Obstacles for hyperlocal in Ventnor and Leeds.

As the growing move towards hyperlocal continues,two rather worrying stories emerged yesterday seemingly putting up barriers to journalistic independence.

Down in the Isle of Wight,the husband and wife team of dedicated reporters at the Ventnor blog were prevented from entering a coroners court.

We were told by the coroner’s officer, Richard Leedham, that the coroner, John Matthews, didn’t recognise us as a member of the press (despite VB publishing articles for four and a half years and NUJ membership for longer) and he didn’t want us in “his court.”

Judging from the comments on the blog, 56 so far,this issue is going to run and run.It seems that this dispute centred around controversy around a previous report back in 2008 as the coroner made it clear that they would not be admitted even into the public gallery as public members.

Meanwhile in Leeds,it seems that local councillors no longer want their meetings tweeted.As the council agreed a 2.5 per cent increase in council tax,Guardian Leeds reports that

Lord Mayor Judith Elliott told everyone at the start of the meeting to 'switch off all electrical equipment' and said there should be 'no Tweeting' on social networking site Twitter.

Twitter warfare breaks out and the election hasn't started yet

Twitter warfare it seems has broken out amongst the political parties today.

It started with The Tories continuing their “I’ve never voted Tory before but…” campaign today with three new posters and corresponding videos

It quickly moved to twitter with the hashtag Ivenevervotedtory featuring in the top trends for the day.

But it didn't stop there with the hashtag Ivenevervotedlabour quickly overtaking it as the backlash began.

Only three months to the election.

Watch what you tweet-Tory Central Office is watching

If you feel inclined to tweet about David Cameron beware.Conservative Central Office is watching you.

This from the Kaiser's toiletwho fell victim to the anonomyous person

That's right, someone at Conservative Central Office has the job of sitting at a computer all day following mentions of David Cameron on search.twitter.com

What an awful job. How depressing. How glum that must be. I'm not quite sure what to make of all this. And every time my initial tweet gets retweeted, well, they keep coming back. May be they have to by some central office decree - may be they have been ordered to click on every link that is remotely connected to the two words