IMPORTANCE OF PRESS CONFERENCES

Jul 15, 2018 Editorial

It is a fact that since becoming the leader of the opposition, former President Bharrat Jagdeo has held a press conferences on a weekly basis. Regrettably, this has not the case with the President. Since taking office three years ago, it has been reported that the President has held only two press conferences in three years.
This is a low rate for holding press conferences, which are the grandest display of engagement between a head of State and the fourth estate.
Press conferences are held by heads of state with the objective to disseminate information to the public about government policies, programmes etc. In Guyana as in other countries, press conferences are very important. They are among the most commonly used and potent tool by governments to gain coverage of their programs or policy in newspapers and on TV news broadcasts.
Rather than setting up interviews with individual reporters or sending out press releases, press conferences allow a head of state to interact with a roomful of journalists all at once and thus is an effective way to quickly disseminate public relation messages.
On balance, presidential press conferences are an institution worth saving. Even if they are not the only, or even necessarily the best way for the president to disseminate information to the public, they at least guarantee that he will face tough questions from the private media and independent reporters.
Intuitively press conferences are important in a democracy to hold leaders accountable for their actions and conduct in office. It provides a forum for politicians to explain issues that may be a source of query or unease for reporters and the wider society.
The lack of engagement with the press by the President on a regular basis could create the impression that the head of state is unwilling to address issues. This would raise eyebrows given that the coalition government promised to be accountable and transparent.
Many have lamented that even after official trips overseas and numerous official engagements by the Head of State, he has not held a press conference to inform the nation of what was achieved or transpired. Instead, the President has opted to use the Department of Public Information (DPI) to communicate with the public.
Indeed, President David Granger does make himself available to the press at every public appearance he makes. He fields questions on every issue. However, the media feels that this informal arrangement is not good enough.
Presidential press conferences should be defended and preserved. Whatever their actual importance, press conferences have come to stand for democratic values of openness in government.
Previous presidents mandated that their Ministers face the press while the president reserved his appearance to comment on national issues.
To his credit, President Granger explained that he has been travelling a lot and so often is hard pressed to plan press conferences. He did have a forum at which members of the media could meet with him and question him on any issue but that is no longer the case. We now see that he would meet with individual media houses. Perhaps he finds press conferences too general.
Indeed they could be limiting since a media house may have many issues. The press conference limits the number of questions one reporter could ask.
Whatever the case reporters want greater face to face interaction with the president. They want press conferences.
It should be pointed out that the media is a priceless part of society that represents the public’s interests. Therefore not engaging it regularly is unacceptable.

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