Freedom of information request 1 Date 14.06.2011

A. This freedom of information request is a request for information that will be published in a public forum with open public comments http://thanetonline.blogspot.com/ this Thanet based website has a monthly readership of approximately 5,000 unique individuals, so whilst this is not council accredited media request nor is a request for information to be read by one resident.

B. Please reply only by email and ensure the reference number in the subject of this request email is included in the subject field of your response email.

C. If this request is for information not held or partly not held by Thanet District Council, please pass the requests for the information to the appropriate government department and inform me if there will be any further delay, than that prescribed in the foi legislation, to your supplying the information.

D. In cases where the council is unable to collect the information for me from another part of government please inform me immediately.

This request relates to the way the council provides information to accredited and non accredited media.

For the purposes of this request I am assuming that a council accredited media source is a media source that receives press releases or can ask the councils press department questions.

1. Please provide any additional information about the council’s relationship with the media that I haven’t asked for but is held by the council and appears pertinent.

2. Does the council have any accredited media source that is exclusively internet?

3. Does the council have any accredited media source where the local media publication is exclusively internet but the same business has paper publications? Your Thanet would be an example of this.

4. Please provide a list of exactly who and which organisations receive council press releases or can ask the council press department questions? Please include in-house and government funded publications?

5. Please provide a list of which publications the council pays to advertise in and an approximate figure for the councils spending on advertising in accredited media?

6. Please provide the approximate cost of public information publications funded by the council, including the cost of the council’s various public information websites?

7. Are there any accredited publications that the council do not contribute to financially in some way?

8. Does the council have a policy for withdrawing funding including advertising revenue from accredited publications and for what reasons would the council withdraw funding? Would the council for instance withdraw advertising or threaten to withdraw advertising from an accredited news source that criticised the council?

9. Does the council incur any extra costs for adding non accredited news sources to their press release mailing list?

10. Have any of the council’s accredited news sources requested that the council does not supply press releases to non accredited news sources?

11. Have any of the news sources supplied with press releases up to this point abused them, not adhered to embargos and so on?

12. Have the council’s press department been supplying press releases to and answering questions for individuals or organisations that have no news outlet or obvious public readership?

13. Up until the present ban on non accredited news sources, my understanding is they were the only point of publication for high definition reproduction of the council’s accompanying press release photographs. What will happen to these photographs now and will the council publish them in high definition online?


	Freedom of information request 1 Date 14.06.2011 \| home Freedom of information request 1 Date 14.06.2011 Please note the following. A. This freedom of information request is a request for information that will be published in a public forum with open public comments http://thanetonline.blogspot.com/ this Thanet based website has a monthly readership of approximately 5,000 unique individuals, so whilst this is not council accredited media request nor is a request for information to be read by one resident. B. Please reply only by email and ensure the reference number in the subject of this request email is included in the subject field of your response email. C. If this request is for information not held or partly not held by Thanet District Council, please pass the requests for the information to the appropriate government department and inform me if there will be any further delay, than that prescribed in the foi legislation, to your supplying the information. D. In cases where the council is unable to collect the information for me from another part of government please inform me immediately. E. Please answer the numbered questions with similarly numbered answers. F. Please confirm the receipt of this email. Request 1 This request relates to the way the council provides information to accredited and non accredited media. For the purposes of this request I am assuming that a council accredited media source is a media source that receives press releases or can ask the councils press department questions. 1. Please provide any additional information about the council’s relationship with the media that I haven’t asked for but is held by the council and appears pertinent. 2. Does the council have any accredited media source that is exclusively internet? 3. Does the council have any accredited media source where the local media publication is exclusively internet but the same business has paper publications? Your Thanet would be an example of this. 4. Please provide a list of exactly who and which organisations receive council press releases or can ask the council press department questions? Please include in-house and government funded publications? 5. Please provide a list of which publications the council pays to advertise in and an approximate figure for the councils spending on advertising in accredited media? 6. Please provide the approximate cost of public information publications funded by the council, including the cost of the council’s various public information websites? 7. Are there any accredited publications that the council do not contribute to financially in some way? 8. Does the council have a policy for withdrawing funding including advertising revenue from accredited publications and for what reasons would the council withdraw funding? Would the council for instance withdraw advertising or threaten to withdraw advertising from an accredited news source that criticised the council? 9. Does the council incur any extra costs for adding non accredited news sources to their press release mailing list? 10. Have any of the council’s accredited news sources requested that the council does not supply press releases to non accredited news sources? 11. Have any of the news sources supplied with press releases up to this point abused them, not adhered to embargos and so on? 12. Have the council’s press department been supplying press releases to and answering questions for individuals or organisations that have no news outlet or obvious public readership? 13. Up until the present ban on non accredited news sources, my understanding is they were the only point of publication for high definition reproduction of the council’s accompanying press release photographs. What will happen to these photographs now and will the council publish them in high definition online?