We learned this morning that a member of Executive Council has objected to Lelanda Lee’s tweeting of the group’s recent meeting, and that the issue of further tweeting has been referred the council’s Government and Administration for Mission Committee for consideration at its April meeting.
Lelanda said there was no discussion of the complaint at the meeting, but that the complainant reported feeling “violated” by the tweeting.
We would have thought that the church’s right to know what its elected representatives are doing in open meetings at which a $140 million (give or take) budget is under consideration would have been self evident.
Maybe not. We’ll keep an eye on this issue, but if you know any Executive Council members now might be a good time to tell them that sunshine is good for them.
Lelanda used the has tag #ExCounMtg. Deacon Terry Starr pitched in a few tweets, too. And you can follow the Cafe on twitter at @episcopalcafe and #ecafe. And stay tuned at about 12:15 for a report based on Lelanda’s twitter stream concerning declining church membership.
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Lelanda Lee comments here.
George Packard comments on this at his blog.
Meetings are either open or closed. "Open" can't mean open to those who can take time off and fly across the country to attend.
BTW, I found Twitter to be the best way to keep up with General Convention last time around. Looking forward to it again this summer.
Michael Rich
I hope people understand that it was ONE member of Council who complained about the tweeting. I wouldn't generalize and say that says anything about how Executive Council feels about it.
I don't think that ALL Council members should tweet the meeting. Being able to tweet accurately and responsibly is a skill that not everyone has.
But personally, I think that, as long as the info is accurate, the more of it that can be released to give people a sense of the meeting, the better.
I wish that all public sessions could be available via streaming video.
I wouldn't suggest raising a huge hue and cry about how Executive Council is trying to quash tweeting and transparency. At this point, it's just one guy's remark, and nobody indicated any agreement or disagreement. The PB just said that if that was something that needed discussion, it should go to the Governance and Administration (GAM) committee and that was it. No motion, no action.
Perhaps letters thanking the presiding officers and the folks on GAM for allowing the tweets and saying some ways in which they were helpful would be the best way of encouraging more tweeting from Council.
It's all about openness and transparency. All members of the executive council should be required to tweet, in addition to other, more formal reporting.
Eric Bonetti