Tim, I think what you say may be true in terms of the scale and impact, but, sadly, not necessarily so in terms of the political wish to manipulate the media. I think there have been too many scandals in local government over the years for us to forget that councillors are still elected politicians who have their own agendas both at political and personal levels (the same could also be said of senior officers). Donald Henderson Perth & Kinross Council PS The above should not be taken as a reflection of this Council !!!!!! -----Original Message----- From: Tim Turner [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: 11 March 2004 08:29 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [data-protection] Special Purposes exemption I guess I would draw a distinction between local and central government, a line between PR and spin doctoring. To me, they aren't the same thing. Someone who works in a local authority PR department doesn't have the ability (and in my experience, the intention) to manage the news agenda to the extent that a Central Government spokesman would. I don't believe that the people involved in the Kelly affair could be described as simple PR staff. The difference between what we do and what Central Government does is, to me, so marked that the comparison becomes meaningless. Tim Turner Data Protection Officer Wigan Council > ---------- > From: Maurice Frankel[SMTP:[log in to unmask]] > Reply To: Maurice Frankel > Sent: 10 March 2004 16:47 > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: [data-protection] Special Purposes exemption > > On 10 Mar 2004, at 12:04, Tim Turner wrote: > > > > [...] > > No PR department would ever want to abuse people's rights, because > > that would be entirely counterproductive. On the other hand, it > > might sometimes be useful to know that they can use > > information more freely than might be the case at the moment. I'm > > interested > > in this because I doubt PR people would get into the territory of > > damaging > > people's interests (which would be, as I say, entirely > > counterproductive), > > > > > So it would be inconceivable for a public authority PR person to > describe an employee who had criticised the authority as a "Walter > Mitty character"...? > > Maurice Frankel > Campaign for Freedom of Information > > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > All archives of messages are stored permanently and are > available to the world wide web community at large at > http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/data-protection.html > If you wish to leave this list please send the command > leave data-protection to [log in to unmask] > All user commands can be found at : - > http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/help/commandref.htm > (all commands go to [log in to unmask] not the list please) > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > ********************************************************************** This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. 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