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Communities secretary, Eric Pickles, has upset council communication heads by calling on them to scrap their newspapers and magazines – or what he calls ‘town hall Pravdas'. But communications specialist, Marina Pirotta, says he may have a point Consultation on proposed changes to the publicity code has now closed – but that hasn't stopped local government communicators being angry about it. The LGA, rightly, points out that plans to limit the frequency of council newspapers and magazines to four a year is ‘entirely at odds' with the principles of localism. But will it really place ‘severe restrictions' on the ability of councils to communicate with their residents? As one of the consultants responsible for the Connecting with communities project which, among other things, advocated producing council magazines to keep residents' informed, I now find myself in the unlikeliest of positions. Siding with Eric Pickles. It's not that we were wrong. Ipsos MORI survey data told us then, and continues to tell us today, that the better informed residents are about their council, the more satisfied they are. But that was then and this is now. A lot has happened since Connecting with communities was launched at the LGA conference seven years ago. Back then, Web 2 technology and the social media it has helped to spawn was in its infancy. With the exception of the council's website and community meetings, communications was still largely paper-based, with information marketed to all and sundry, whether residents were interested in the topics or not. The best local authorities are now experimenting with new ways to segment audiences and tailor information accordingly. Others are investigating different forms of global, non-paper-based marketing tools, including the use of apps and community TV channels. Not all of these will be successful, but I would argue that the basic approach is right. There will be those communicators who fear change and continue to justify their council magazine by quoting figures for those in their community who don't have access to the Internet or a mobile phone. But while a council magazine has been a useful tool in the absence of anything better, and while it still has a place in the communications mix, it was never the panacea for all council communications. Even delivered door to door, there was always a good percentage of people – particularly the young – who put it straight in the bin. While I would question the need for a publicity code at all, by putting quotas on the number of council magazines which can be produced each year, Mr Pickles is doing local government a great service – encouraging it to find new ways of connecting with its communities. Marina Pirotta is a director of Public Select

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WHITEHALL

Why I agree with Pickles on newspapers

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