A Slow News Day
You may have seen an item in this week’s Cornish Guardian about Councillors (myself included) who send messages from Twitter during Council meetings. What I think might have been intended as a light-hearted commentary on what was an excruciating, over-long debate on Members’ allowances seems to have become (at least in its online version) a story about Councillors not concentrating when they should be.
Just to be absolutely clear, the messages used in the article were sent during a three-hour debate on that topic which is so dear to elected representatives’ hearts - our own remuneration. The result of the debate was a foregone conclusion from the moment the two main party leaders stood up and announced they would be voting for a freeze, yet councillor after councillor felt it necessary to regurgitate what the previous speakers had said. (Interestingly the Council spent around half an hour discussing the Housing Strategy - no-one ‘Tweeted’ during this item.)
The charge laid in the ‘news’ item was that councillors were not concentrating on the job at hand. Let’s be clear on this as well - some councillors take longhand notes during meetings, some doodle in the margins, some slip out for a cup of tea and yes, some have even been known to fall asleep. Others, myself included, take short notes in an electronic form and pass them on to the public forum of Twitter. Many seem shocked that those outside the four walls of County Hall might actually be interested in what goes on in the Chamber but the reaction is almost universally positive with most people feeling that it’s probably a good thing to have councillors of all parties who are willing to pass on information which might be important to the people who pay for it all.
Yes, some of what I wrote was a touch flippant and I dare say my friend Pat Harvey, Chairman of the Council, will slap my wrists when I next see her, but I make no apology for not being a robot. Parts of the meeting were humourous and I tried to reflect that in my comments.
Those who don’t ‘do’ Twitter may wonder what the fuss is all about, and you’re probably right. There was, in the end, no harm done. Evidently today was a slow news day.
What the others say:
