“Supporting local sport for 40 years 👏”
That is how Kiama Council captioned its post about the Illawarra Academy of Sport’s 40th Anniversary and Athlete Awards Night. But read on and you will see the focus was on Council itself, not the athletes.
The photo description says it all: “Photo features < insert council representative name > pictured with award recipients.”
The athletes, the very reason the event exists, remain nameless. Their achievements are blurred into the background while Council congratulates itself on “partnerships” and “commitment.”
I have been reporting on Council for two years now. First as the civic journalist for The Bugle and now as a citizen journalist on my blog. Again and again I have seen the same pattern: Council communications that elevate itself while sidelining the community.
This post is not an isolated slip. It matches what we have seen with legal fees, developer contributions, and financial reporting – moments where the message was shaped to protect the organisation rather than inform or celebrate the people it serves.
The real question is this: who is directing the communications team to think this kind of content is acceptable? These are trained professionals with the skills to put the spotlight where it belongs. So why are they continually pushed to produce material that centres Council instead of the community?
It would have taken five minutes to get the names of the winners. Instead, the communication team kept the spotlight on Council and left the athletes as faceless extras in their own story.
This is not community celebration. It is spin. And the community sees through it.
When our community turns up to honour athletes, we expect them to be the headline, not the footnote.
#KiamaCouncil #CommunityFirst #CouncilSpin #SportsAwards #Accountability