Assembly Defends Cost of Its Media Monitoring Unit - After the TUV Slam 'Use of Public Funds for Political Surveillance'

Assembly defends cost of its media monitoring unit - after the TUV slam 'use of public funds for political surveillance'

​The Assembly has defended its decision to tender for “media monitoring” services after the TUV branded the spend “outrageous” and said it was being used to “transcribe criticism” on the media.

Stormont establishment sign off on tender for SECOND “Media Monitoring Unit” at Taxpayers’ Expense

Timothy Gaston said: “Earlier this week I exposed the fact that the Department of Finance’s so-called “media monitoring unit” — a unit that operates in the shadows and which the public didn’t know about, is diverting civil servants away from actual governance to the task of transcribing opposition voices on radio shows. That operation already stinks of political paranoia and waste. “But now, we learn that the Assembly Commission is putting out a…