Good news from The Dumbarton Democrat on the readership front. Figures show we have had a daily average of 16.5K views and 13.8K visitors over the past 30 days. We are a locally owned and edited community newspaper that keeps our readership informed about important matters. We cover local and international news and politics from community councils to West Dunbartonshire and Argyll and Bute Councils. Our editor has won several national and local awards, including Scotland’s Weekly Newspaper Journalist of the Year (three times), legal and consumer journalism awards, and worked as a special adviser to Scotland’s First Minister in Edinburgh. And for UK politicians in London, Brussels, Dublin, and Belfast. However, we are constrained by the sanctions placed on us by West Dunbartonshire Council for asking to be provided with a desk in the Church Street council chamber and for the sound to be turned up so that the press and public can see and hear what is being done in their name. All community announcements go FREE in The Dumbarton Democrat. However, the Council sticks determinedly to their decision, made by an official without reference to the elected members. We are banned from asking them questions in the public interest. Their decision could be ageist, political, or personal. It is neither just nor democratic. The council has form for bullying and victimising its staff. It has now turned its malevolent attention to us on the back of a tissue of lies and naked prejudice. It is time for a change, according to the politicians standing for election on May 7. If The Dumbarton Democrat is good enough to carry the campaign material (see democratonline.net) for the political parties to which members of WDC belong, then we are surely fit to cover local Council matters without having these petty restrictions imposed on us. This is an opportunity for them to come out into the open and state their case against The Democrat. After all, they are the ones who keep talking about openness, honesty, and transparency in local government.
Top of page: Several councillors pictured at a meeting of West Dunbartonshire Council.