The Society of Editors has described the decision by a Reform UK council leader to ban engagement with Nottinghamshire Live and its Local Democracy Reporting Service staff as “profoundly wrong”.
The ban, reported by the Nottingham Post on 26 August 2025, means that all of Reform UK’s 41 Nottinghamshire county councillors will refuse to speak to any journalist from the Reach-owned Nottinghamshire titles and the team of reporters it manages under the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS). Journalists will also not receive press releases, be granted interviews with Reform UK councillors and they will not be invited to cover any county council events in the locality, the Society understands.
Responding to the ban, Dawn Alford, chief executive of the Society said: “Reform UK’s decision to shut out Nottinghamshire Live and its Local Democracy reporters is profoundly wrong. Political parties must welcome scrutiny, not silence it. When councillors refuse to answer questions or provide information, they’re not just shutting out the press — they’re shutting out the public they serve.
“Local reporters are the eyes and ears of their communities and democracy depends on transparency, and that means elected officials facing scrutiny even when it’s uncomfortable. You don’t get to pick and choose which journalists ask the questions in a democracy. This decision sets a very dangerous precedent and we hope it is lifted with immediate effect.”
The decision to ban engagement with Nottinghamshire Live staff comes after the title published an article last week claiming that the Reform UK Leader of Nottinghamshire County Council Mick Barton, had advised councillors to back a controversial Nottingham expansion that some councillors are 'not happy' with, added the Society. The ban also comes just two months after Reform UK’s Ashfield MP Less Anderson launched an attack on Nottinghamshire Live for running too many “negative” stories about his party, the Society continued.
Chris Morley, NUJ Northern & Midlands senior organiser, said: "This is a really worrying development. It's a key part of a local newspaper's role to hold decision makers to account. If reporters are barred from interviewing key councillors about those decisions, it risks creating a vacuum of democracy. We hope that Reform rethink this very sudden and rash decision, and continue to engage with all parts of the local media."
The NUJ Reach LDR chapel said: "As the union chapel representing local democracy reporters based at Reach Plc, including those in Nottinghamshire, we share our utmost disappointment and disbelief at the decision taken by Reform's Nottinghamshire County Council group and Ashfield MP, Reform's Lee Anderson.
"We wholly support the unrestricted and fettered right of the free press to scrutinise those in any elected office, of any political persuasion, without fear or favour.
"The actions of the Nottinghamshire Reform group and of Lee Anderson cannot be allowed to set a precedent for how the free press are treated in the UK now or in the future.
"Elected politicians, appointed by the public, need to defend their actions and statements to the press, who represent the interests of the wider public, not hide away in the shadows.
"Our members are hired through their BBC-funded contracts to scrutinise the decisions, actions and statements of local councils, their officials and councillors and that is exactly what they have been doing, regardless of the colour rosettes worn by the councillors in power on those authorities.
"Any politician worth their salt accepts that they will at some time or another be the subject of articles which they may not like, but those which they ultimately cannot control. It is part of the job and something that they are compensated for through a taxpayer-funded salary. If you cannot stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
"Our members will continue to carry out their duties to the fullest in the name of public interest and we would urge the Nottinghamshire Reform group and Lee Anderson to remember that they have been elected to represent the public, not just their party or those who agree with them, and to revoke the ban."
The NUJ Nottingham branch issued the following statement: “Reform UK has behaved towards the Nottingham Post and our Local Democracy Reporters in a way that is somehow both aggressive and cowardly. The local party leadership is trying to bully and coerce the Post and its reporters, and dictate terms, while at the same time hiding from democratic scrutiny over the way it is running Nottinghamshire County Council.
“Journalists ask questions of elected politicians on behalf of the people they are meant to represent. They hold politicians to account for the millions of pounds of public money they are spending. When politicians consider themselves above scrutiny, very dangerous things can happen. And only people who are afraid of the truth need to be afraid of questions.
“This move by Reform, which claims to support freedom of speech, is part of a sinister, growing wider trend of politicians and activist groups attacking journalists simply for doing their jobs. A trend of public figures bullying and pressuring journalists into reporting the 'truth' as they wish it to be presented, while deeply resenting any scrutiny and questioning in return.
“It must be resisted, and Reform must reverse its decision, for the good of the people of Nottinghamshire and for local democracy.”
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