22 AUG 09: GAZETTE DUMBS ME DOWN !
On Aug 3rd, I posted an open letter to Gazette editor Darren Thwaites on the Gazette's 'Have Your Say' online forum. I accused the lack of coverage of my 3 political films about local authorities as proof of being biased in favour of the councils and the paper being dumbed down. The letter and corresponding thread has now been viewed almost 1000 times. Darren didn't respond.

On Aug 14th, I wrote to Darren again via the letters page of the paper itself. Again I accused him of bias and dumbing down. Tonight they printed it BUT NOT all of it. They tried to come across as bold and virtuous making it the main letter with a pic and with a foot note from the editor BUT typically they cut the most pertinent and damning section of it. They dumbed me down and I rest my case! Below is my letter with what they did not print in bold red...

Dear Darren,
Councillor Dunning’s attempt to regenerate credibility for the Coatham leisure scheme (‘Project Will Regenerate Redcar’ 10/08/09) failed to deliver like the scheme itself. When Councillor Dunning stated that only the protestors believed the scheme wouldn’t regenerate Redcar he was wrong. I can bear testimony to 800 Redcar & Cleveland taxpayers who attended recent screenings of my latest film ‘Coatham-A Common Concern’ in Coatham, Redcar, Marske, New Marske, Lazenby Saltburn and The House of Commons no less!

Many who came to see the film were also as shocked as I that this newspaper chose not send a reporter to watch the film nor run a feature on it and the many serious questions it raises. In a paper that afforded a recent front page and a half to a story about a kitten on a busy road and a full page to a man who grew a giant cabbage, I think a story about the first independent documentary feature about a local council ever made in Teesside’s history; that was made with voluntary labour, funded by public donations and shown in Parliament and which the Redcar MP tried to stop from being shown is surely newsworthy enough? Or was it not featured like this letter probably won’t be because the paper is biased in favour of the council? When the council announce a new £30m scheme to regenerate Redcar seafront and the paper fails to ask what about the phantom £88m Coatham scheme then surely we have an answer.

yrs sincerely and for the good of Teesside, Craig Hornby

25th June 2009:
COATHAM DVD APPEAL
WE NEED YOUR HELP !
My new film is a VERY TOPICAL expose of public money being grossly misused by an inept and hell-bent Redcar & Cleveland Council. For 6 years under the guise of a fantastical leisure scheme, they have tried to get 359 houses and flats built on covenant-protected sea front and common land.

They promised new leisure facilities 11 years ago and haven't laid a brick. The only thing they have constructed is a fence which has been guarding empty space for 2 years and has cost the public a shameful £48k and rising. They also shockingly paid 50% of Persimmon Homes £284k planning fees. They have forged and suppressed documents and bent and broke the rules to push the scheme through. This is a regeneration disaster that has ignored massive objection for 5 years has cost the public in total around £1million.

In May the film was premiered in PARLIAMENT and then to 800 people across Redcar & Cleveland to critical acclaim. BUT it has been blanked by the local media who have not attended a single show. The same treatment was afforded to the Longridge and Lake films a couple of months ago by the Evening Gazette. I believe it is because the films challenge the flawed logic of our powers-that-be too much and the local media are in a bit of a quandry. They are biased or gutless or both. Either way they have failed to do their duty and simply report news of the first independent documentary-feature on local politics ever made on Teesside.

It has been put together over the last 2 years with Pancrack funds and public donations. The campaign group and myself have worked for FREE because we believe the public have A RIGHT TO KNOW THE TRUTH BEING DENIED THEM. This is about democracy in our borough as much as it is about preserving public land; getting a real leisure scheme and saving this dying seaside town.

PLEASE HELP US SPREAD THE WORD !

Many Thanks to all who donated to the dvd fund !
Craig Hornby & The Friends of Coatham, June 25th 2009

7th MAY 09: BIASED GAZETTE BLACKOUT
In February, I put on a showcase in Middlesbrough of 4 eco-political films made in Teesside one of which commissioned by Friends of The Earth in London. The event was a cultural / political first for Teesside but the Evening Gazette sent nobody to report on the event and showed no subsequent interest in the films.

In March, I organised a demo outside a national climate change conference hosted by Middlesbrough Council. I had a large "Stop The Robocop Chainsaw Massacre" banner and I stood 7 foot 9 with a loudhailer leading the chant. 100s of 'Bulldozing Democracy' dvds were given out to all arriving delegates. I spoke to a Gazette reporter on the day but curiously when the report appeared 3 days later, it did not mention me, nor show the banner nor explain what the dvd being given out was about. The Northern Echo covered it all and also made a video of the event. The next day I sent Gazette editor Darren Thwaites a dvd and requested a meeting to discuss a number of issues and concerns that I had. He never replied.

In May, we took the Coatham film to Parliament. This was another cultural / political first for Teesside but it made only a meagre article buried deep in the Gazette and with no picture. The Northern Echo and the Sunday Sun ran bigger articles and with 2 pictures each. On returning from Parliament, we showed the film to 600 people in a church. This was yet another cultural / political first for Teesside but the Gazette sent nobody to the event and has shown no interest in the film.

I called the Gazette editor twice but as usual never reached him. Deputy editor Adrian Hogg did return my call stating that they had covered the story. He also asked what the big deal was about taking it to Parliament stating "who would be interested in a film about Redcar, the MP for North Surrey?" and why had we set up the show via an MP from another area and not the Redcar MP? These questions were sure reason for a journalist to look into the story but sadly not at the Gazette and their readers across Teesside weren't able to find out about it.

A few years ago, when 'A Century in Stone' was full on, all I had to do was blink and I would be in the paper. The Gazette even included me in their "101 Most Influential People in The Tees Valley" pull-out supplement! Here I am today with a feature-length documentary full of Teesside people talking about the future of Teesside's main seaside town; it is shown in the House of Commons and in Redcar to an audience of 600; and the Gazette's interest is NIL ZERO ZILCH. Will the forthcoming Vin Garbutt film get the same treatment...?

There have been far too many instances that simple coincidence cannot excuse. I have repeatedly sent in letters that have been 'overlooked' and more often than not had content neutered. The lack of interest in the Longridge, Lake and Coatham films leaves me in no doubt believing that there is a deliberate effort on the part of the Gazette to manage/downplay/contain opinion that is sharply critical of our local councils and the big regeneration schemes. We have been fed hype and spin for a decade about a golden future in the Tees Valley; about Middle- haven, North Shore, Coatham Enclosure and they have all failed to deliver at enormous expense ; and were failing long before the recession hit.

Despite all the false dawns and empty promises, why is the Gazette still so keen to keep printing without question what the councils and TVR tell them year after year? At what point does the Gazette conduct a serious evaluation / debate? Will it ever? Income from public bodies in the form of advertising is becoming increasingly important as income from selling papers to the public is dwindling. How much does this influence what gets prime coverage? If the public are fed a steady diet of patronising drivel by politicians and are not encouraged at every turn to engage in serious debate then the pandemic of apathy will only worsen. And that is bad for local democracy and also bad for local newspaper sales! I urge the Gazette to radically re-think, there are swathes of decent but disillusioned Teessiders who have stopped buying your paper.

5th-7th May 2009: COATHAM FILM SHOWN TO 600 IN CHURCH

Despite Vera Baird calling the church warden and the parish dean to cancel the show, the show went on - for 3 nights - and to 600 people. Neither she, nor Ashok Kumar nor any of the 59 councillors attended as per usual...
and we reserved front row seats every night for them too !

5th May 2009: COATHAM FILM SHOWN AT PARLIAMENT

A 42 min. edit of the Coatham film was shown at 1 Parliament Street via Robert Goodwill MP for Scarborough to around 20 people including Paul Bristow, the prospective Tory candidate for Ashok Kumar's seat, plus representatives from The Environmental Law Foundation and The Open Spaces Society. Directly after the screening, Mr. Goodwill remarked that he felt decieved by us for showing a different and longer film than the one we had showed him in Scarborough. For the record, the film we showed was only 7 mins longer than the one showed in Scarborough and was largely the same film. There was also never any clear stipulation made in Scarborough about showing that exact same cut in Parliament. A group discussion followed the screening in Parliament and Mr. Goodwill stated that he couldn't stay too long as he had a meeting. But he stayed for the whole duration, an hour and 20 minutes, and was very much engaged throughout.

Vera Baird did not attend but we believe did send associates who promptly left as soon as the film finished. A statement by Vera Baird claimed that the film contained 'nasty allegations'. These 'allegations' are not nasty but are in fact accounts and opinions s of members of the public exercising their democratic right to ask questions of their MP and council. They feel, like Vera Baird once did when Labour were in opposition, that "there was something sinister going on" within the council over the Coatham scheme. Mr Goodwill also issued a statement that he did not endorse these allegations and following a discussion with Vera Baird was ending his involvement with the FOCC. He did nevertheless think the content of the film was serious enough to set up the Parliament screening and did state that there were lessons to be learned for the council over their handling of the Coatham scheme. This was elaborated upon by Paul Bristow (pictured below) who thought the Coatham affair was astonishingly poor and as he stated on camera, serious questions quite rightly needed to be answered.

All in all, the Parliament show was a step into the unknown for all of us and good to do. It was disappointing not to get any national press but what chance did we have with the MPs expenses scandal featuring our Vera breaking the same week ! Meanwhile back at home...the campaign by film was only just beginning!

Link: Whitby in Shorts Film Festival