Other

I am pleased to submit this as the first contender for worst press release of 2012. It landed in my inbox this morning, and it was sent by Leicester City Council.

• An awkward acronym? Check
• An amazing truism? Check
• The word ‘major’ in the intro? Check
• News hook is an “official launch”? Check
• 600 word release that’ll be used as a nib, at most? Check

Hold the front page, boss, because five “research clusters” from well-known European regions such as Aquitaine and Molise will be teaming up with researchers in Leicester to come up with one of those “green traffic management systems”.

The council press office went wild and capped-up the entire project acronym – THE ISSUE – which is the ‘Transport Health Environment – Intelligent Solutions Sustaining Urban Economies’ to your man on the street.

In a moment of press office magic we’re helpfully told that “local partners will be working in partnership”.

And the whole thing is funded by the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Programme, which “promotes knowledge exchange and joint working”. Obviously.

The note to editors offering “further media opportunities” is, shall we say, ambitious…

I became a political journalist to cut through spin and to report the truth, no matter how uncomfortable it was for those in authority. One of the most frustrating things as a journalist is not having any freedom in your role. 

Many journalist friends across the country tell me they don’t have that freedom. Editors tell them which public figures to target, which political parties to go easy on, and which issues are no-go areas. Those same editors, who started off as young and enthusiastic seekers of truth, often simply become another member of the local establishment.

Before arriving at the Mercury I turned down a job offer at another newspaper because I wasn’t convinced that I’d have the freedom to report on politics in the area.

But when I moved to the Mercury it was clear that Keith was very keen for reporters to do some traditional digging and contact-building and come up with stories that press officers would have kept hidden.

When I started there were two political reporters, and Keith wanted to make sure we both knew the Freedom of Information Act inside out to help expose the workings of local authorities, and courses in London were offered to us. Two years down the line and I’ve pulled in some cracking tales from FOI.

As a former political journalist himself Keith’s door was always open for advice on how to cover the complexities of local government. And while he wasn’t one of those editors who turns up to the opening of a civic envelope, he was plugged in to Leicester life and politics and I’d often leave his office with a tip off about a developing political issue.

Back in 2009 when many regional editors didn’t want their journalists blogging and Tweeting, Keith encouraged it. It wasn’t unchecked, of course, but there was just one very simple proviso: If you wouldn’t say it in a column, don’t say it on the web. It’s now a major part of my job.

After previous experiences elsewhere it was a joy to be able to report on politics knowing that politicians couldn’t get stories spiked simply by going above your head to the boss. Stories would be held by him if he spotted any holes in them, but none were ever spiked because of their potential to upset a politician or party.

Several local politicos, from across the political spectrum, sent messages to me this week saying that he brought bite back to political reporting at the Mercury. Long may it continue.

The New Year festivities have started early for some, it seems.

A colleague is compiling New Year messages from the great and good of the city and county to be published in the first newspaper of 2011. They include celebrities, campaigners and politicians.

One contribution was particularly notable; it was left as a rambling message on the Mercury’s voicemail system at around 5am today by a local politico who sounded rather tired and emotional.

The apparently heartfelt plea for peace and goodwill was slightly undermined, however, when he wished the people of Leicestershire a happy 2001…

Every day people land here via Google after searching for a local politico’s name, discovering a link to this blog, then clicking. Most just type a simple name or term, but some people search for entire phrases and end up here randomly. Luckily, I can see what they searched for.

Here are the most random search terms, as chosen for by me, in order:

1. Why is Eric Pickles fat?
2. Is David Parsons really a Labour councillor?
3. Is Colin Hall engaged?
4. What is Robert Wann up to?
5. Ed Balls likes Manish Sood
6. I need you now David MacLean
7. What is Robert Wann’s date of birth?
8. Deivid Macleine
9. City council fail whale
10. Can you really believe what you read in the paper’s MacLean