NUJ offer to mediate between mayor’s office and journalists as boycott continues

The Bristol branch of the National Union of Journalists has reiterated its support for the ongoing boycott of Marvin Rees’ press conferences, saying that “all journalists should be free to attend mayoral briefings and ask questions, not just those whom Rees and his staff deem appropriate”.

The NUJ have also offered to act as mediators in an attempt to allow local democracy reporters to attend the fortnightly briefings.

Bristol24/7 contacted the mayor’s office but they declined to comment for this article.

Rees has previously said that reporters from the BBC-funded Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) are not banned but they are not invited to his press conferences.

Bristol24/7 is one of the news organisations in the city who publish stories written by the LDRs and has joined Bauer Media, the Bristol Cable, Bristol Post, Bristol World and ITV in boycotting the press conferences until LDRs are allowed to attend.

Rees claims that “nobody’s been banned. I didn’t invite you to my birthday party, but I didn’t ban you from it. It’s up to me.”

LDRs, however, have regularly attended Rees’ press conferences since they were inaugurated at the start of the pandemic:

In a statement, the Bristol branch of the NUJ said: “LDRs are providing an invaluable resource, both in Bristol and elsewhere. Rees is right that five years ago, the NUJ was concerned by the government’s demand that the BBC fund the salaries of LDRs from the TV licence fee, given they would be working for local newspapers owned by large corporations.

“Our view was – and remains – that such businesses ought to be employing journalists directly, especially as the BBC licence fee was, and remains, under mounting pressure from the Conservative government. Such concerns notwithstanding, the LDR scheme has proved to be a great success.

“These reporters are holding local politicians to account effectively – and not just on behalf of the publications with which they are directly associated, like Reach plc’s Bristol Post. Other local publications also use their material, including the Bristol Cable, Bristol 24/7 and Voice series.

“Anyone in an elected role has a duty to be answerable to his or her electorate. We reiterate that the question to which Rees and his staff took offence, when an LDR (and NUJ member) asked him about flying 9,000 miles to deliver a 14-minute speech on climate change, was perfectly reasonable.

“It should not matter whether the question was asked by an LDR or a general news reporter. The impartiality expected of LDRs and, indeed, all reporters, does not mean they will never ask awkward questions of those in power.

“The mayor has made much of his decision to declare a climate emergency in Bristol. Leaving aside the environmental implications of long-distance air travel, the public might wonder how he has the time to promote himself while delivery of a key policy – a clean air zone in central Bristol – has continually been delayed.”

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The NUJ’s support for the boycott comes as Bristol City Council has announced that it has stopped sending press releases to the media.

The council told news outlets that it is “taking a digital first approach to sharing news, and this includes a change in how we share our news with you. We hope that by growing our digital audiences, we will be able to reach more people with vital messages, including seldom heard groups…

“This change means we won’t be emailing traditional press releases, and instead you are encouraged to add our news site to your RSS feeds so you get instant alerts when news is published.”

The NUJ statement added: “The mayor’s increasingly desperate measures will only serve to harm democracy during the remainder of his term of office.

“We would like to offer the mayor’s office our services to mediate between them and local media organisations, if it will aid their understanding of the value of the LDR service.”

Main photo: Bristol City Council

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