buy locally – the answer was that 74% did not.
2. Naughty images on council computers
Sticking with councils for the time being, The Nottingham Evening Post turned up an interesting discovery when it asked the local council how many unsuitable images had been found on its computer. The report states that the council has a software package it uses to track such things – is it possible other councils do the same? Is it worth asking any council how many instances of unsuitable images or unsuitable content being accessed has been reported in the last year? Interestingly, the NEP report says the council considered abandoning its probe into dodgy photographs when it saw the scale of the problem. That’ll solve it, then!
Council newspapers: When wanting to communicate really means “only what we want you to know”
While searching for successful Freedom of Information stories last week, I stumbled across this one from the London Informer newspaper.
Throughout the story, Hammersmith and Fulham Council is at pains to stress how effective its CCTV network is, quoting up to 50 arrests a month thanks to the spies in the sky.
But tucked away in the article is the reference to a Freedom of Information request:
There are also concerns over the location of hidden cameras, after the council refused to respond to repeated Freedom of Information requests for the location of its CCTV network, claiming it would jeopardise its crime-busting activities.
Under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act, there is an exemption which allows authorities to refuse requests for information if it was felt it could prevent or hamper the detection of crime.
Lancashire County Council used a similar defence four years ago when I asked for the number of fines issued by each speed camera in the county – despite the fact that it publicised where the speed cameras were so people knew to slow down.
Council newspapers: Is Lambeth Life all it’s cracked up to be?
lambeth life
The issue over council newspapers – ie council propaganda sheets which dress themselves up as newspapers on the assumption tax-payers are too thick to notice the difference – raised its head again today.
While the company I work for, Trinity Mirror, has been (rightly, in my opinion, for what it is worth) vocal against councils effectively setting up against established local newspapers, today’s row was sparked by Ray Tindle, one of the country’s most respected press owners.
He said that the South London Press has lost £500,000 in advertising in recent years – with a good chunk of it going to council-run newspapers, such as Lambeth Life.
Editor Hannah Walker went further, saying papers like Lambeth Life were “political propaganda.”
Lambeth Council hit back, with Labour council leader Steve Reed saying: “It would help if they could be a little more positive about the area. The South London Press has become a paper for bad news.”
The SLP has reported that Lambeth Life costs in excess of £500,000 a year to produce of which £250,000 is offset by advertising, apparently. But as the SLP points out, much of that advertising comes from the council itself.
Opposition councillors claim it is just propaganda, too. So who is right?
A new role for regional newspaper websites when disaster strikes?
The developing disaster in Cumbria over the last 48 hours has, unsurprisingly, led to the emergency services telling people to keep tuned into local TV and radio for updates.
There’s no surprise in this – it’s been the norm for years. When something happens, be it snow causing road and school closures, through to weather events of the magnitude we’ve seen in Cumbria over the last two days, the emergency services have found TV and radio an instant way to broadcast information to communities which need such information.
But over the last 48 hours there’s been another source of instant information – from the websites of the local newspapers. The Cumberland News, News and Star and co have been using Coveritlive to relay information to users as soon as they get it.
And crucially, they have also responded to questions and information from many of the 4,000-plus people who logged in over 36 hours.
Regular readers of this blog will know I’m a massive fan of Coveritlive as it is, but I think the work done by the sites in Cumbria demonstrates just how vital a newspaper/website operation can be in times of crisis.
Weekend reading: Five great posts I’ve read this week
1. Twitter drops “what are you doing” in favour of “What’s happening?” < < < Mashable
Those who seek to dismiss Twitter often resort to the argument that “it’s full of people saying what they had for breakfast.” And until now, Twitter using the prompt “what are you doing” on its homepage has played to that claim. Those who use it know it has changed massively from that – and now Twitter is changing to reflect that.
2. 30 tools for online journalists < < < Robin Brown
Online editor Robin Brown has come up with an inspired list of the essential tools online journalists should be using
3. Don’t save journalism, save honest communication < < < Digidave
I don’t agree with the headline (no surprise there,) but this is a thought-provoking piece about where journalism – in the form of honest communication – needs to go in the future
4. What if news organisations did block Google? < < < Almighty Link
Everyone’s talking about it, and most people are assuming that News International will blink rather than deliver on its threat to pull out of Google. But what if all the big companies did? That’s where this post comes in.
5. Guardian polls dating back to 1984 < < < Guardian Data Blog
It’s been a big week for data this week, with the Government’s announcement on its overall plan for making information more freely available. Lots, rightly, written about that, but I wanted to flag up the Guardian’s Data Blog, which makes brilliant reading every week – and is releasing quite a lot of data itself too.
FOI Friday: 10 things we learnt this week thanks to the Freedom of Information Act
How much time the Army spends filming with Top Gear, the cost of hosting an Amercian secretary of state and coppers getting bonuses – there’s a right old mix of good stories generated by FOI for FOI Friday this week:
1. The cost of hosting Mrs Clinton
The Belfast News Letter obviously covered the recent visit by Hillary Clinton in some depth – it did, after all, make big headlines around the world. But was the cost of the visit to the police in Belfast? Through FOI, they’ve established it was £174,000. Good value for money? Presumably, the authorities say yes, while many readers fed up of never getting an answer from the local cops might think differently.
2. Saving thousands by cutting mayors
The Chester Chronicle reports this week that reducing the number of councils in Cheshire – from the previous two tier system of borough and county councils to a couple of super unitary authorities – has netted some unusual savings: including the reducing the number of mayors. They got a brilliantly detailed response, including the fact photography costs have fallen from £3,000 to £500. I think there’s a wider issue for lots of areas here. In these tight times, can an area afford a decorative office such as the mayor? Or are they still so respected by the public that reducing their role would cause anger?
My “speech” to the Society of Editors conference
When is a speech not a speech? I was asked to do five minutes on my thoughts about real-time news as part of the “Covering It Live” session at the Society of Editors conference at Stansted Airport today. Is five minutes a speech or Just A Few Words?
Either way, here’s what I had to say today:
The Darlington Experiment 2.0: A case study for newspaper “pride” campaigns?
One of the more contradictory aspects of life in a provincial newsroom is that while it’s ok for those in the newsroom to speak critically of the patch they cover, as soon as someone else does it, they’re often heading for the front page.
On one hand, reporters will grumble about the lack of shops/cinemas/parking/people who smile, but turn any critical comments from high-profile folk into “shock horror, how dare they” pieces.
At the same time, many newspapers have campaigns which aim to instill a sense of pride in the community – a way of celebrating positives about an area, which often launch shortly after the latest focus group has reported back that readers feel too many negative stories appear in print. And advertisers often say something similar.
But reporters up and down the UK will know full well that in many cases, when they vox pop about a town or city they live in, the majority are quick to find fault with it, or laugh at the amibitions of councillors locally to improve the area’s image.
I suspect if the same questions were asked at a hyperlocal level, people would be more positive when answering the question: “What do you think of where you live?”
FOI Friday: Ten things discovered this week thanks to the Freedom of Information Act
The Freedom of Information Act has helped make the headlines several times in the last week. First, Panorama’s programme on Monday – which dominated the news agenda during the day – was based on FOI, having asking each police force for a list of crimes which resulted in a caution being issued. That question is still well worth local journalists asking their police force.
Meanwhile, it transpired that the legal team of Sharon Shoesmith, the maligned ex-head of social services in Haringey, had been forced to resort to FOI to get hold of Ofsted reports relating to her department which Ofsted had inspected.
But what’s appeared elsewhere this week? Here are 10 stories made possible by FOI:
Twitter: A how do guide for journalists still not sure it’s for them…
Twitter announced, at the end of last month, that it was doing away with the “what are you doing” phrase which sits above the comment input box.
In its place, the phrase “what’s happening” would appear instead. This is probably a reflection of the type of comments which now appear on Twitter – put simply, it’s now much more than just a place where people say what they are doing (if, indeed, it ever was).
But will it convince those detractors who consider Twitter to be little more than a place where people discuss what they had for tea? For those of us who use Twitter a lot, it’s easy to scoff at people who don’t “get” Twitter. But seeing as Twitter now no longer provides the ammunintion that “it’s just a place where people say what they’re doing” I thought I’d have a go at a “how to” guide to Twitter for journalists yet to take the leap.
As ever, if there’s anything I’ve missed, or anything you think I’ve got wrong – please let me know.
Read more…