BBC NEWS: Consumer Council paid for NI magazine article
May 27th, 2009Posted by Laura Oliver in Editors' pick, Journalism
Publically funded body, the Consumer Council, paid £1,730 for an article on its outgoing chief executive, Eleanor Gill, to appear in Northern Ireland’s Agenda magazine, the BBC reports – raising questions of editorial independence and the use of taxpayers money are raised by this.
But, says Rick Hill, chairman of the Consumer Council:
“It’s the Consumer Council’s role to make the consumer voice heard and make it count.
“We choose various methods to communicate that voice, one being buying editorial space in professional, trade or business magazines.
“The Consumer Council negotiated an annual block fee with Agenda NI of £7,415 in April 2008 to submit five articles over a 12-month period.”
Similar posts:
- AOP: RBI takes four prizes at Digital Publishing Awards 2008
- Dan Mason: The ‘pathetic tirade’ over council newspapers
- PPA Magazines 2008: Grazia scoops PPA magazine of the year award
- MediaPost: Heavy newspaper readers also turning online in US, says survey
- Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk: Word counts are there for a reason
Working in journalism and want to boost your digital skills? Questions about starting a news business online that you've been too afraid to ask?
June 24th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
I feel the Mrs Gill has done so much for us in Northern Ireland: with the Water Charge fiasco and the energy bills, that it is only right and proper that we applaude her achievements. Too often we knock people for doing a below par job, but Mrs Gill has delivered on every consumer issue she took up. In private business it is common practice to pay thousands of punds to the financial papers when a successful chief executive (and sometimes, not so successful ones too!) leaves a post. It is published with pictures and plaudites. We should be thanking Mrs Gill, and wishing her our best; not casting a shadow on a very brave career change.