Nottinghamshire council bans councillors from speaking to local press

The leader of Nottinghamshire County Council has banned his councillors from speaking to a local newspaper and its team of BBC-funded local democracy reporters, a move critics say is a serious attack on press freedom and local democracy. The ban, announced this month by Reform UK’s administration, orders councillors not to engage with the Nottingham Post, its online arm Nottinghamshire Live, or the local Democracy Reporting Service journalists the paper hosts, and directs press officers to remove the outlets from media distribution lists.

Council officials said the restriction will remain in place except for emergency scenarios such as flooding, incidents at council-run schools, adult social care matters, or public safety issues. Reporters will still be able to attend public meetings, the council spokesperson added. The prohibition follows a viral clip in June showing a councillor struggling during an interview and a Nottingham Post story about proposed local government reorganisation that reported internal disagreements among Reform councillors, according to local accounts.

Nottingham Post editor Natalie Fahy called the ban a “massive attack on local democracy” and said it was...