As news of the Audit Commission’s demise began to leak out yesterday afternoon — and newspaper editors knew their scoop was gone — the Media Blog’s Will Sturgeon rightly asked whether it could ever really have been a print exclusive.
What’s happened in the intervening hours has been equally interesting, as the Audit Commission continues (however unlikely) to trend on Twitter.
On one level, this is a dense story about a somewhat obscure organisation. On the other, it goes to the heart of the coalition’s cuts agenda — and some protagonists (well known or not) are discovering that 140 characters is more than enough to make their case.
Here’s just a taste:
Jack_Scott Audit commission (to be scrapped) costs £50m.Employs 2000 people.so Av salary=£25k! Commission saved £800m+ in last 5 years!
Mulberrybush the audit commission began 1844, when public service was just beginning. scrapped 2010 as public service is being destroyed
Give a gift subscription to the New Statesman this Christmas from just £49chariscroft So in a time when Govt is asking everyone to make cuts they scrap the Audit Commission – which helps people find savings. Thats crazy right?
And here’s how the Channel 4 News presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy broke the news to his Twitter followers yesterday evening before he was corrected on detail by an Audit Commission employee.
krishgm Staff at Audit Commission made redundant by email without warning…..its getting brutal out there
simonjchughes @krishgm No this is inaccurate. We were told about the decision via Intranet before it hit the press which was the right thing to do.
The conventional news story may not be dead, but social media once again provide a compelling way of following a moving story.
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