Webcast of council meeting held back in claims of censorship
THE council has sparked a fierce censorship row by holding back the webcast of its last full meeting.
Conservative group leader Cllr Vivien Pengelly said she had been told yesterday that it would not be available on Plymouth City Council's website until "certain parts" have been removed.
The meeting on Monday was recorded and broadcast live. Under normal practice it should have been available online immediately afterwards.
But it was still not on the council's website yesterday.
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Cllr Pengelly said she discovered it was missing when she tried to access it to check what had been said on Monday.
"I tried to look at it online and was told that I cannot see it until certain parts of it have been removed.
"I don't think that's right.
"I am shocked that the webcast is being doctored. It was a public meeting."
She said the Labour-led council had made a big play about being open and transparent but was not living up to its promises.
"If any of our members perform badly in the council chamber, can they say they don't want it to go out? No they cannot," she said.
Tim Howes, assistant director for democracy and governance, said: "It has been necessary to remove a section of the webcast of full council due to potentially defamatory remarks made by some of the councillors present about an individual council officer.
"If the council were to publish such remarks, we could be open to legal challenge, which could ultimately cost the local taxpayers money, at a time when we can ill afford it.
"This was a tricky situation but as we have no statutory duty to webcast public meetings and the issue at the centre of the discussion concerned decision-making relating to a single planning application and not a wide-reaching public matter, we judged the perceived risks to the council out-weighed our commitment to publish the comments.
"It is also right that we protect our staff from unsubstantiated allegations as part of our duty of care as an employer.
"We expect that removing sections of webcasts will be very rare and would only ever be carried out if it were judged there was a risk of legal challenge should particular content be published."
Comments
by flowcur
Sunday, December 09 2012, 5:33PM
“it should be in news when they would NOT censor the broadcast .........
I like the story behind it.............. public can't afford uncensored broadcast.”
by LHPlymouth
Saturday, December 08 2012, 9:06PM
“Now what a shame there wasn't a webcast of the planning meeting on December 22nd when 7 tories, none of whom control wards in the area where the incinerator is being built, voted for it with the help of planning officers and others who I hear behaved more like PR for MVV.
I would guess that had that been webcast most of it would have been edited at the request of the Tories.
I applaud the opportunity to see what our council is doing for us and how they deal with items on the agenda but at the same time there are legalities to follow. It should start with their behaviour and actions but maybe just have a disclaimer read out at the start of the meeting.
Supposed to be a country of free speech but in reality too much is 'redacted', edited and witheld from the public and who is it who suffers......the public!!
Any opportunity for the Herald to get a Viv photo in. Bet she'll be there along with Herald reporters and photographers at the opening ceremony of the incinerator but will they come now and speak to people to see what they suffer already Nah!
On live tv don't they have a delay so why not do that for the webcast just in case. Not rocket science!”
by Nevman
Saturday, December 08 2012, 3:55PM
“OK, let's take a look at UKIP's record on expenses, shall we?
2009
'Ukip leader Nigel Farage boasts of his £2m in expenses': http://tinyurl.com/pzxrak
'Disgraced ex-Ukip MEP Tom Wise jailed for two years for expenses fraud': http://tinyurl.com/cgm22ng
'UKIP leader Lord Pearson claimed £100,000 allowances for £3.7m London home': http://tinyurl.com/yjy7q6x
2010
'Former UKIP MEP Faces Expenses Investigation by EU Authorities': http://tinyurl.com/ca7saj7
'Merthyr councillor is suspended by Ukip after row over election bill': http://tinyurl.com/d4m8pd8
2012
'MEP arrested for expenses fraud after 'claiming £840 for driving 1,200 miles when she took a much cheaper flight': http://tinyurl.com/bwvatpj
'Ukip MEPs misused EU allowances to fund party's UK work': http://tinyurl.com/c2tqaoj
Looks like the only thing UKIP's great and good really want to take out of Europe is as much loot as they can stuff into their deep pockets.”
by circles1
Saturday, December 08 2012, 9:59AM
“that's probably why you'll pay council tax”
by Nevman
Saturday, December 08 2012, 9:45AM
“Of course they would, and I believe in Santa too.”
by nothalf
Saturday, December 08 2012, 8:39AM
“If UKIP were elected of course they wouldn't turn up or claim expenses, they would have abolished it and saved everybody huge amounts in the process”
by Nevman
Friday, December 07 2012, 9:06AM
“Not so, Molochius. They'd turn up, sign their expenses claim forms, then toddle off and hail it as another victory for 'common sense'.”
by Molochius
Thursday, December 06 2012, 7:12PM
“CharlieDodd judging from the record of ukip meps, if the ukip ran a council meeting...noone would turn up! :P”
by haunt
Thursday, December 06 2012, 6:17PM
“yeah, thank god for ukip, did he invent them too?”
by JonnyGlenholt
Thursday, December 06 2012, 6:16PM
“This would never have happened under the Tories...because it was Labour who introduced broadcasting of meetings this year, despite Tory opposition!”