VALUE OF PRESS IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT: LIASON WITH PUBLIC

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 50, 28 May 1948, Page 7

VALUE OF PRESS IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT: LIASON WITH PUBLIC

The value of the Press—particularly the local newspaper—in making local government a constructive partnership between councillor, the local government officer and the citizen, was pointed out by Mr Alec Spoor, Public Relations Officer to the National Association of Local Government Officers (England) in a recent address recorded in “Board and Council.”

After pointing out the necessity for the education of members and staff of the local authority in their contacts with the public whom they serve, Mr Spoor went on: “Next in importance I would put the Press—and particularly, of course, the local Press—which is today, and is likely long to remain, the most useful medium of contact between the local authority and the public. “All public business should be debated in public so that the Press can report it, full information of the work of committees should be given to the Press, minutes and reports should be sent to the Press at the same time as they are sent to councillors, and the newspapers should be encouraged to comment on committee proposals before they are considered by the full council.” The Nalgo report went further, suggesting that, where necessary, “background” information should be given to the Press wherever it is required, that chairmen of committees and chief officers should be encouraged to keep the Press informed of their work, and that reports and other documents should be prepared with the needs of the Press ,in mind, so that the newspapers will be able to report them clearly, accurately and in an interesting way. 5

“In short, the Press should be brought -fully .into the local government partnership—-and to assist this, local editors or their representatives might usefully be co-opted on to local authority public relations committees. The aim should be to put the relations between local government and the Press on a basis of complete frankness and mutual confidence.”