Argyll and Bute’s press office has been left bereft of reputation and senior staff. The remaining rump has been rudderless and incapable – most evidently so in the disastrous handling of the return to prominence of a local child’s blog on her school dinners, a second flowering the council had itself fuelled.
This led to the Scottish Sock Puppet Theatre caterwauling a hilarious and contemptuously satirical song about ‘Argyll and Bewt’ all over the internet, leaving the name of the council a brand damaged beyond redemption.
The counbcil’s Communications Manager, Jo Smith, had earlier been suspended for self-declared online covert surveilllance activities on council critics.
The two next most senior staff – of longer standing and more respected than Ms Smith – were then misguidedly suspended over no more than an ill judged set of private jokes about their superiors – at a time when the council was the butt of satire at a national level.
The two staff promptly resigned. Life was a lot too short for this.
Then there came the media firestorm after council officers made a serious mess of the matter of the school dinners protest blog, topped off by a national press release so incompetent that it was no less than a self-igniting weapon of self destruction. The sock puppets’ song delivered the coup de grace.
Now hope for better is on the near horizon.
Aileen McNicol from the Dunoon Observer has been appointed to the communications office.
She is a good journalist, with Highlands and Islands awards to her credit. She is also a steady-footed, grounded person with respected values, unlikely to be led into the sort of bunker mentality and dubious practices that led to the implosion of the council service.
We wish both Ms McNicol and the council well in this initiative. The appointment is a good one.
Congratulations on your appointment Aileen.
May I on behalf of the Museum thank you for your interest and assistance in our activities.
A new opportunity for you with which I wish you every success.
Kindest regards.
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Congratulation Aileen. I wish you well in your new post.
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Quite why Argyll & Bute Council employ an army of well paid spin doctors when we are told there is no money for essential services is a mystery to me .
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Newsie, is that the same Dunoon Observer that you exclusively revealed was due to close before Xmas last year??
“bunker mentality and dubious practices”? Pffft.
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Now that we have a new appointee to the press office, do we need to continue paying for the absentee, Jo Smith?
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Is this also the same Dunoon Observer that doesn’t report on fatal accidents and never seems to follow up on stories that do not involve ferries?
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Well said JimB. You’re not the only one who notices that the Observer never follows up on reported stories. Most frustrating. This weeks paper was all police reports and courts, golf and bowls ! Then again baybe nothing happened……….
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Good appointment. Aileen is a well known and respected journalist in Argyll, big loss for the Dunoon Observer but ABC needs the quality in these positions. Don’t imagine this administration will give her the same amount of fire fighting the last lot created.
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When the Jo Smith saga eventually comes to some conclusion does this mean everybody who was abused by the press office under the various councillors and officials orders will get their day in court.Anything else is a complete waste of time.
As a interested bystander what exactly does A&B,s press office actually do.
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I can’t say specifically what the A&B press office do but more generally a council press office’s duties will include the likes of:
Dealing with media enquiries.
Producing internal and external communications including things like staff magazines, and also keeping people like MSPs, us punters, other partners etc informed about services and issues.
Maintaining the council website.
Managing the ‘brand’ of the council to ensure consistency.
It is actually an important part of a council and effective if managed well.
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Whilst I wish this lady success in her new appointment, I can’t help thinking that this indeed is a very safe appointment by the council. The Observer’s lack of criticism of A&B over the past few years has been obvious to all, no doubt guided by the fear that they may lose local government advertising (something that should have happened years ago!). Still, looking on the bright side, one less member of staff should help their dire finances.. and probably increase the coverage of golf and bowls!
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Yes newsie, you are welcoming her now, but i wonder how long it will be before you turn on her when she doesn’t want to deal with you. Never mind, no doubt you can make up something and add a gate to the end of it. I wish the woman all the luck in the world, she will need it.
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Our job is calling to account so the answer to your ‘how long?’ questions is as soon as she puts a foot wrong, as with everyone. We’re only ‘for’ Argyll.
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Indeed, but who calls you to account?
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Simon
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Maybe Simon could point out some of the errors in this piece then. I will leave it to him.
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By the look of this site she’s got her work cut out. What few on here seem to have twigged is that Ms McNicol will be required to protect the council’s reputation, just the same as her predecessors will have tried to do. From what I’ve read of Argyll & Bute Council, it has been its own worst enemy, conducting some kind of witch hunt until it had nobody in place to prevent the complete car crash that was the Martha Payne/NeverSeconds fiasco. Ms McNicol is no longer a journalist, she has been employed to act as gamekeeper rather than poacher. No doubt, in due course, she will fall foul of the self-righteous vitriol all too apparent in this blog. Best of luck to her, I wouldn’t have touched the post with a barge pole.
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