false

2009-09-04T16:03:05Z

I'm interested in carrying out a survey of local newspapers to see how much reporting of councils is still undertaken. I started this debate on my blog where you can read more. http://sarahhartley.wordpress.com/2009/09/04/my-local-paper-and-the-reporting-of-council-matters/ Guidance on <a href="http://docs.google.com/View?id=dgz29b62_408fhfttwdd">how to measure coverage can be found here</a>, and there is <a href="http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Ah4HPF5qn6NwdExRWno2djlteC1TWVFfcmpjZmNKT0E&hl=en_GB">a spreadsheet to enter your results here</a>. UPDATE: There's also an ongoing blog covering the issue at <a href="http://councilcoverage.posterous.com/">http://councilcoverage.posterous.com/</a>

true 104

live

2009-09-04T16:08:27Z

How much local council coverage is there in your local newspaper?

2010-01-10T09:37:50Z

261

2010-02-02T17:55:16Z

UPDATE: <a href="http://www.jamesrb.co.uk/?p=261">James Ball has written this open letter to IMG and TLW</a> UPDATE: James Ball has blogged <a href="http://www.jamesrb.co.uk/?p=260">a roundup of what the investigation has discovered so far - and questions raised</a>. James Ball has raised some excellent questions about The London Weekly, a free newspaper which is supposedly due to launch on Friday. Has the media done enough probing in its reportage of this new venture? I've <a href="http://blogs.journalism.co.uk/editors/2010/02/02/the-london-weekly-some-unanswered-questions/">written a blog post outlining the unanswered questions here</a>.

true 139

live

2010-02-02T21:02:02Z

What do you know about The London Weekly?

2010-02-09T19:03:48Z

138

true

2009-07-02T20:15:17Z

UPDATE: The site went live last night [Sep 7] - <a href="http://www.birminghampost.net/news/west-midlands-news/2009/09/08/birmingham-city-council-website-goes-live-at-last-65233-24633547/">report by Birmingham Post here</a> UPDATE [braddy]: <a href="http://www.birminghampost.net/news/politics-news/2009/08/04/cost-of-new-birmingham-city-council-website-spirals-to-2-8m-65233-24307674/">The Birmingham Post have written up the story</a> Update [stef]: We've had <a href="http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/14060/response/37012/attach/html/3/Response%20Ltr.FOI3122.doc.html">a Freedom of Information</a> request back which says "This gives the latest estimated of currently approved spend of £2.803m." <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/18056886/FOI-Birmingham-City-Council-Website-Response" style="margin: 12px auto 6px auto; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; -x-system-font: none; display: block; text-decoration: underline;">FOI Birmingham City Council Website Response</a> <object id="doc_303835212814282" height="500" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0" align="middle" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="http://d.scribd.com/ScribdViewer.swf?document_id=18056886&access_key=key-11zlro2uzesdtcy9ic0n&page=1&version=1&viewMode="> <param name="quality" value="high"> <param name="play" value="true"> <param name="loop" value="true"> <param name="scale" value="showall"> <param name="wmode" value="opaque"> <param name="devicefont" value="false"> <param name="bgcolor" value="#ffffff"> <param name="menu" value="true"> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"> <param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"> <param name="salign" value=""> <embed salign="" name="doc_303835212814282_object" bgcolor="#ffffff" scale="showall" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" src="http://d.scribd.com/ScribdViewer.swf?document_id=18056886&access_key=key-11zlro2uzesdtcy9ic0n&page=1&version=1&viewMode=" height="500" wmode="opaque" align="middle" menu="true" quality="high" width="100%"></embed> </object> NB [braddy]: A <a href="http://joshuahart.co.uk/2009/07/03/help-me-investigate-birminghamgov/">roundup of the activity so far on this investigation can be found here</a>. A new birmingham.gov website was (most recently) announced more than two years ago (<a href="http://twitter.com/peteashton/status/2441031752">http://twitter.com/peteashton/status/2441031752</a>) but we've heard nothing since. Birmingham.gov needs replacing as soon as possible. This is what I *think* is the current situation. The job of delivering the new website has probably been outsourced as part of a wider City Council IT outsourcing. (to Capita? <a href="http://twitter.com/bounder/status/2441192866">http://twitter.com/bounder/status/2441192866</a>) I can't find any other public announcements about this at all. Does anyone know any more? Does anyone know who we could ask for more information?

false 49

live

2009-07-03T07:26:10Z

When can we expect a new birmingham.gov website?

http://bit.ly/PtZqE

2009-10-02T16:59:45Z

2009-04-15T20:33:53Z

true 8

live

2009-04-15T20:33:53Z

Why my doctors have an 0845 number

http://bit.ly/LE0KM

2009-07-18T15:43:58Z

false

2009-10-18T08:47:50Z

Some commentators - and Jan Moir herself - have suggested the complaints against her Daily Mail article were 'organised' - can we test this idea?

false 116

live

2009-10-18T08:48:16Z

How 'organised' or 'orchestrated' was the #janmoir Jan Moir campaign?

2009-11-15T09:40:44Z

2009-07-26T22:16:58Z

The BBC, subcontracts the 'TV Licensing' out to plethora of companies. I want to know, what do these contracts cover. How many TV 'Detector Vans' exist, how many visits do the TV Licensing people make, and how many properties are unlicensed.

true 61

live

2009-07-27T10:22:17Z

BBC TV Licensing - Do detector vans exist & how many people are unlicensed/prosecuted.

http://bit.ly/3CsSxd

2009-08-05T21:21:06Z

2009-08-30T21:17:47Z

This is the first collaborative data-gathering project brought about by CollegeJourn.com. We'd love anyone who could help to get involved and help break down and investigate this important issue.

false 98

live

2009-08-31T07:24:02Z

How does the healthcare on my University campus compare to the healthcare at other Universities?

2009-08-31T07:24:02Z

161

2009-05-28T15:10:14Z

UPDATE:A blog rounding up how this investigation is progressing can be found at <a href="http://hospitalparkingcharges.wordpress.com/">http://hospitalparkingcharges.wordpress.com/</a> It's already extremely expensive and they're now installing barriers. This must be costing them money - how do they afford it? How do they decide who to contract to?

true 34

live

2009-05-29T10:45:02Z

How much does Good Hope Hospital in Sutton Coldfield make from parking charges?

http://bit.ly/1wjB5

2009-08-26T20:20:19Z

true

2009-05-11T09:29:30Z

While local newspapers have their budgets slashed or close all together, councils are spending our taxes producing what is at best biased news, at worst out-and-out propaganda.

true 27

live

2009-05-11T10:14:50Z

How much does Birmingham City Council spend on PR?

http://bit.ly/KIaee

2009-09-01T14:29:57Z

2009-07-31T10:38:35Z

In July 2008, some beautiful old back-to-back houses on Cheapside, Digbeth were demolished to make way for a new development - I think the developers knocked the old houses down before they were ready to build so they wouldn't have to pay rates on the old buildings. See <a href="http://digbeth.org/2008/07/back-to-back-to-be-bulldozed/">http://digbeth.org/2008/07/back-to-back-to-be-bulldozed/</a> for details. A year later, it is still an empty building site (suspect development halted due to credit crunch, but don't know). I very much doubt this is an isolated incident. I'd like to know how many sites in Birmingham there are where the existing buildings have been flattened for new developments, that are still flattened sites over 12 months later? I'd also like to know where these sites are, to see if there are any clusters of such barren sites in Birmingham. I can think of 3-4 major sites in Digbeth that are like this (on Bradford St, Moseley Rd and Cheapside). They are a serious eyesore that make the area look positively war-torn, all because the developers needed to avoid paying rates before they were ready to start building. It's very sad.

true 65

live

2009-07-31T10:46:18Z

What sites have been flattened in Birmingham for new development, where building work has not started 12 months later, or even longer than that?

http://bit.ly/13ysCv

2009-07-31T11:02:35Z

106