Bloggers denied press releases, Part II
Scott White from Scott’s Morning Brew continues to document his difficulty in convincing the Suffolk, VA press office to send him routine press releases. In his follow-up post, he includes email correspondence from Dana Woodson, Suffolk city (and taxpayer-funded) FOIA officer. Since Debbie George (old media communications professional) continues to rely on the crusty “bloggers aren’t real media” argument to escape her duty to send the press releases, Mr. White was forced to request the public information via FOIA.
Scott was able to purchase June pressers for an excessive $15 and can only receive them via snail mail on CD. Additionally, Woodson refused to email the press releases to any blogger. I thought I would check out the city of Suffolk’s website to learn more on their communications policies. This is what I found:
We promote rapport and goodwill between the City and the community we serve through the interchange of ideas and the assessment of public opinion. In addition, we have the responsibility to seek public input and involvement in the affairs of City government and to establish effective two-way communications between the City and its constituents for everyone’s mutual benefit.
Oh really? Rapport? Goodwill? I’m not sure that’s how I would describe Suffolk’s current communication with the public. Now, I’m not in the habit of predicting the future, but it doesn’t take a genius to see “public service” employee difficulties becoming a hot topic next election cycle.
American Majority- you might want to check out Suffolk for some responsive activists…
This situation is not a new one for the Suffolk City Council and Administration. The culture of this organization is even worse than described in the Virginian-Pilot Editorial and comments I have read on the various BLOGS.
Our present Mayor, Linda Johnson was appointed by her fellow council members in 2006 after a contentious election that changed the make-up of council. She made a clear statement during the appointment ceremony that she was “a woman on a mission” and “would demand that the business of Suffolk be OPEN AND TRANSPARENT!” Since Mayor Johnson has taken over, it has been anything by OPEN and TRANSPARENT!
The Suffolk City Council meets in CLOSED SESSION more often than any other city council and for more time. An example of how bad it has gotten is how the Mayor and Council handled our recent decision on the new Health and Human Services Building. This issue had been talked about for some time, then went quiet. Unbeknown to the populace of Suffolk the Mayor and City Council was meeting in five closed session to decide to build the new HHS building just down form some property owned by the Mayors family members and another councilman. After these five closed meeting and without public comment the HHS building was announced to be put into a property owned by the city near a large residential neighborhood.
Needless to say there was a huge uproar, not only about where it was, but how it was decided. This public outcry lead to the Mayor and Council backing up and putting it into a stalled development area where more people could accept it. This episode is only one of many examples of how secretive and closed the Suffolk Administration has become under our Mayor, new City Manager and all the new senior staffers. Keep watching us in Suffolk, you are undoubtedly going to see a real show…
Roger A. Leonard, MPA
Suffolk…
In Michigan, one could do a “subscription request”, and get them as they are created. According to Michigan case law, the public body can not charge differential rates to the media or public. If free to the media, it would be free to the blogger.
Talk to your legislators in VA.