Twittergate

At the meeting of Worcester City Council on Tuesday 5th July Cllr Adrian Gregson raised a point of order regarding the use of social media during council meetings. He specifically named Cllr Riaz and also mentioned members of the press as the constitution was written before Twitter the Mayor upheld the complaint. I have read Cllr Riaz blog detailing his outrage that free speech was being stifled and to be fair I thought he made his points very well and it is difficult to disagree with much of his comment. But in common with a number of interested party's on Twitter there is an incorrect assumption that this was an attempt to stop free speech.

The point that know one has acknowledged is the reference to the press. The Worcester News political reporter David Pain is a prolific Tweeter during council meetings and can sometimes be opinionated on an issue or a party. As the Worcester news regularly points out they are the only paper present and as such the medium that most members of the public get there information on council meetings and no doubt form there opinion. So is it not conceivable that if councilors are following David during the meeting his tweets could unduly influence what they say and do in the meeting to obtain favorable coverage. It would follow that this could go through into articles and gain unfair advantage in the reporting. I am not suggesting the Worcester news is News International but in my opinion this was the basis of the complaint.