Tories Allegedly Ban Twitter
25 May 2011 by Paul Rhoades
Following the AGM of North Lincolnshire Council, the Labour group have informed Visit Scunthorpe of a ban on the use of mobile devices preventing tweets being sent from inside council meetings.
Regular readers may recall that we have recently started covering council meetings with our live feed. This has proved very successful in terms of opening up the democratic process to members of the public and giving access to council meetings to people who would not necessarily attend.
Our coverage of two meetings provided feeds to over 70 individuals following proceedings from their homes, and provided access to the democratic process for all.
Sadly today this practice has been brought to an abrupt, undemocratic end as the new regime at North Lincolnshire Council attempt to stifle public opinion, accountability and access to the democratic process by members of the public.
What we totally fail to understand is the very fact that Tory minister Eric Pickles not 3 months ago wrote to councils telling them to engage with the public more and to encourage the use of social media by councillors and the public in meetings to make democracy more open and transparent.
We've already written to the council on behalf of users of our twitter service asking them to explain and justify the reason for the ban. Once this reply is received we will publish a follow up article giving their reasons.
below is a statement we have already received from the Scunthorpe Labour Group about this sad development:
A move by Labour councillors to allow members of North Lincolnshire Council to use Twitter during meetings has been blocked by the Conservative group.
At today’s annual general meeting of the council, Labour members moved a motion which would have seen the council’s constitution changed to allow councillors access to social networking sites during scheduled meetings. Currently the use of mobile phones and other such devices is banned from the council chamber.
The idea – moved at the meeting by Labour Leader Cllr Mark Kirk – is aimed at encouraging more people to get involved in the democratic process.
Cllr Kirk said: “As a council we must be open and transparent and look to communicate with local residents in as many different ways as possible. Websites such as Facebook and Twitter are extremely popular and as councillors we must move with the times. I now receive more correspondence by email than I do by post or telephone and the Labour group believes an online presence is vital in the 21st Century.
“A number of Labour members communicate with people using blogs and social networking sites such as Twitter and I feel those that do should be able to ‘Tweet’ from meetings, if they wish, to keep residents updated. Unfortunately the Tories don’t agree and blocked the plans en masse.”
Cllr Mick Grant, a regular user of the social networking site Twitter, added: “I am not aware of a single Tory councillor who uses Twitter or who blogs. But that should not stop councillors from being able to ‘Tweet’ during meetings if they so wish. Not everyone will want to do it, I accept that, but those who believe in open and transparent democracy should be able to inform residents of what is going on.”
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Comments
got the full story now.
its not been banned but the removal of the ban on mobile phones and similar devices was blocked by the tories which is just as bad. we all comunicate using smart phones and part of the use is social network websites like facebook and twitter.
not overturning the ban on mobile phones and similar devices is just as bad as banning it in the first place. there is no need for such a ban these days, and in terms of the current technology and its multiple uses it is counter productive.
its not been banned but the removal of the ban on mobile phones and similar devices was blocked by the tories which is just as bad. we all comunicate using smart phones and part of the use is social network websites like facebook and twitter.
not overturning the ban on mobile phones and similar devices is just as bad as banning it in the first place. there is no need for such a ban these days, and in terms of the current technology and its multiple uses it is counter productive.
Who banned mobile Phones?
This ban seems to me to be pretty standard fayre and should be implemented in more areas of life.It's a sad part of today's life that peo;el cannot go a few minutes let alone an hour or so without twattering or using facebook to update people on every second of their dull lives.It's sad that society has become so self obsessed and a bad side effect of social networking. Go to the meetings ad make notes,then tweet them or run then in other sites after wards,it will make no difference to anyone bar yourself.You may even hear the full story and not just cherry pick and do Mick Grants Work for him.
For clarity, here is the motion, as voted down yesterday by the conservative group, which specifically states the use of twitter, and moves to reject the changes to the constitution of the council as described in my second article yesterday.
ITEM 6(j)
Moved by Mark Kirk
Seconded by Len Foster
This council rejects any move to make North Lincolnshire Council less ‘open and transparent’. In doing so, council rejects any move to:
· Remove the Forward Plan from debate at full council
· Stop questions being asked relating to North Lincolnshire Homes or their tenants
· Ban questions which hold individual members of the council to account
· Ban notices of motion from anyone not a member of the two main political parties
Instead council adopts the same constitution as agreed for the 2010/11 council year. Furthermore, in keeping up with the digital age this council recognises that both members and members of the public should be able to use social networking sites such as Twitter
Fans,
I would say that council members should not be allowed to use mobile/smart phones during a meeting because they are there to listen/take part in the meeting. However, i think that permission to use technology in the public gallery should be a given. i do understand your argument that a person should be able to wait until the meeting is over and then tweet or report on what happened in the meeting but these days we live in a 24 hour news cycle where we want the news as it happens and not at the end of the day during the 9 o'clock news.
All the major news networks report on current events as they happen, so allowing the public gallery to report/tweet the meeting as it happens is a natural evolution based on the way current affairs are reported.
i would say that if someone becomes disruptive or noisey during tweets/reporting due to the nature of the device being used then yes it should be removed, but i think you will find that most smart phones these days are touch screen and totally silent which would cause no disruption to council proceedings.
Would you agree that this is a happy medium/compromise? outright ban, bad, partial ban (council members yes Public gallery no) good?
I would say that council members should not be allowed to use mobile/smart phones during a meeting because they are there to listen/take part in the meeting. However, i think that permission to use technology in the public gallery should be a given. i do understand your argument that a person should be able to wait until the meeting is over and then tweet or report on what happened in the meeting but these days we live in a 24 hour news cycle where we want the news as it happens and not at the end of the day during the 9 o'clock news.
All the major news networks report on current events as they happen, so allowing the public gallery to report/tweet the meeting as it happens is a natural evolution based on the way current affairs are reported.
i would say that if someone becomes disruptive or noisey during tweets/reporting due to the nature of the device being used then yes it should be removed, but i think you will find that most smart phones these days are touch screen and totally silent which would cause no disruption to council proceedings.
Would you agree that this is a happy medium/compromise? outright ban, bad, partial ban (council members yes Public gallery no) good?
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It would need the force of law so that upon arrest for tweeting in the meeting there is a section of an act under which a person can be charged with breaching.
this is the way i see it, so if there are any lawyers out there who can refute me or back me up then please speak now.
This is extremely serious people. speak up now. anyone who does not see this as serious, let me put this too you. whats to stop them banning the press next? Whats to stop them banning the public next?
its the way these things work. they start by banning something small to see how the public reacts and to see if they can get away with it. i really cant see how this ban is either lawful or legal but that doesnt stop party politicians doing it, because if no-one complains or protests then they get away with passing unlawful motions in the council.
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