The Isle of Wight council ‘Comms’ department appears to be attempting to rewrite history.
Back on 13th June VB published an article pointing out about the damage to Seaclose Park after the Isle of Wight festival.
We then asked the Isle of Wight council how long it would take to get Seaclose Park back in a workable condition.
In June they said five weeks
The ‘Comms’ department carried out an extended attempt to avoid answering our questions as to how long the repair would take.
Finally, in answer to our simple “How long you anticipate it to take to get the council land back to a workable/usable condition?” question, Gavin Foster, Media Manager, at the council told VB, “Around five weeks (ready for when when the main sporting calender starts).”
Rewriting history
Today the same ‘Comms’ department put out a press release titled, “Seaclose Park Repairs Ahead Of Schedule“, containing the following …
Work to repair parts of Seaclose Park that were damaged during wet weather at the Isle of Wight Festival is ahead of schedule and will soon be complete.
[…]The recent kind weather has also helped, with the park now on schedule to be fully restored by the end of October, several months ahead of initial estimates following the festival.
Eh?
Of course, it’s great that everyone has mucked in and got the park repaired, but “Ahead of schedule”?; “To be fully restored by the end of October”?; “Several months ahead of initial estimates following the festival”?
Quite how this is supposed to balance with the reality of what they wrote to VB back in June is frankly very hard to understand. We’re going to write to them to ask.
Why a free media is important
It’s worth remembering that when the council is putting out their own version of the news – through their expensive ‘free’ One Island newsletter (where it’s not even clear what is editorial or advertorial) or their Facebook page – there is no filter between what they claim and you reading it.
A free media is supposed to sit there and act as a filter. A trusted source, filtering the fact from fictions.
VB think that examples like this, show why the Island needs a rich, varied media. Not just one or two news sources.
