It is a principle of local journalism that public service reporting should remain impartial, accessible, and properly credited. Unfortunately, in Peterborough, that principle has recently been undermined. CambsNews has raised a formal complaint regarding the Peterborough Conservatives’ use of a video featuring Councillor Wayne Fitzgerald, the leader of the Conservative opposition on Peterborough City Council, which appears to breach the terms and conditions governing Local Democracy Reporter (LDR) content.
A few days ago, a Local Democracy Reporter—funded by the BBC and assigned to the Peterborough Telegraph—interviewed Cllr Fitzgerald to provide context on his opposition to a council debate and vote regarding the preferred option for local government reform.
The purpose of the interview was clear: to give Cllr Fitzgerald the opportunity to explain why he and his Conservative colleagues refused to support the recommended option. This is standard practice under the LDR scheme, designed to ensure that local democracy is reported accurately and that the public has access to balanced, verified information about local government decisions.
However, that video has since appeared on the official Peterborough Conservatives Facebook page, where it has been viewed more than 3,500 times. The party even thanked the LDR for providing it. In our view, this constitutes a clear breach of the LDR terms and conditions.
To understand why, it is necessary to outline the structure and purpose of the LDR scheme.
Since 2017, the BBC has employed up to 165 Local Democracy Reporters who cover councils and other public services for the benefit of the public and partner news organisations.
The initiative, developed in collaboration with the News Media Association and other media organisations, is designed to ensure that councils, local authorities, and other public institutions are scrutinised transparently.
Content produced by LDRs is intended for circulation through official channels, such as the BBC News Hub and Shared Data Unit, to media partners, rather than for individual political entities to use selectively. Over 200 media organisations, representing more than 1,100 outlets, are eligible to receive and republish LDR content. This ensures fairness, consistency, and impartiality in the coverage of local governance.
The BBC’s guidelines for staff and contributors make clear that impartiality and civility are paramount.
Employees, freelancers, and contributors are instructed to respect high standards of professional conduct, particularly when using social media. Individuals working in news and current affairs are explicitly forbidden from posting material in a way that supports a political campaign or gives the impression of partisan bias.
While Cllr Fitzgerald’s interview was intended to inform the public, the decision by a political party to post the video on its own platform transforms the material into a tool for political messaging, whether intentional or not.
CambsNews is concerned that the Facebook post by the Peterborough Conservatives undermines these principles.
Sharing an LDR-produced video of an opposition councillor on a party page not only breaches the usage conditions of the content but also risks compromising public trust in the impartiality of local reporting.
LDR interviews are produced to ensure public access to unbiased reporting—not to serve as promotional material for political parties. When the material is used outside these controlled channels, it risks misrepresentation, selective amplification, and erosion of confidence in the integrity of local journalism.
We have formally requested that the BBC investigate this misuse of LDR content.
Our complaint is straightforward: content created under the auspices of the LDR programme is being repurposed for political advantage without the consent of the content distributor and outside the established network of news partners.
While political parties may have good intentions in promoting public debate, the LDR programme exists precisely to prevent partisan exploitation of material produced by journalists funded by public money.
It is important to stress that CambsNews fully recognises the value of the LDR scheme.
By ensuring local councils are held accountable, LDRs perform a crucial democratic function. Their work is funded by the public, through the licence fee, and is intended to be disseminated widely through appropriate journalistic channels.
Using that material for party-political purposes, however, diminishes its integrity, undermines transparency, and erodes the impartiality that the BBC and its partners strive to maintain.
Andrew Pakes, the MP for Peterborough, told CambsNews: “I was surprised to see the Local Democracy Reporting Service being used to produce a video for a political party. It has not appeared anywhere else.
“I am a supporter of the scheme and how it develops local journalism but this seems to be an overstep in its impartiality.”
We urge the BBC to examine the use of the video by the Peterborough Conservatives and to clarify the appropriate application of LDR content in political contexts.
Public confidence in local democracy reporting depends on adherence to the agreed guidelines. Misuse of LDR material is not a trivial matter; it strikes at the very heart of impartial journalism.
In conclusion, CambsNews believes that all parties, councillors, and political organisations have a responsibility to respect the terms of use for journalistic content produced under the LDR scheme.
Public trust is earned, not assumed. The BBC and its partners have worked hard to build a network that provides fair and balanced coverage of local government.
Attempts to exploit that content for partisan purposes undermine not only the programme’s credibility but also the wider principle of impartial local reporting.
We call on the BBC to take appropriate action and to ensure that these guidelines are upheld rigorously.
A copy of this article has been sent to Jason Gibbins, the BBC’s senior news editor for the LDRS, for a response.
He replied: “Thank you for alerting me to the below. At this stage please consider this a simple hold note to allow me to consider further, and to establish how the video was obtained by the Conservative group.
