Shooting the supermarket messenger

Chris McEwan, Cabinet Member for Economy & Regeneration, has written to members of the Town Centre Board, saying: "The coverage in The Northern Echo didn't give a full and balanced picture."

He adds: "I am sorry that I have had to update you after the information has become public."

What Councillor McEwan fails to mention is that The Northern Echo published the information after cabinet members had been privately briefed and the information had been leaked to concerned town centre traders.

Traders have genuine concerns about the potential impact of another supermarket - potentially on the site of the Town Hall - and it was those traders who passed on the information to The Northern Echo.

In other words, it was already in the public domain - as it was bound to be. Once a controversial plan is put before politicians, it will be leaked. That's what happens.

Clearly, it didn't suit the local authority for the information to be published in the local newspaper but it's called news - and it was already circulating on the grapevine. I'm a newspaper editor, not the council's public relations officer.

As for our report being unbalanced, it should be pointed out that the council's quotes on the proposal were fully, and prominently, published.

Our report was balanced by giving both sides of the story - unlike Councillor McEwan's one-sided and unfair letter to the Town Centre Board.

We followed up our initial report by giving council leader Bill Dixon space to call for a "reasonable debate" on the issue.

Today, we have published a full page on readers' views - and again it presents a very balanced picture. Some people favour a supermarket development in the town centre, some don't.

Having criticised The Northern Echo in his letter to the Town Centre Board, perhaps Councillor McEwan will now write to me to explain how we were unbalanced in our reporting.