Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
I have a Thing about the Haringey People Magazine
When I first lived in Haringey, I remember being interested in reading the Haringey People. From what I recall its remit was broader, covering topics like local history and the like.
Now when I read it, I see a cog in the Council's PR machine. The ONLY stories covered are ones which speak to the achievments of the council. I know of several people who have tried to get the magazine to cover local, non-political, non-contentious local interest stories. None have even had the courtesy of a reply, let alone the mersest hint of a small mention.
So what is this magazine? I'm sure it serves some purpose and does provide some information. But the type of information and the editorial spin is so very selective, I don't think I'd be hysterical in asking whether it's little more than propaganda. Look at the next/last issue and tell me what you think.
All of this led me to submitting a Freedom of Information request on the cost. I recently received my reply. Both request and reply area attached.
The reply was drafted by the deaprtment responsible for publishing the magazine. I found it rather defensive. Highlights from the reply from my perspective are:
Annual cost: £348,000 + 1,000 FTE hours per year - probably another £20,000. Total = £370,000 approx
Distribution: 100,000 - £3.70 per household per year
Quote from reply: "A clear majority of respondents say that the magazine is their main source of news about the council.....respondents see it as more important than all the local newspapers combined."
So, the least independent, least objective publication in the borough is the MAIN source of news for most people about the Council. Any alarm bells ringing yet?
It costs my road about £550 a year. That's around £25,000 for all Harringay.
Good value?
Now when I read it, I see a cog in the Council's PR machine. The ONLY stories covered are ones which speak to the achievments of the council. I know of several people who have tried to get the magazine to cover local, non-political, non-contentious local interest stories. None have even had the courtesy of a reply, let alone the mersest hint of a small mention.
So what is this magazine? I'm sure it serves some purpose and does provide some information. But the type of information and the editorial spin is so very selective, I don't think I'd be hysterical in asking whether it's little more than propaganda. Look at the next/last issue and tell me what you think.
All of this led me to submitting a Freedom of Information request on the cost. I recently received my reply. Both request and reply area attached.
The reply was drafted by the deaprtment responsible for publishing the magazine. I found it rather defensive. Highlights from the reply from my perspective are:
Annual cost: £348,000 + 1,000 FTE hours per year - probably another £20,000. Total = £370,000 approx
Distribution: 100,000 - £3.70 per household per year
Quote from reply: "A clear majority of respondents say that the magazine is their main source of news about the council.....respondents see it as more important than all the local newspapers combined."
So, the least independent, least objective publication in the borough is the MAIN source of news for most people about the Council. Any alarm bells ringing yet?
It costs my road about £550 a year. That's around £25,000 for all Harringay.
Good value?
Tags for Forum Posts: freedom of information, haringey people, local newspapers
- Attachments:
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
-
Alan I hadn't actually heard this term before your earlier post and I don't mean any offence. But I hope you will turn out to be a big man in fighting for change in the Gambling Act 2005.
On the other hand, the FoI Act was one piece of legislation from the Labour Government that I welcomed. It did put a little bit of power into the hands of the small people.
(I do suspect the Labour Govt. regretted this Act not long after it took effect and I also suspect it is resented by local authorities). It is a small way of reducing secrecy, even if does sometimes require a lot of persistence.
-
-
FINALLY some good news about Haringey Pravda magazine and credit is due to the council for taking a small step in the right direction. Here is a cut that many in the Borough will actively welcome. The Journal today reports that:
Council magazine will be cut back
HARINGEY Council will cut back on its Haringey People magazine to save £112,000 per year, blaming “deep government cuts” for the move. The magazine, delivered to every home in the borough 10 times per year, will now be published just six times per year.
Councillor Claire Kober, the leader of Haringey Council, said the magazine would also be slimmed down with its “local” pages disappearing.
She said: “Councils are facing the toughest time for decades following deep government cuts. It has meant Haringey looking closely at all areas of expenditure.” But the magazine’s content “will continue to reflect the whole borough’s interests” and was valued by residents, she insisted.
The council will save £76,000 this year and £112,000 annually from April 2011.
Councillor Matt Davies, Liberal Democrat resources spokesman, called the cutback “long overdue”, adding the council “could and should go further” and stop “trying to promote” the Labour administration.
He added: “The real question is: will any Haringey residents even notice that Haringey People is being cut back?”
-
Permalink Reply by Old-Age-Emporium(OAE) on
-
Ms Kober, if you'd kept the four local Neighbourhood pages and 'disappeared' the remaining 30-36, you could probably have saved us at least £300,000. What am I to do without my regular Gina centrefold to fantasise over?
-
-
The smiling in HP (of councillors) is so frequent and sometimes so intense that one can be forgiven for leaving with the impression that they are wearing little else but their smiles. That image is more felicitous with some councillors than with others.
Can government cuts really be "deep" if a vanity publication is able to continue at the rate of an issue every two months with a huge print-run and in its present form?
Instead of continuing to foist HP on the entire population of an eight-mile wide London Borough – whether they want it or not – can I suggest that a fair way to test its genuine popularity would be to offer it in Libraries (AKA knowledge centres). Offered, at a nominal price, say 10p or 5p, or even for free? Then the real level of interest could be gauged.
-
Permalink Reply by Hugh on
-
There's a general climate of cutting back on these papers and indeed there's a government consultation on this issue right now - Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity.
Note: This comment is not intended as the catalyst for more Haringey Council bashing :o)
-
-
True. More need our poor Council the analyst than the catalyst - as the doctor nearly said of Lady Macbeth.
I see the Code proposes quarterly rather than Cllr Kober's bimestrially for Local Govt publications.
-
Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
-
It's always helpful to see that C. Northcote Parkinson is yet to be superseded as a management guru. His "Law of Triviality" observes that:
". . . the time spent on any item of the agenda will be in inverse proportion to the sum involved.
Many years ago, before I'd read Parkinson, I did some research with co-operative teams and noticed what I called the tea towel problem. At meetings, important complex and sensitive issues were skated over. This was often followed by an angry discussion about who'd missed their place in the rota to wash the cups and launder the tea-towels in the staff room.
-
-
Any Tea Party meeting should have a sarahpalin to solve the tea towel problem.
- ‹ Previous
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- Next ›
© 2024 Created by Hugh.
Powered by
