By Claire Meadows

The Society of Editors has described the decision by a Reform UK council leader to ban engagement with Nottinghamshire Live and its Local Democracy Reporting Service staff as “profoundly wrong”.

The ban, reported by the Nottingham Post yesterday, means that all of Reform UK’s 41 Nottinghamshire county councillors will refuse to speak to any journalist from the Reach-owned [publishers of the Daily Record, Sunday Mail and Lennox Herald] Nottinghamshire titles and the team of reporters it manages under the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

Journalists will also not receive press releases, be granted interviews with Reform UK councillors and they will not be invited to cover any county council events in the locality, the Society understands.

Responding to the ban, Dawn Alford, right, Chief Executive of the Society said: “Reform UK’s decision to shut out Nottinghamshire Live and its Local Democracy reporters is profoundly wrong. Political parties must welcome scrutiny, not silence it. When councillors refuse to answer questions or provide information, they’re not just shutting out the press — they’re shutting out the public they serve.

“Local reporters are the eyes and ears of their communities and democracy depends on transparency, and that means elected officials facing scrutiny even when it’s uncomfortable. You don’t get to pick and choose which journalists ask the questions in a democracy. This decision sets a very dangerous precedent and we hope it is lifted with immediate effect.”

The decision to ban engagement with Nottinghamshire Live staff comes after the title published an article last week claiming that the Reform UK Leader of Nottinghamshire County Council Mick Barton, had advised councillors to back a controversial Nottingham expansion that some councillors are ‘not happy’ with. The ban also comes just two months after Reform UK’s Ashfield MP Less Anderson launched an attack on Nottinghamshire Live for running too many “negative” stories about his party.

The BBC understands the ban followed a disagreement about a story it ran on local government reorganisation.

Also included in the ban are BBC-funded journalists who work at the publication as part of the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

Senior editor Natalie Fahy said she was “very concerned” by the “unprecedented ban”.

The authority will stop sending press releases to the publication, and Barton and his colleagues will not give interviews or invite them to council events.

Reporters from Nottinghamshire Live and the LDRS will continue to attend public meetings.

A spokesperson for the council said: “The ban, which will only be lifted for emergency scenarios like flooding and weather-related cases, incidents at council-run schools, adult social care, or public safety issues, has come into immediate effect.”

Nobody from Reform at the council was available for comment.

Reform took control of the authority at the local elections in May, winning 40 of 66 seats.

West Dunbartonshire Council refuse to comment on this to The Democrat. The Labour administration claim they haven’t banned us, just that they refuse to speak to us or invite our news platform to their events. Find us at democratonline.net