Tagged: liverpool echo
Gallery: How the newspapers which knew Gary Speed best covered his death
The death of Gary Speed was one of those news stories which, when read first on Twitter, always makes me think: “I need to see that several more times from people I trust before I believe it.” Confirmation followed soon after.
As is increasingly the case on social networks, the actual news was soon superceded by speculation about what happened, while broadcast news and news websites kept – largely – to the facts and went heavily on tributes.
But Monday morning brought another aspect to the coverage – content from some of the journalists who knew him best – regional journalists who covered the clubs he played for and, latterly, managed.
As I tend to do from time to time on this blog, here’s a round-up of the front page from the areas with the closest connection to Speed the player and Speed the manager:
FOI Friday: Dirty schools, lying parents, superbug deaths and attacks on postment
Children lose school places after parents lie < < < Birmingham Mail
RECORD numbers of Birmingham children are being left devastated by the city council withdrawing their prized place at school because the youngsters’ parents lied on their application form.
The local authority has taken places off eight pupils who were due to start their new schools this month after being tipped off by the mums and dads’ neighbours.
The number has shot up from five youngsters having their place withdrawn in 2010 and three in 2009.
Dirty School kitchens < < < Liverpool Echo
A FILTHY school canteen plagued by rodents posed an “imminent risk” to Merseyside pupils’ health, a report has revealed.
Mounds of mouse droppings were discovered in the kitchens of Bedford primary in Bootle in a surprise hygiene spot-check.
Pellets were even found in a bain-marie, a hot cupboard used to keep food warm for the 220 children who are served school meals, and near to where sandwiches were prepared.
40 deaths related to superbugs < < < Teesside Gazette
MORE than 40 people have died at two Teesside hospitals over the last three years after contracting a killer superbug.
A Freedom of Information request has shown the number of patients who died at the University Hospital of North Tees in Stockton, and the University Hospital of Hartlepool after contracting Clostridium Difficile (C.diff).
Is the BBC obsessed with regional newspapers?
The BBC Birmingham and Black Country website on Sunday - the Express and Star story is fractionally more important than the Ashes not coming to Edgbaston, apparently
Maybe it was just a slow news weekend in the Midlands. In fact, I know it wasn’t because I’ve seen what’s passed through the Birmingham Mail website since Friday. So I can’t quite work out why a decision by the Wolverhampton Express and Star to close its printing plant in the city and switch to a sister plant in Telford is such big news.
Birmingham and the Black Country is a big old region population wise. There’s a lot happening. And while it’s interesting for media geeks to know that the Express and Star is closing one of its presses, is it really the fourth most important news story in the region?
The story fails to do what all new stories should do: Address how it might impact the reader. Will the paper be out earlier? Will it have fewer editions? Will it mean a change to the look and feel of the paper – more colour for example? All the BBC reports is that it will mean ‘greater efficiency’ for the title – whatever that means.
FOI Friday: Brothel raids, B&B costs, farm thefts and cautions for violent crimes
1.Houses of multiple occupancy
Kicking off with a story which may not have been sourced under FOI, but which could be: The Liverpool ECHO reports on the number of properties which have been licensed for use as ‘houses of multiple occupancy’, of which just 25% had planning permission? Why is this an issue? Well, if it’s on your street, you’d want to be able protest about it, wouldn’t you?
2. What police seized in brothel raids
Staying with the Liverpool ECHO, this story combines FOI and the sex trade: Asking the police how many brothels they have raided and, tellingly, what they seized when they raided the places too.
3. The cost of housing homeless people in bed and breakfasts
Some interesting numbers from the Wigan Evening Post, which reports, thanks to FOI, that over the past four years, Wigan Council has spent £200,000 on B&B accommodation for homeless people. A problem that’s getting worse in recession times? Apparently not – but what’s the picture elsewhere?
FOI Friday: Overdue books, bedding plants, baby scans and trading standards
1. The most overdue books in town
The devil, they say, is in the detail. And the Accrington Observer got plenty of detail back from its FOI request into overdue books at Accrington Library. Not only did they find out the number of books which are overdue, and the total amount owing in fines, but they also got details of the most overdue book at each library in the area. The most overdue book in the borough is a book called Balloon, which should have been returned in 2004. That means £300 of fines are attached to that book – although the cap on fees is just £6.
Here’s one which will probably have critics of FOI claiming its proof of people abusing the act, but to me it’s just another example of councils being held to account. The Evening Chronicle in Newcastle used FOI to find out how much councils were spending on bedding plants. The total is around £500,000. It’s a good example of FOI being used to prompt a debate. On one hand, nice flower beds could be seen as a luxury councils can’t afford, but on the other, they’ll be the things people complain about if axed.
3. The cost of that first baby photo
Accusations flying of ‘stealth taxes’ on expectant mums in Birmingham after an FOI request revealed that the city’s main birthing hospital is making more than £50,000 a year from selling pictures of pregnency scans to happy (and I would imagine, some not so happy) parents-to-be. The £6-a-photo charge is much higher than at other hospitals.
FOI FRIDAY: Drowned dogs, toxic waste, taser guns and cheer-me-up consultants
FOI stories this week have covered everything from the buildings council own to the hospital which admitted paying consultants to advise on how to cheer up patients. Here are 10 FOI stories which could work for you…
1. What buildings do councils own?
Here’s a clever FOI to kick things off this week. The communities secretary, Eric Pickles is keen for councils to reveal what properties they own. In Birmingham. the information is already available, thanks to an FOI. Asking the council how much it has spent on business rates in empty properties adds another dimension to the story.
2. Drowned puppies and toxic waste
Perhaps the most unusual story I’ve ever seen on a story based on an FOI request. The Hinckley Times used FOI to find out the items the borough council had been called out to clear up. Among things collected on 800 call outs to clean up dumped stuff was a bag of drowned puppies, toxic waste, dead horses and the complete contents of woman’s wardrobe, including her underwear.
3. Why councils are spying on you
FOI requests about use of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 use by councils – the ability for them to spy on you if they think you’re doing something wrong – was all the rage last year. But this FOI request by the Sheffield Star proves it is worth doing again, because councils continue to use the powers. In Sheffield’s case, 30 times in the last year.
The art of a good Twitter headline
If writing a good headline for Twitter is an art, then I think the Liverpool ECHO must have Van Gogh on their staff today:
Suspected Liverpool brothel boarded up after residents complains about "dwarf" banging his head on window for entrance http://bit.ly/p3Isr5—
Liverpool Echo (@LivEchonews) July 12, 2011
You can’t help but click, can you?
FOI FRIDAY: Bail hearing notes, mystery foreign trips, smoking bans and relocation costs
Oooh.. a secret
1. Using FOI to get transcripts of bail hearings (Lancashire Telegraph)
Here’s a case for all reporters to keep in mind when dealing with stories which involve a question mark over whether the right decision was made at a bail hearing.
The murder of Lancashire nurse Jane Clough by her ex-boyfriend Jonathan Vass has been widely reported. He was on bail at the time for other offences, despite advice from the CPS and police to a judge not to allow such a situation.
The case has gone to Parliament this week with an MP calling for prosecutors to be given the right to appeal a bail hearing decision. The Lancashire Telegraph has covered the story carefully, and crime reporter Sam Chadderton used FOI to get hold of the transcripts of the bail hearings which led to Vass being released on bail:
Now, for the first time, the Lancashire Telegraph has gained access to a full written account of the two bail hearings, under the Freedom of Information Act.
Despite a formal application to the courts service being refused, the judge personally agreed to release the transcripts.
2. Police breaking data protection rules (Liverpool ECHO)
The Liverpool ECHO used FOI to find out how many times police officers at Merseyside Police had been caught breaking data protection laws. The answer: 208 times in three years:
Breaches include officers accessing police computer systems to access classified data about family and friends, spying on ongoing cases and researching for “non-policing” purposes.
Merseyside Police blamed a year-on-year rise down to the fact 130 officers looked at the file involving an allegation against Steven Gerrard.
2. Complaints about the smoking ban (Reading Post)
In the week MPs began looking at revoking part of the smoking ban, the Reading Post revealed the findings of its FOI probe into how well used anti-smoking legislation was in Reading. The answer: Not very. Reading Council has never tried to enforce the ban, with just 60 complaints made about alleged breaches. So what was all the fuss about?
3. The five-year-old accused of criminal damage (Bradford Telegraph and Argus)
Ok, so the FOI about the number of under tens who have been accused of committing offences has been done many times before – so why mention it now? Simple – the response from West Yorkshire Police was very detailed, and gave the age of the youngest person accused by a crime, thus making it possible for the T&A to report on the five year old accused of criminal damage.
4. Relocation costs (Stoke Sentinel)
A whole bunch of councils have merged in the last few years – but at what cost? The Stoke Sentinel pushed for answers on this when it submitted FOI requests to the new Cheshire East Council to find out how much had been paid in relocation cost to staff when it had been formed. The answer: £850,000 for people who had to move offices.
5. Suspended police officers (Sunday Sun)
The number of police officers suspended from police forces in the north doubled last year, according to the Sunday Sun – with some spending more than a year on gardening leave.
6. Redundancy costs for health chiefs (Teesside Gazette)
The costs of making staff redundant from authorities has been in the headlines for a while and in Teesside, the Evening Gazette has been steadily revealing the costs at various bodies in its areas. Primary Care Trusts are among those making big redundancies ahead of being scrapped, and the Gazette has made a point of asking for details of the biggest single payout – including 3223k at one health trust.
7. A numbers game (Brighton Argus)
Covering benefits stories can be tricky as it normally involves being accused of picking on the vulnerable. But this story from the Brighton Argus is worth digging into. It reports on figures, obtained under FOI, which show that an average of 10% of people trying to claim for Employment Support Allowance get it – but in Sussex 15% of all applicants are approved for it. In other words, you’re 50% more likely to get it in Sussex than anywhere else.
8. Council tax reminders for councillors (Maidenhead Advertiser)
The Maidenhead Advertiser is the latest newspaper to do the FOI about the councillors who have been sent reminders for not paying their council tax. Maidenhead Council refused to name the councillors, as have others, but did say five councillors were sent reminders. I quite like the defence of one councillor who said they were so busy it could easily slip a councillor’s mind!
9. An unusual take on foreign trips by a council (Lancashire Evening Post)
I thought I’d include this story not because it’s an FOI we’ve not heard of before – but because it’s proof that FOI is only ever part of a story. The Lancashire Evening Post reported on the number of foreign trips made by councillors at the expense of taxpayers. What made the story was the response from the council about one trip to Bologna: The council couldn’t remember why councillors went or what was achieved.
10. Second home council tax (Ivybridge and South Brent Gazette)
And finally one which could run and run, especially in these cash-tight times. The Gazette used FOI to ask how many houses were subject to second-home council tax relief – therefore reducing council tax by 10 per cent. For South Hams, around £700,000 is lost in this relief, and the figures were broken down by area.
FOI FRIDAY: Benefit claims, burial problems, maternity complaints and noisy neighbourhoods
Benefits: A new area for FOI requests?
We start this week in Liverpool, where the ECHO has taken a closer look at the impact of the crackdown on people claiming incapacity benefits. Under FOI, it was able to establish that 1,000 people in Merseyside who had their benefits taken away from them on the grounds they were fit too work had the decision overturned on appeal – suggesting 1,000 people too ill to work did lose benefits for a while. The appeal success rate is one in three, according to the information from the Department for Work and Pensions
Here’s one I suspect will run and run, in both Suffolk and elsewhere in the country: Gagging orders at councils as staff leave. Suffolk County Council – them again 0 has issued 13 in 12 weeks, spending £400,000 on the compromise agreements in the process. I suspect Suffolk won’t be alone. The East Anglian Daily Times pulled up this story using FOI
An interesting bit of data FOI unearthed in the Lancashire Telegraph, which reports that an FOI request into how burial plots were available at graveyards in Burnley (2,000) would only be enough to last the area for 10 years, with 200 people opting to be buried every year.
Maybe it’s because I’m hopefully about to become a Dad, but asking for the number of complaints made to maternity departments seems quite a good way to enable would-be parents to assess how good a maternity unit is. The Evening Standard quotes data in relation to an article about a woman who died at a hospital where a lot of complaints had been made.
If MPs can’t travel First Class at the public’s expense, why should councillors? It’s a question Lancashire County Council struggled to answer when the Lancashire Evening Post used FOI to find out how much had been spent on first class rail tickets in recent years: £205,000 on 1,245 journeys. Tory leader Geoff Driver says it’s worth the extra expense because it means councillors can travel in a manner of “confidentiality, comfort and convenience”. An old FOI, but worth revisiting.
Overseas travel at the council
The Sunday Sun goes a little more global in its quest for information on travel costs at councils – working out that councils in the North spend £300,000 on overseas travel. The key to the success here was not only asking for cost of travel, but details of travel, as demonstrated by the intro:
HOW much does it cost to change a lightbulb? Well, it seems more than £1,000 for one North council.
That’s the amount dim bosses at the cash-strapped local authority forked out for an art expert to jet into the region twice – to help put up then take down a string of lights at a modern art show.
Councils often collect data and break it down to ward level – after all, someone has to take the random groupings of populations seriously. The Birmingham Mail used FOI to ask about noisy neighbour complaints, and received a ward-by-ward breakdown.
Sometimes, it’s easier to let an FOI story speak for itself, and that is the case with this clever one from the Yorkshire Post:
Cash-squeezed Yorkshire councils are paying their staff thousands of pounds in excessive car mileage rates, a Yorkshire Post investigation has revealed.
At a time when authorities are cutting services and axing jobs, many were paying employees 65p a mile if they were a casual user or 50.5p a mile, together with a £1,239 lump sum, for essential users during the last financial year. The Government’s recommended mileage rate is 40p.
Getting consultation information
Government – local and national – is fond of a good consultation, especially if the people being consulted agree with them. Consultations can be a massively useful source of information for journalists too, as the Oxford Student newspaper has demonstrated. It reports on responses from Oxford dons about government plans to charge more for Visas – saying it would lead to reduced applications from abroad.
Drugs busts are in the paper all the time, but what do they add up to? The Sheffield Star used FOI to get the total figures for drugs seizures:
Figures obtained by The Star using the Freedom of Information Act show cannabis plants worth over £39m have been recovered, along with a stash of heroin worth £4.8m, cocaine worth £4.1m, crack cocaine worth £2.1m and a haul of amphetamine worth another £2.1m.
FOI Friday: Custard spills, charity finances, twocking – and an important breakthrough
Regional Development Agency assets
An important precedent has hopefully been set this week by the Birmingham Post when it comes to FOI. Regional Development Agencies were a relatively late addition to FOI coverage, and since their demise was announced, some have been reluctant to reveal how much they are selling their assets for.
The Birmingham Post this week revealed that Birmingham’s Stock Exchange, set up by Advantage West Midlands in 2007, has been sold for £1. In three years, it has swallowed £3million of public cash.
AWM at first refused to say how much it had been sold for, arguing it was commercially sensitive. The Post has managed to argue otherwie, and AWM changed its mind.
The front page of the Birmingham Post
According to the Warrington Guardian, a third of charities in the town are in the red after grants have been cut and recession hit donations. Reporter Hannah Bargery used FOI to ask the Charities Commission for details about charities in the Warrington borough. The figures she got back revealed that of the 389 registered charities in Warrington, 123 spent more than they received last year.
You may well have seen this story in the nationals this week but it began life as Monday’s splash in the Liverpool ECHO. FOI was used to ask councils for details of cases where pupils had brought compensation claims against schools. One pupil received £750 for being splashed with custard (presumably at lunchtime) while another got £6k for falling off a chair.
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