Council to decide future of Hackney Today

Is this the end of the Town Hall's 'Pravda'? Photograph: Claude Crommelin

Hackney Council is set to make a decision on whether to continue publishing its freesheet, Hackney Today, in defiance of Government guidelines.

The future of Hackney Today will be decided at a Cabinet meeting next week, on Monday 20 June. Cabinet members will consider a report which recommends continuing with publication of the fortnightly paper on the grounds of value for money.

Cllr Louisa Thomson, spokesperson for the Labour group on the council defended the planned move, saying: “Hackney Today fulfills a vital role in letting residents know about local services – from the council, health services, the Police and others – particularly as not everyone living in the borough has regular access to the internet. This also contributes to greater transparency and accountability in local government – something the Coalition Government claims it would like to promote.”

Cllr Michael Levy, leader of Hackney Conservatives, disagrees, claiming that the freesheet provides one-sided coverage that neglects the work of opposition councillors: “We’ve always felt that it [Hackney Today] is an organ of the majority [Labour] group on the Council.

“It doesn’t portray work carried out by minority groups in the same way it portrays work carried out the majority group members. Things which are carried out by minority group members and  which benefit the community as a whole are not reported in the same depth or not at all. It is an unfair advantage that the majority group on the council has.”

Hackney Liberal Democrat Simon de Deney also opposed the impending decision, claiming that: “Hackney Today is a wretched propaganda sheet. And it costs Hackney residents thousands.  Switching statutory notices and other advertisements to independent media would save money and create a more diverse media and culture in Hackney, rather than one that is controlled centrally by the council.”

In February, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Eric Pickles issued guidelines which stipulate that local authority newspapers and magazines should not be published more than once every three months.

However, government rules also require local authorities to publish statutory notices in a publication published at least fortnightly. If the frequency of Hackney Today were reduced, the council would therefore be obliged to publish its statutory notices in a local newspaper at commercial rates.

The council report argues that: “The Government’s suggested alternative of a quarterly publication, plus the costs of placing statutory notices in another local newspaper would cost almost exactly the same amount as producing Hackney Today, and the council would get significantly less for its money, meaning extra money would need to be spent to communicate with residents”.

The financial logic of this recommendation is laid out as follows in the report: “The cost of Hackney Today in 2010/11, including print, distribution and staffing was £496,836. The external advertising revenue for 2010/11 was £161,530, making the net ongoing cost to the Council £335,306. […]

“The total cost of replacing Hackney Today with a quarterly [publication] and running statutory advertising in the Hackney Gazette would be approximately £337,000. This is before the cost of additional communication materials, which would be needed to replace Hackney Today to promote events, consultations and services.

“We produce 108,000 copies of Hackney Today each fortnight with an ABC audited door to door circulation of 90,848 per issue (average 05 Jul 2010 – 02 Jan 11).

“This is in comparison to the Hackney Gazette’s last ABC audited circulation figures of 7,593 per issue (average 29 Jun 2009 – 03 Jan 2010). Not only is Hackney Today cheaper for the council, but it also provides a far wider reach into our communities, ensuring essential information and statutory advertising reaches far more of our residents, and providing far better value for money than the alternative option.”

The report also maintains that the Government guidelines are not legally enforceable, and that the council will abide by the principles of the Government’s new Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity.

Hackney Today has been produced by the council since 2001. Eric Pickles has argued against the publications of such ‘town hall Pravdas’, saying that local authorities should “focus more on frontline services like providing regular rubbish collections”.

In December 2010 Mayor Jules Pipe defended the role of Hackney Today, telling the Parliamentary Communities and Local Government Select Committee that part of the job of the publication is counter negative depictions of the area in the local press, and that it “is not meant to be reflective of the generality of life in Hackney.”

The Mayor maintained that the council’s freesheet is: “a newspaper in style; it is printed on newsprint admittedly, but it does not carry all those things you would expect to see in a local newspaper, from local sport to TV listings to classified ads. None of those things are in there and never have been.”

The publication does, however, include Sudoku, gardening tips, and interviews with local personalities.

Pickles has described publications such as this as ‘propaganda on the rates’, as they use local residents’ council tax money to publicise the achievements of the party in control of the council.

Should it decide to continue to publish Hackney Today, the council will be one of the very few local authorities in the country to do so. Pickles recently single out Hackney, Tower Hamlets and Greenwich for flouting his guidelines, which were passed by Parliament in March.

“These town hall free sheets exist to promote personal political agendas and not the interests of the public. The millions wasted on this propaganda could be diverted to protecting front-line service,” said Pickles.