If Carmarthenshire's County Hall wishes to expand its media empire further, it looks like there's an opening in the London borough of Greenwich. A former editor of Greenwich council's newspaper spills the beans on why he believes the phrase 'Town Hall Pravdas' is entirely accurate. The guest blog, on the online Press Gazette is definitely worth a read;
Newspeak, 'quotes' written by the PR team, faces airbrushed from history - what it was like to edit a town hall Pravda
Clearly Carmarthenshire council's press office, managed by the Chief Executive's department, would be ideal for the job. Our very own 'Carmarthenshire News', with it's 'creative accounting' has already expanded it's propaganda skills to encompass the police, the health board and local colleges. It's enthusiasm for the opening of the evangelical bowling alley suggests that soon we'll have a column devoted to fire and brimstone. Determined attempts by County Hall to take editorial control of the local press have had, as this blog has reported over the years, varying degrees of success.
On the subject of promotional material, at a recent meeting of the Community Scrutiny Committee serious concerns were raised over the recent logo rebranding (cost unknown) of the council's fitness and sporting initiatives to "Actif/Active".
'Actif', it was pointed out, was an inaccurate direct translation of 'Active' in the sense of keeping fit. The Welsh word being more suited, I understand, to the context of scientific experiments. Officers were quickly on hand to shift any blame as this logo was being used in several local authorities and had been endorsed by the Welsh Government and Sport Wales....
Of course, with charges for council run sports facilities rocketing over the next three years and parks and playing fields being 'transferred', the 'actif' initiative may become redundant.
With the budget priorities of the council executive firmly in a parallel universe one sporting venue will remain protected at all costs, and the only concession to critics of the Carmarthenshire Pravda is that it's annual output might be reduced from six editions to four.
Newspeak, 'quotes' written by the PR team, faces airbrushed from history - what it was like to edit a town hall Pravda
Clearly Carmarthenshire council's press office, managed by the Chief Executive's department, would be ideal for the job. Our very own 'Carmarthenshire News', with it's 'creative accounting' has already expanded it's propaganda skills to encompass the police, the health board and local colleges. It's enthusiasm for the opening of the evangelical bowling alley suggests that soon we'll have a column devoted to fire and brimstone. Determined attempts by County Hall to take editorial control of the local press have had, as this blog has reported over the years, varying degrees of success.
On the subject of promotional material, at a recent meeting of the Community Scrutiny Committee serious concerns were raised over the recent logo rebranding (cost unknown) of the council's fitness and sporting initiatives to "Actif/Active".
'Actif', it was pointed out, was an inaccurate direct translation of 'Active' in the sense of keeping fit. The Welsh word being more suited, I understand, to the context of scientific experiments. Officers were quickly on hand to shift any blame as this logo was being used in several local authorities and had been endorsed by the Welsh Government and Sport Wales....
Of course, with charges for council run sports facilities rocketing over the next three years and parks and playing fields being 'transferred', the 'actif' initiative may become redundant.
With the budget priorities of the council executive firmly in a parallel universe one sporting venue will remain protected at all costs, and the only concession to critics of the Carmarthenshire Pravda is that it's annual output might be reduced from six editions to four.
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