Letter published in the Carmarthen Journal last week
Had a letter published in the Carmarthen Journal last week re the continuing debate about Carmarthenshire News - the county council and local service board's regular newsletter.
Not all of it made it into print.
Here is the 'unedited' version -
It was interesting to read the ‘War of Words’ story about the costs of Carmarthenshire County Council’s Carmarthenshire News ‘news-sheet’on Page 9 of the Journal (August 22).
My eyebrows went up higher than a Roger Moore impersonator when I read that the council had not retained all back editions for the last five years – and it hadn’t recorded the cost of individual adverts.
Perhaps this is an indication of the manner in which the council has used the newsletter as a ‘toy train-set plaything’.
Having some experience of running newspapers and newsletters, I know that in the ‘real world’ of newspaper budgets it was always considered proper to keep records of such matters.
Like Carmarthen East and Dinefwr AM Rhodri Glyn Thomas, I am intrigued as to the accounting and auditing procedures which have been used in the production of the newsletter.
Do the different elements of the so-called Local Service Board (fire, police, health and colleges) merely move bits of paper around departments to create an audit trail – or does any hard cash actually move between budgets?
The whole thing seems to be bound together like some Gordian Knot.
I am further intrigued by discussions I have had during my work as a volunteer with a West Wales charitable cause (I will spare any embarrassment by not naming them, but the identity of the group has been revealed to the editor of the Journal).
This group of hard-working and socially-responsible service providers was invoiced £250 for what looks to me like a quarter page of ‘editorial’ in the newsletter.
Yes, editorial. This was not in any shape or form an advertisement.
Bearing in mind the pressure on local charities, I find it astounding that they should have been charged for some much-needed publicity for their good works.
It would be interesting to know how many other charitable groups within Carmarthenshire have been invoiced for their editorial contributions to the news-sheet.
I am sure the editor of the Journal would be more than happy to collate the material.
For the sake of fairness, I have to point out that on its website, the county council states -
Carmarthenshire News is a bi-monthly publication produced by the Local Service Board. Our objective is to produce Carmarthenshire News at nil cost through sponsorship and advertising.
Each edition costs an average £23,000 to produce and distribute. The average costs and income currently are:
Print = £5768.26
It was interesting to read the ‘War of Words’ story about the costs of Carmarthenshire County Council’s Carmarthenshire News ‘news-sheet’on Page 9 of the Journal (August 22).
My eyebrows went up higher than a Roger Moore impersonator when I read that the council had not retained all back editions for the last five years – and it hadn’t recorded the cost of individual adverts.
Perhaps this is an indication of the manner in which the council has used the newsletter as a ‘toy train-set plaything’.
Having some experience of running newspapers and newsletters, I know that in the ‘real world’ of newspaper budgets it was always considered proper to keep records of such matters.
Like Carmarthen East and Dinefwr AM Rhodri Glyn Thomas, I am intrigued as to the accounting and auditing procedures which have been used in the production of the newsletter.
Do the different elements of the so-called Local Service Board (fire, police, health and colleges) merely move bits of paper around departments to create an audit trail – or does any hard cash actually move between budgets?
The whole thing seems to be bound together like some Gordian Knot.
I am further intrigued by discussions I have had during my work as a volunteer with a West Wales charitable cause (I will spare any embarrassment by not naming them, but the identity of the group has been revealed to the editor of the Journal).
This group of hard-working and socially-responsible service providers was invoiced £250 for what looks to me like a quarter page of ‘editorial’ in the newsletter.
Yes, editorial. This was not in any shape or form an advertisement.
Bearing in mind the pressure on local charities, I find it astounding that they should have been charged for some much-needed publicity for their good works.
It would be interesting to know how many other charitable groups within Carmarthenshire have been invoiced for their editorial contributions to the news-sheet.
I am sure the editor of the Journal would be more than happy to collate the material.
For the sake of fairness, I have to point out that on its website, the county council states -
Carmarthenshire News is a bi-monthly publication produced by the Local Service Board. Our objective is to produce Carmarthenshire News at nil cost through sponsorship and advertising.
Each edition costs an average £23,000 to produce and distribute. The average costs and income currently are:
Print = £5768.26
Distribution = £17,400.73
Advertising and sponsorship revenue: £18,000
Net cost: £5000
Robert Lloyd, media consultant, New Road, Llanelli.
Robert Lloyd, media consultant, New Road, Llanelli.
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