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Council gets expensive lesson in PR


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2 June 2010

Council gets expensive lesson in PR

The first lesson a PR expert should be teaching a local authority when he arrives to review its communications department will be to keep its mouth shut about its expenditure on consultancy fees. That's the view of the PR profession after Lincolnshire County Council sparked a media row for hiring public relations consultant Mark Fletcher at a daily rate of £850 to teach staff how to use Twitter and identify cost-cutting measures in its in-house PR department. The council called on the services of Mr Fletcher in an effort to make savings on its PR budget and tackle the communication challenges ahead in view of proposed cutbacks and job losses. But the media vultures quickly swooped in when they learned just how much the cash-strapped council was paying out in a supposed bid to save money, garnering support from critics accusing the authority of money-wasting hypocrisy. Given his proven track record of improving local government communication, PR practitioners broadly agree that Lincolnshire County Council was right to take on Fletcher's services, but wrong to allow information about his remuneration to leak out this way. And now Fletcher has a tough job on his hands, not only to persuade traditionally conservatively minded council workers to adopt more streamlined working practices but also to repair the PR damage already done by his appointment.



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