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SALFORD CITY COUNCIL £20,000 PAYMENT TO MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS GROUP
 

Star date: 24th September 2014

SALFORD COUNCIL PAYS OVER £20,000 TO EVENING NEWS GROUP IN ONE MONTH – EDITOR DENIES ANY COMPROMISE

Cash strapped Salford City Council made payments of over £20,000 in just one month to Trinity Mirror Publishing Ltd which owns the Manchester Evening News.

When questioned by the Salford Star into whether the payments might pressure editorial judgement, Manchester Evening News Editor-in-Chief Rob Irvine said: "Such arrangements do not in any way compromise the independent, thorough, fair and balanced reporting of Salford Council by MEN Media."

Full details here...

According to the latest publication of Salford City Council payments over £500, Trinity Mirror Publishing Ltd was paid £20,353.14 during just one month in July. Trinity Mirror publishes the Manchester Evening News which includes Salford in its distribution.

The payments from the Council came from marketing and publicity budgets of the Chief Executive, Sustainable Regeneration and Children's Services departments – but were also marked down as `legal fees', `payments to agencies' and `other works'. Five of the payments were for similar amounts but each is documented with a different number.

The Manchester Evening News has come under fire recently from campaigners, who believe that the newspaper has too close a relationship with Salford Council.

Campaigners against Council cuts to transport for people with disabilities were furious this summer when the paper repeated the Council's `dark propaganda' about brides being upset by a protest Rally On The Lawn at the Civic Centre..."I found that really low and disgusting" said one attendee, who pointed out that when the Mayor held his Spirit of Salford event on the same lawns with brides getting married at the same time, nothing was written.

Meanwhile, Matt Finnegan, Salford Council's `politically restricted' Head of Communications, resigned after the Salford Star exposed him sending a private email to a Manchester Evening News journalist promoting the Mayor's chosen Labour Party candidate to stand for Hazel Blears' seat at the next General Election (see here).

This afternoon Manchester Evening News Editor-in-Chief, Rob Irvine, denied that the huge payments from Salford Council put pressure on editorial judgement...

"Commercial publishing deals between news publishers and local authorities have long existed throughout the UK" he said "Local authorities are required to publish certain information, such as traffic notices, through the local press.

"Such arrangements do not in any way compromise the independent, thorough, fair and balanced reporting of Salford Council by MEN Media" he added "nor do we have any evidence of such a perception among council tax payers in Salford."


• Today, the Manchester Evening News had to take a photo down from its website for a breach of copyright after it used an image belonging to a Salford Star photographer. The photo was also used in print editions.
The Fat End of The Wedge wrote
at 18:45:04 on 26 September 2014
I once participated in a survey about MEN, for which I was paid the princely sum of £25. I still told them they were sh*te. Mind you, if it were £25k then what would I say? If they were sh*te, but I'd get the money anyway - then I'd still say they were sh*te. So do they get paid for being good boys, or the money is just for services rendered, and MEN happen to side with the council? I reckon they just side with the council due to the political leanings of the group that owns them - http://www.trinitymirror.com/brands/media?letterFilter=M#atoz
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Nigel F ragemont wrote
at 18:44:39 on 26 September 2014
@Salford for sale, I must say the Salford Advertiser does make an excellent liner for a cat litter tray, it's very absorbant. Apart from that we have no real use for it in our house as we buy the Guardian for toilet paper.
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Salford for sale wrote
at 21:09:15 on 25 September 2014
I thought the Manchester evening news and salford advertiser were only printed to put your fish and chips in and then to wipe your arse after a good meal. If both disappeared no true salfordian whould notice.
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Very confused??????? wrote
at 18:26:51 on 25 September 2014
The "public notices" in the Ragvertiser are nearly always the same 3/4 page every week, so same cost every week on average over a year, yes!!! No, look at the costs, Joe O'neil has put them up for year on year below. Why are they not more or less the same if they only related to public notices???? The figures researched by Joe range from £70k to £173k for a year, how can information a council has to publish go up and down so much?????? As for notices in the MEN, personaly I have never seen any.
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Snapper wrote
at 09:53:02 on 25 September 2014
Make sure you invoice them at the going rate plus a penalty for the unlicensed use of the image. Poor show, MEN.
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Mike Kelly wrote
at 09:52:57 on 25 September 2014
The Editor of the MEN is correct in saying that Councils should advertise Traffic / Gating orders in the local press...........just one problem I have never seen any of these in the MEN. Used to see the odd order in the Advertiser.....whoever not all properties get the Advertiser.......the idea of advertising such orders is to allow people to see the proposed order and make representation should they disagree with the order. Salford Council used to advertise their orders in their in-house magazine, which is not timely or fair. Another example of fudging the regulations.Anyway a set fee as described above would not appear to be feasible as each advert would be costed on the size of its content. Surely Salford CC or the MEN can provide more detail as to what was actually paid for !!!
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sue worried wrote
at 09:52:46 on 25 September 2014
All very strange, what should also be remembered is that MEN also own the Salford advertiser and it maybe also a way to influence that publication as well. All dirty trick by a desperate Salford clowcil. As MEN circulation heads toward danger levels, this may well be the nail in the coffin of a once great publication. I have seen for a long time the bias reporting of this and the BBC and no longer consider them as a reliable source of truthful news. Bye Bye MEN
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em3 wrote
at 03:47:22 on 25 September 2014
This is one of the most outrageous things I have heard. The Manchester Evening News - what used to be a great paper - it's beginning to sound like a Murdoch rag. It's meant to hold power to account - As George Monbiot says, the only paper we can trust up here is the Salford Star
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Cbp wrote
at 03:47:03 on 25 September 2014
20k in one month! This sounds very dodgy! Wonder if finer details of these payments can be obtained? People have a right to know the exact details of this amount of public spending. FOI please!
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Joseph Oneill wrote
at 03:45:56 on 25 September 2014
3. How much has the Salford City Council spent on non-job adverts with the Guardian, Manchester Evening News and other newspapers from the Scott Trust? Manchester Evening News 2009-2010 103,925.41 2010-2011 83,433.93 2011-2012 38,893.30 2012-2013 173,339.40 2013-2014 70,362.92 Steve the reality. Without opposition you get a free for all..
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