The scheme itself came into the news in June 2022, when the Mayor of Bristol, [[Marvin Rees]] and his council's head of external communications, Saskia Konynenburg, challenged the line taken by LDRS reporter Alex Seabrook in questioning the mayor's {{convert|9000|mile|km|adj=on}} return flight to Vancouver to speak about [[climate change]] at a [[TED (conference)|TED event]], and whether it was appropriate for a LDRS reporter, rather than a“a mainstreamjournalist newspaperfrom journalista newspaper”, to be asking the question. Shortly afterwards it was reported that LDRS staff would not be allowed to attend the mayor's future press conferences, resulting in a boycott of those events by several local news outlets, as well as the BBC and [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]].<ref name="Sharman">{{cite news |last1=Sharman |first1=David |title=Bristol titles boycott Marvin Rees over council's BBC LDR ban - Journalism News from HoldtheFrontPage |url=https://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/2022/news/rival-titles-boycott-mayor-as-council-bans-local-democracy-reporters/ |access-date=25 June 2022 |work=HoldtheFrontPage}}</ref><ref name="BBC-61912309">{{cite web |title=Local Democracy Reporters excluded from Bristol mayor's briefings |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-61912309 |publisher=[[BBC News]] |access-date=25 June 2022 |date=23 June 2022}}</ref>
