EAST BERGHOLT PARISH COUNCIL
Media and Social Media Policy

East Bergholt Parish Council wishes to be open and transparent in the way it
considers information and takes decisions. The Council will pursue appropriate
opportunities to publish information about its activities with the intention of raising
awareness about what the Parish Council is doing. Feedback and ideas are
welcomed from the community.

● By the Media – we mean print, broadcast or online professional media
organisations.

● By Social Media – we mean user-generated online platforms such as Facebook.
1. PROFESSIONAL MEDIA
• The Chair and/or the Vice-Chair of the Council should be aware of all
approaches from the media for statements or interviews.
• Any request from the media will be considered by the Chair and/or the
Vice-Chair of the Council who will determine the most appropriate person
to make a response on behalf of the Council.
• Every situation must be carefully assessed and in many cases a
response may not be appropriate.
• Councillors who see an article/item and consider a response by the
Council may be needed, should inform the Chair of the Council/Vice Chair.
• In assessing whether or not a response is appropriate the following will be
considered:
(a) Is the article/item in question factually accurate?
(b) Would further discussion on the subject be constructive?
Media Releases
The Chair of the Council/Vice-Chair/Committee Chairs will identify issues
and stories that have the potential to be of interest to the public.
The Chair of the Council/Vice-Chair/relevant Committee Chairs are
authorised to issue media releases – although the Chair and/or Vice-Chair
must have final approval. A copy of the final media release will be sent to
the Chair of the Council and any Councillor who is quoted in the text prior to
publication.
Media releases will be sent to relevant media outlets and will be posted on the
Council’s website and Facebook page.

2. SOCIAL MEDIA
The Council understands the need to use social media channels to stay
connected to and interact with residents, customers and partners.
Social media can include the following:
• East Bergholt Parish Council Website
• Facebook, Myspace and other social networking sites
• X and other micro-blogging sites
• Instagram and TikTok
• YouTube and other video clips and podcast sites
• LinkedIn
• Blogs and discussion forums
Parish Council employees and media consultants when delivering/posting
messages on social media on behalf of the Parish Council will be guided
by the policy in this document. They must at all times seek to be accurate,
professional in tone and reflect the Parish Council’s views.
Parish Council employees and any media consultant can represent the Parish
Council via social media channels through delegated authority from the Chair of
the Council. No Parish Council employee or media consultant can express
personal views on Parish Council matters through social media channels.
The Chair, Vice-Chair and Chair of Committees can represent the Parish
Council through any channels via the processes set out in this policy – also
through delegated authority from the Chair of the Council. If in any doubt about
a particular post – sign-off from the Chair should be sought. They can also
choose, through social media channels, to express personal views, which might
differ from the Council’s position. In this case they must make clear that the
view being expressed is not the Council’s view.
Any other Councillor can also choose to express their own views on topics via
social media, with the same conditions as above. Other Councillors, however,
cannot represent the Parish Council through any channel without prior
approval of the Parish Council Chair.
Social media may be used by East Bergholt Parish Council to:
• PROMOTE Council services, decisions and actions – including
information from council meetings
• ADVERTISE events, services and activities that East Bergholt Parish
Council has organised or co-organised, or supports as being
beneficial for the community
• ANNOUNCE relevant information from the Council, from community
groups and organisations and from partner organisations such as
Suffolk County Council.

• MONITOR residents’ concerns and views

Social Media best practice

The Council will seek to ensure that legal obligations and best practice guidelines
are adhered to.
• Any photos published on social media channels must have the
relevant permissions.
• Media accounts will be updated and monitored regularly and will be
non-political. Political posts will be removed and the Parish Council will
not engage on issues of party politics at any time.
• Offensive or inappropriate language or anything that might
contravene defamation, copyright or data protection laws will
be removed.
• Online social media sites may occasionally be unavailable and the
Parish Council accepts no responsibility for any lack of service.
• The Council may follow or subscribe to social media accounts of other
users. This does not imply endorsement of any kind.

Use of Social Media by Parish Councillors, employees and media
consultants – guidelines for online communication
• Always be responsible, respectful, accurate, and balanced and protect
the good reputation of the Council. Do not use language that could be
deemed offensive relating in particular to race, sexuality, disability,
gender, age or religion or belief
• Follow best practice guidelines as outlined above
• Respect the privacy of other councillors, staff and residents. Never use
an individual’s name, or post information about an individual, unless
given written permission to do so (publishing the personal data of
individuals without permission is a breach of GDPR legislation)
• Always disclose your identity and affiliation to the Council, never use
false names or pseudonyms
• If a Councillor or member of staff blogs, tweets or communicates
online personally, and not in the role as a Councillor or member of
council staff, they must not claim to act or give the impression that
they are acting as a representative of the Council i.e. they should not
include web links to official Council websites, Council email
addresses or any other Council identification as this may give or
reinforce the impression that they are representing the Council.

• Do not post information that may be deemed libel (publishing untrue
statements about a person which is damaging to their reputation is libel

and can result in a court action) or obscene (publication of some
obscene material is a criminal offence and is subject to a custodial
sentence).
• Do not bring the council into disrepute, including through
content posted in a personal capacity.
Approved and adopted by East Bergholt Parish Council: 11
th

February 2026
Next review: February 2027