Performing Politics by Geoffrey Craig

Author:Geoffrey Craig
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2016-05-12T04:00:00+00:00

5

Press Conferences

Introduction

Press conferences are high-profile encounters between political leaders and journalists. In the turbulent flow of everyday political life there are numerous occasions when politicians engage with journalists. In corridors after meetings, in airport lounges, or on the steps of parliament there are relatively spontaneous and informal gatherings where groups of journalists can try to quiz politicians. Press conferences are distinguished here from such moments by the advance notice provided about the occasion, their more formal status, and their more extended duration. US presidential press conferences have been defined as public events ‘where reporters either permanently or temporarily accredited to cover the president ask questions on a variety of subjects without any control by the president and his staff on what is asked’ (Kumar 2003, p. 226). It is also noted that presidents and their staff cannot restrict who attends a press conference and that they are on-the-record events whose transcripts cannot be altered (ibid.).

Press conferences may be held as routine events, but they are usually called because of a particular newsworthy announcement involving the release of new policy, a political crisis, a national disaster, the end of a summit or meeting, or an update during an election campaign. The press conferences of national political leaders are newsworthy events in themselves, given the elite nature of the personnel involved, but it is this heightened specificity of an announcement that lends press conferences their drama and sometimes triggers adversarial moments between journalists and politicians. Press conferences are contrasted with the regular news briefings that are chaired by representatives of the political leader. In the United States the White House press secretary will meet with journalists and provide details of the president's schedule for the day and whom the president has seen, and they also speak for the administration on current newsworthy issues. In the United Kingdom, the official spokesperson at Number 10 Downing Street will usually brief journalists twice daily on the prime minister's schedule and events, though without providing political comment. These briefings are increasingly becoming less important, given that much of the information is made available earlier and outside the briefings.

Unlike political interviews, politicians instigate press conferences and this allows them to choose the timing and the length of the event. They are also able to try to exert some control over the framing of the event with a customary opening statement before fielding questions. As such, press conferences provide politicians with an opportunity to take the lead on an issue, to try to shape news coverage, and to reach a large and broad audience to explain the reasons for their actions. When the Australian prime minister Julia Gillard was subject in 2012 to allegations about her past actions as a lawyer, she called a press conference that did not finish until journalists had exhausted their lists of questions, enabling Gillard to defuse the issue (‘Gillard in marathon press conference’ 2012; Keane 2012). While press conferences are open encounters, politicians are able to select the questioners, limit follow-up questions and, to some degree, avoid those journalists who might adopt a more critical perspective.

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