Let Tweeters and bloggers into council chambers urges minister

Councils should open their meetings up to bloggers, tweeters and modern media, communities secretary, Eric Pickles, has claimed.

Local government minister, Bob Neill, has written to councils urging greater openness to meet the demands of the growing tide of ‘citizen journalists’.

The DCLG says the rules governing open council meetings were brought in by Margaret Thatcher 50 years ago, and fail to take account of modern media. Ministers claim Tameside MBC allow accredited journalists to tweet from council meetings, but have banned bloggers from doing so.

Mr Pickles said: ‘Many councils are Internet-savvy and stream meetings online, but some don’t seem to have caught up with the times and are refusing to let bloggers or hyper-local news sites in.

‘With local authorities in the process of setting next year’s budget, this is more important than ever.

‘Opening the door to new media costs nothing and will help improve public scrutiny.’