By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
The city may resume broadcasting council meetings on Facebook Live, but viewers won’t be able to comment.
City Manager John Sheedy said negative comments posted during the council meeting broadcasts on Facebook Live led to his decision to disable the comments feature during those broadcasts.
Sheedy spoke about his decision in an interview with the 830 Times this week about a call by one citizen during the council’s Oct. 10 meeting to resume broadcasting council meetings on Facebook Live.
Del Rioan Carmen Gutierrez made her comments during the “citizen comments” portion of the Oct. 10 meeting.
“My name is Carmen Gutierrez, and I’m an active community volunteer. Today I come before you to respectfully ask that you please return to live streaming your city council meetings,” Gutierrez told the council.
She also held up a sign she had brought, which read, “Facebook Livestream for transparency, for the citizens, for effective communications, for good representation, for open government. Remove the barriers.”
“Recently, while in San Antonio, I tried the tiny URL comm link, and it was difficult to connect. When I finally connected, the audio was bad. It was harder to follow than that link on the Facebook. Many of my older friends find it difficult to remember that there’s a city council meeting going on,” Gutierrez said.
“Forget Spectrum because many of us don’t have it due to its high price. I know you all want the best for the community, and I know you all want to hear from the citizens. I know you all want to have them engaged, all of us engaged. So, it really surprised me when, without warning, it was taken off or dropped, without any warning whatsoever. There are advantages to live streaming. There’s a notification when a page you follow goes live. There’s easier and quick access. It allows viewers to engage,” Gutierrez said.
“We can share, comment, screenshot, et cetera. It builds trust, because no matter the good, the bad, the ugly comments that you might get, citizens feel like their voice counts.
“I thank you for the countless hours that you donate in serving as our elected officials and that you only get a small meeting stipend, not a salary. However, please do not stifle the voices of the citizens of this community,” Gutierrez finished.
City council members and administrators typically don’t interact with citizens who make comments to the council.
The 830 Times requested an interview with Sheedy to address the questions raised by Gutierrez.
Sheedy said the city began videotaping and broadcasting its city council meeting on Swagit in 2013. From this platform, the meetings are also archived on the city’s web site and may be viewed later.
With the rising popularity of Facebook, the city also began live streaming its council meetings on the social media platform, Sheedy said.
As those meetings were live streamed, people watching them could comment on what they were seeing in real time.
Sheedy said some commentators made posts that were aggressive, rude and sometimes bordered on slander.
He said he spoke about the issue with colleagues in the state’s city managers association, as well as with other city managers in the Texas Municipal League meetings. He said administrators in other cities have also encountered the problem of negative commentary.
“It’s a problem for other cities that have done this. There are some people who, no matter what you put out, are going to try and tear it down, destroy it, pump out all this misinformation, and you have no way to battle it. You can’t engage, because as soon as you tell them it’s not true, they’ll just come back with ‘yes it is,’ and then it’s just a back-and-forth,” Sheedy said.
“What I’ve told council members, the way I look at it, people can just lay out whatever roadkill they want on there, and it will just sit there rotting and stinking, and there is no way for us to respond. It becomes a constant battle of do we take down a particular comment and leave another,” he added.
He said he and members of the city’s media team would constantly have to consult the city attorney and members of its outside law firm.
“From my perspective, looking at it, I always ask, ‘Is this moving us forwards or moving us backwards?’ And I truly believe it is moving us backwards,” Sheedy said.
“What I would say to people is, I want more communications with the public. We’ll have sessions where people can come in and ask their questions. We’re trying to do more to communicate with the public,” he added.
Sheedy also pointed out there already exists a way for citizens to comment directly to the council: the citizen comments section of each regular council meeting.
“If people truly have a concern or question, they can get me on the phone, or they can reach out to their council member or send me an email, use the 830GO app, come to council meetings, there are all kinds of options,” Sheedy said.
Sheedy said he is most concerned about the impact of negative, hurtful and unsubstantiated comments on his staff and city employees in general.
“It’s demoralizing and it’s not doing anybody any good,” Sheedy said.
Sheedy said he has been told repeatedly, including by the city’s legal counsel, that turning off the Facebook comments is his call to make.
“We can still stream the meetings on Facebook, but there is not going to be any comments,” Sheedy said.
—
Contact the author at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com
NEWS — City manager: No comments on Facebook Live
By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
The city may resume broadcasting council meetings on Facebook Live, but viewers won’t be able to comment.
City Manager John Sheedy said negative comments posted during the council meeting broadcasts on Facebook Live led to his decision to disable the comments feature during those broadcasts.
Sheedy spoke about his decision in an interview with the 830 Times this week about a call by one citizen during the council’s Oct. 10 meeting to resume broadcasting council meetings on Facebook Live.
Del Rioan Carmen Gutierrez made her comments during the “citizen comments” portion of the Oct. 10 meeting.
“My name is Carmen Gutierrez, and I’m an active community volunteer. Today I come before you to respectfully ask that you please return to live streaming your city council meetings,” Gutierrez told the council.
She also held up a sign she had brought, which read, “Facebook Livestream for transparency, for the citizens, for effective communications, for good representation, for open government. Remove the barriers.”
“Recently, while in San Antonio, I tried the tiny URL comm link, and it was difficult to connect. When I finally connected, the audio was bad. It was harder to follow than that link on the Facebook. Many of my older friends find it difficult to remember that there’s a city council meeting going on,” Gutierrez said.
“Forget Spectrum because many of us don’t have it due to its high price. I know you all want the best for the community, and I know you all want to hear from the citizens. I know you all want to have them engaged, all of us engaged. So, it really surprised me when, without warning, it was taken off or dropped, without any warning whatsoever. There are advantages to live streaming. There’s a notification when a page you follow goes live. There’s easier and quick access. It allows viewers to engage,” Gutierrez said.
“We can share, comment, screenshot, et cetera. It builds trust, because no matter the good, the bad, the ugly comments that you might get, citizens feel like their voice counts.
“I thank you for the countless hours that you donate in serving as our elected officials and that you only get a small meeting stipend, not a salary. However, please do not stifle the voices of the citizens of this community,” Gutierrez finished.
City council members and administrators typically don’t interact with citizens who make comments to the council.
The 830 Times requested an interview with Sheedy to address the questions raised by Gutierrez.
Sheedy said the city began videotaping and broadcasting its city council meeting on Swagit in 2013. From this platform, the meetings are also archived on the city’s web site and may be viewed later.
With the rising popularity of Facebook, the city also began live streaming its council meetings on the social media platform, Sheedy said.
As those meetings were live streamed, people watching them could comment on what they were seeing in real time.
Sheedy said some commentators made posts that were aggressive, rude and sometimes bordered on slander.
He said he spoke about the issue with colleagues in the state’s city managers association, as well as with other city managers in the Texas Municipal League meetings. He said administrators in other cities have also encountered the problem of negative commentary.
“It’s a problem for other cities that have done this. There are some people who, no matter what you put out, are going to try and tear it down, destroy it, pump out all this misinformation, and you have no way to battle it. You can’t engage, because as soon as you tell them it’s not true, they’ll just come back with ‘yes it is,’ and then it’s just a back-and-forth,” Sheedy said.
“What I’ve told council members, the way I look at it, people can just lay out whatever roadkill they want on there, and it will just sit there rotting and stinking, and there is no way for us to respond. It becomes a constant battle of do we take down a particular comment and leave another,” he added.
He said he and members of the city’s media team would constantly have to consult the city attorney and members of its outside law firm.
“From my perspective, looking at it, I always ask, ‘Is this moving us forwards or moving us backwards?’ And I truly believe it is moving us backwards,” Sheedy said.
“What I would say to people is, I want more communications with the public. We’ll have sessions where people can come in and ask their questions. We’re trying to do more to communicate with the public,” he added.
Sheedy also pointed out there already exists a way for citizens to comment directly to the council: the citizen comments section of each regular council meeting.
“If people truly have a concern or question, they can get me on the phone, or they can reach out to their council member or send me an email, use the 830GO app, come to council meetings, there are all kinds of options,” Sheedy said.
Sheedy said he is most concerned about the impact of negative, hurtful and unsubstantiated comments on his staff and city employees in general.
“It’s demoralizing and it’s not doing anybody any good,” Sheedy said.
Sheedy said he has been told repeatedly, including by the city’s legal counsel, that turning off the Facebook comments is his call to make.
“We can still stream the meetings on Facebook, but there is not going to be any comments,” Sheedy said.
—
Contact the author at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com
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