Wiltshire councillor Jonathon Seed has come under criticism for making factually incorrect and alleged defamatory statements about Melksham News and its parent company, Wiltshire Publications, in two publicly streamed council meetings.
Cllr Seed, a Conservative councillor representing the Melksham Without West and Rural division, used the meetings to attack the newspaper, a family-owned business that has served the Melksham community for over 40 years. The newspaper says his statements were inaccurate and misleading, raising concerns about his use of a public platform to spread false claims about a local business.
In a Wiltshire Council committee meeting in November last year, Cllr Seed launched a scathing attack, incorrectly claiming that Wiltshire Publications was “struggling financially.” He also falsely accused Melksham News of boycotting Wiltshire Council, dismissed the newspaper as “hamster bedding,” and made personal attacks on the newspaper’s editor and a member of staff.
Following this, Melksham News submitted a complaint to Wiltshire Council for breach of the Councillors’ Code of Conduct. However, the council refused to consider it, citing that it was submitted two days past the 20-working day deadline – despite allowing up to 12 months for complaints in other cases which do not relate to councillor conduct.
Last month, the newspaper contacted Cllr Seed directly, requesting a public retraction of his statements, an apology for the damage caused to the business, and a commitment to refrain from making further inaccurate or defamatory remarks. He did not respond. Instead, the following day, in another publicly streamed council meeting, he made a statement saying he was ‘clarifying’ previous remarks, but making further misleading claims about Wiltshire Publications’ financial position, accusing the newspaper’s senior reporter of biased journalism (despite Melksham News not using bylines) and reaffirming his previous statements.
The newspaper has now lodged a further formal complaint with Wiltshire Council and has requested that the council takes action to prevent councillors from making unfounded and damaging claims about local businesses and their staff and the council ensures a fair and transparent process for addressing such complaints.
It is understood that Cllr Seed’s dissatisfaction with the newspaper stems from allegations of political bias. Despite this, he never contacted the newspaper directly to raise concerns prior to making his remarks.
Melksham News editor Ian Drew said, “It is not appropriate for a local councillor to comment on the financial status of local businesses in council meetings – especially when what he said was factually incorrect. Cllr Seed also made personal attacks against me as editor and two members of staff. His continued misleading claims and public attacks on a long-established local business are unacceptable. This is not the behaviour expected from a councillor.”
Melksham News approached Cllr Seed for comment. In his response, he reiterated allegations of political bias, claiming there had been an “almost total exclusion” of positive coverage of the Conservatives in recent months.
Melksham News asked Cllr Seed to provide specific examples of positive actions taken by Conservative councillors in Melksham that he believes were overlooked for coverage, as well as to confirm when any such information was submitted to the news desk for consideration. However, he failed to provide any evidence to support his claim.
Cllr Seed’s statement read, “I stand by my opinion of biased political reporting in the MIN in recent months. Readers and advertisers can make their own minds up about this bias if they consider the balance of coverage of local politicians in recent months – with almost total exclusion of positive coverage of Conservatives.”
Editor Ian Drew responded, “We strive to report fairly and accurately. Cllr Seed has been given the opportunity to support his allegation but has not provided any evidence. It is difficult to argue that the newspaper has overlooked coverage of Conservative councillors if no examples have been given of actions they have taken that we should have reported – or if they have not informed us about them.” .”
Pictured: Cllr Jonathon Seed
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