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Who is Jessie Matthewson - Local Democracy Reporter

There's another piece on the Chiswick W4 front page ("New Figures Show London's Recovery is Car-lead" (sic)) from a 'Local Democracy Reporter'. It is ill disguised advertorial for the kind of lobby groups which have visited the Streetscape programme on us. This is not proper journalism, but PR spin. I hope that the interests involved have paid well for the space. However the piece should be understood for what it is.

Brendan McCarthy ● 2237d3 Comments

There is a web site called Google where you can find out things like this but to make your life easier she was made Young Journalist of the Year at the UK Regional Press Awards 2019.The judges said: "Jessie has broken stories at a local level that have national importance. Her entries display skill, ambition and tenacity – and suggest she is a real rising star."I am told she won her award due to her work in highlighting the fatality rates among bus drivers in London during the early stages of the coronavirus outbreak.She is employed by a BBC funded scheme aiming to support local news.Led is the past tense of lead and her usage is correct.I am struggling to see what you find so objectionable about her article. It seems to me from looking out the window that a report saying there has been an increase in traffic should be uncontentious. I don't think it would have been possible to find anyone to dispute the conclusions.Your post is just a rather unpleasant personal attack calling into question the personal integrity of a young woman doing a very good job. I hesitate to speculate on the underlying reasons for you making it.

Felicity Caborn ● 2237d

Very well said Felicity. I mean, it's not exactly rocket science but some people just want to be offended.

Carl Wynne ● 2237d

Thanks Brendan,Decided to read the article you were talking about which led me to an interesting article on how the ULEZ has improved the air quality within the congestion charge zone. https://europe.edf.org/news/2020/19/08/diesel-car-pollution-higher-neighbourhoods-outside-city-centreI'll have to ignore the american spelling of 'defence' though.

Andrew Jones ● 2237d