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UPDATED: Oldham Council’s media strategy

1. Tell no bad news 2. Hear no bad news 3. Ignore press requests 4. Or, occasionally, give late, problematic responses 5. Marginalise those asking awkward questions 6. Brief against ditto 7. Post hundreds of pics of Council Leader on social media 8. That’s it.     Follow Neil Wilby on Twitter (here) and Neil…

Neil Wilby
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social-media-strategy

1. Tell no bad news

2. Hear no bad news

3. Ignore press requests

4. Or, occasionally, give late, problematic responses

5. Marginalise those asking awkward questions

6. Brief against ditto

7. Post hundreds of pics of Council Leader on social media

8. That’s it.

 

 

Follow Neil Wilby on Twitter (here) and Neil Wilby Media on Facebook (here) for signposts to any updates.

Page last updated: Monday 27th November, 2023 at 07h35

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18 responses to “UPDATED: Oldham Council’s media strategy”

  1. Opaque Council puts up shutters over security screens – Neil Wilby Media Avatar
    Opaque Council puts up shutters over security screens – Neil Wilby Media

    […] It now sits alongside a number of other similar, sub-optimal statements provided to Neil Wilby Media – and other publishers – since she returned to the top job in May this year, in a tray marked ‘Opaque, Incomplete or Unnecessarily Defensive’. The tray next to it is marked ‘Blue Sky Thinking’ (read more here). […]

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  2. New government grants to fund Oldham infrastructure upgrades – Neil Wilby Media Avatar
    New government grants to fund Oldham infrastructure upgrades – Neil Wilby Media

    […] The Oldham Labour Cabinet Member for Transport is the Council Leader, Cllr Arooj Shah. A statement on the funding is awaited with interest. She also holds the portfolios for Strategy and Communications (read more here). […]

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  3. ‘Cover-up’ council breaks law yet again to avoid disclosure – Neil Wilby Media Avatar
    ‘Cover-up’ council breaks law yet again to avoid disclosure – Neil Wilby Media

    […] UPDATE: Cllr Shah was offered the usual courtesy of right of reply. Via a spokesperson, it was reported she ‘didn’t wish to comment on the story’. This is in line with the her Council’s overarching media strategy revealed exclusively on this website last month (read here). […]

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  4. Bandit council defies Parliament almost every working day – Neil Wilby Media Avatar
    Bandit council defies Parliament almost every working day – Neil Wilby Media

    […] strategy she personally devised, and oversees, in order to counteract those exposés (read more here). This head in the sand foolishness, and notably poor support from the sycophants with whom she […]

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  5. Oldham Labour stick with fake ‘holding to account’ pledge – Neil Wilby Media Avatar
    Oldham Labour stick with fake ‘holding to account’ pledge – Neil Wilby Media

    […] with a simple, if controversial, media strategy which can be read, in less than five seconds, here. It also explains, to a significant extent, why Oldham has such an appalling reputation as either a […]

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  6. Epic fail council does not publish codes of conduct for either its councillors or paid officers – Neil Wilby Media Avatar
    Epic fail council does not publish codes of conduct for either its councillors or paid officers – Neil Wilby Media

    […] works in Oldham, their press office, in line with the Council Leader’s media strategy (read here), is either very slow to respond or simply does not bother to […]

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  7. The end is nigh – Neil Wilby Media Avatar
    The end is nigh – Neil Wilby Media

    […] Whereas, conversely and perversely, almost every officer and councillor within thinks they are doing a great job – and deeply resent any criticism or holding to account. Particularly, the present and self-adoring Leader of Oldham Council, with her ever-ready and seemingly boundless supply of shiny baubles to keep the reluctant or recalcitrant on-side and an innovative media strategy to head off or stonewall awkward questions (read more here). […]

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  8. Crisis council denies latest senior officer exodus – Neil Wilby Media Avatar
    Crisis council denies latest senior officer exodus – Neil Wilby Media

    […] much in line with the Council Leader’s well-practiced media strategy (read in full here), this is the response from a Council spokesperson, not Cllr Shah, the ‘Cover-Up […]

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  9. Distress signal backfires on beleaguered local council – Neil Wilby Media Avatar
    Distress signal backfires on beleaguered local council – Neil Wilby Media

    […] bizarre media strategy, have both come in for repeated criticism by Neil Wilby Media (read more here), got more than she bargained for by way of a response. This is the email sent to her in […]

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  10. Political oversight deficit laid bare at bandit council – Neil Wilby Media Avatar
    Political oversight deficit laid bare at bandit council – Neil Wilby Media

    […] by their most senior press officer, Jeni Harvey. Deploying an overarching media strategy (read here) that uncomfortably mirrors that of South Yorkshire Police, where she worked for a spell under […]

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  11. Oldham Council ‘admit financial peril …… and at risk of going bust’ says national newspaper – Neil Wilby Media Avatar
    Oldham Council ‘admit financial peril …… and at risk of going bust’ says national newspaper – Neil Wilby Media

    […] set to promote Mrs Kipling, the architect of the Council’s infamous media strategy (read more here) to Deputy Chief Executive when the present incumbent, Sayyed Osman, departs […]

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  12. Will 13th be unlucky for some? Controversial council leader faces no-confidence motion at next meeting – Neil Wilby Media Avatar
    Will 13th be unlucky for some? Controversial council leader faces no-confidence motion at next meeting – Neil Wilby Media

    […] A media strategy (read here) that has, quite properly, made Oldham Council a laughing stock and resulted, at least in part, of […]

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  13. Will Galloway-backed independents take disgraced local council into no overall control? – Neil Wilby Media Avatar
    Will Galloway-backed independents take disgraced local council into no overall control? – Neil Wilby Media

    […] For the Oldham Labour Group to lose 13 out of 45 seats, against that backdrop, is a failure of monumental proportions – and a fair indicator of the mistrust, disrespect, and often, derision they engender amongst a growing proportion of the local electorate. Not helped by senior figures in that Group, including their Leader, Cllr Arooj Shah, continuing to claim they are ‘doing a great job’, posting hundreds of pictures of herself on social media or blaming anyone and everyone else if they are exposed as not living up to their own PR guff (read more here). […]

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  14. ‘Bandit’ council continues to defy Parliament – Neil Wilby Media Avatar
    ‘Bandit’ council continues to defy Parliament – Neil Wilby Media

    […] notably the hapless, heavily over-promoted assistant chief executive, Shelley Kipling (read more here), their manner of conducting business with a well-known journalist, in plain sight on the hugely […]

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  15. Council Leader will attempt to break her own self-promotion world record – Neil Wilby Media Avatar
    Council Leader will attempt to break her own self-promotion world record – Neil Wilby Media

    […] The Council’s controversial media strategy, devised after Cllr Shah’s return to the leadership last year, remains unchanged. It can be read in full here. […]

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  16. Never rains but it pours in Oldham – Neil Wilby Media Avatar
    Never rains but it pours in Oldham – Neil Wilby Media

    […] Shah, in line with the Council’s media strategy (read it here), devised by her assistant chief executive, Shelley Kipling, and the now departed Head of […]

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  17. ‘New Labour’ facilitates latest council fail as football trumps holding power to account – Neil Wilby Media Avatar
    ‘New Labour’ facilitates latest council fail as football trumps holding power to account – Neil Wilby Media

    […] There was no inkling given by Oldham Council’s communications team to the public, or myself as a representative of the press, that the meeting was going to be truncated. Their website and various and noisy social media channels were all silent on the topic. Presumably, in line with their well-rehearsed media strategy (read more here). […]

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  18. Arooj stooge takes top job in Oldham re-shuffle – Neil Wilby Media Avatar
    Arooj stooge takes top job in Oldham re-shuffle – Neil Wilby Media

    […] Shelley Kipling, a former press officer and friend, supporter of Cllr Shah’s special political adviser (SPAD), Imran Ali (better known as ‘Irish Imy’) is best known for devising Oldham’s infamous media strategy (read here). […]

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