Media organisations across the country have come out in support of BristolLive’s boycott of the Bristol mayor’s press briefings. It follows the city council’s decision to ban BBC-funded Local Democracy Reporters from attending Marvin Rees’ fortnightly mayoral press conferences.
The comms chief at the council questioned LDR Alex Seabrook over whether he had the right to ask a certain question of the elected mayor regarding his flight to Vancouver to give a 15-minute TED talk on climate change.
After a video recording of the exchange was circulated on Twitter, the council said it would not allow the Local Democracy Reporters to attend the mayor’s regular briefings.
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While BristolLive regularly sends other reporters from the newsroom to the briefings, it sees a complete ban on LDRs as a fundamental attack on public interest journalism and local democracy and has responded by refusing to cover these meetings until the ban is lifted - a move that has been supported by many other media organisations.
Bristol Live editor Pete Gavan said: “It’s great to get this support from colleagues and rivals across the city and beyond. It’s vital LDRs have access to these briefings as coverage of the mayor falls well within their remit.
“In the past, we had agreed to send other reporters to the mayoral briefings when possible but reserved the right to send the LDRs. We do not accept that any reporters should be banned from attending meetings at the behest of the council, nor from asking relevant questions on behalf of our readers and council taxpayers at any time.”
The BBC released a statement in support. It said: “We are deeply disappointed by the decision taken by the Mayor’s Office to not allow the Bristol LDR into his fortnightly press conference. It is an essential ingredient of local democracy that journalists should be able to ask robust, challenging questions to people in power.
"We have today informed the Mayor that the BBC won’t be attending the fortnightly Mayoral briefings until this important issue is resolved. We will continue to report on the City Council and Mayor as normal by attending all other meetings.”
The News Media Association is the voice of national, regional and local news media organisations in the UK.
Its deputy chief executive Lynne Anderson: “The NMA condemns the banning of Local Democracy Reporters from the Bristol mayor’s briefings - a blunt assault on the principles of local democracy - in the strongest possible terms.
“By preventing local journalists from scrutinising their activity, Bristol City Council are disenfranchising the public they are supposed to serve. We stand with our colleagues in calling for an immediate end to this wholly misguided and deeply damaging ban.”
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Rival publications in Bristol are standing in solidarity with Bristol Live’s move.
National World-owned Bristol World has said it will not cover the briefings either.
Editor Alex Ross said in a statement: “We will not be sending representatives to the mayor’s fortnightly press conferences while the region's Local Democracy Reporters are barred from the meeting.
“In the interests of openness and transparency, it is vital journalists are allowed to question Marvin Rees on all issues impacting our city.
“To stop access to the LDR reports indicates a degree of control on who can and cannot ask those questions, which we say is wrong.”
The independent Bristol24/7 is also backing the move. Editor Martin Booth said: “It is a slippery slope indeed if we allow Bristol City Council to choose which journalists they want to attend briefings and who they want to exclude.
“It is the role of all journalists from print, online and broadcast to ask tough questions to our elected officials, and I share the concerns of Bristol Post editor Pete Gavan about the long-term implications of the city council choosing to ban a reporter after he has simply done that job of asking tough questions.
“At Bristol24/7, we rely on the excellent work of our city’s two LDRs to cover stories that we would otherwise not be able to publish, and I have the utmost respect for the professionalism and integrity of Alex and his LDR colleague Adam Postans.
“Marvin Rees has previously said that his motto is ‘ask me anything’. I hope that he will live up to that motto and lift this ban on LDRs. Until that happens, Bristol24/7 will neither be attending nor covering any mayoral press conferences.”
The National Union of Journalists has criticised the council.
Charlotte Green said: ""The Reach LDR NUJ chapel strongly condemns the position adopted towards Local Democracy Reporters in Bristol by the city council. Holding authorities to account and scrutinising their actions and decisions - including asking difficult questions that leaders might not like - is at the heart of the purpose of the scheme.
"Reactionary measures, like banning LDRs from Mayoral media briefings, only serves to undermine a council's public commitment to transparency and accountability to its residents. We stand firmly in support of our colleagues in Bristol to report without fear or favour, and they should not face retribution for asking questions in the public interest."
Chris Morley, NUJ Reach national coordinator added: “The LDR service has proved a great success in shining a welcome light into many of the dark recesses of public authorities with fine public interest journalism. The action of the city council is arrogant, high-handed, and essentially anti-democratic. The slur it implies on the professionalism of our LDR members is thoroughly rejected. We remain hopeful that the city council can see the error of its ways and give the LDR service the respect it fully deserves.”
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