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The irony of
press conferences in Ghana
A GNA Feature by Samuel Dowuona
Accra, June 23, Ghanadot/GNA - For
some time now my journalistic mind has been wondering if the
forums held in Ghana and tagged press (news) conference or
press briefing, are really what they are supposed to be.
I picked at least three out of several web definitions of
“press conference” and here is what they say. First, a press
conference is a conference at which press (print media),
radio, and television reporters ask questions of a
politician or other celebrity. Second, a news conference is
a media event in which newsmakers invite journalists to hear
them speak and to ask question. Third, a press conference is
a question and answer session with members of television,
print and other media. This article examines the nature of
“press conferences” in Ghana to show whether they pass as
press conferences or not.
Two things stand out clearly in all the definitions above.
First, a press conference is strictly a media event and it
is only journalists who are entitled to be present at and to
interact with the newsmaker at a press conference.
Second, journalists are entitled to the opportunity to ask
questions and seek clarification from the newsmaker during a
press conference.
Based on that understanding, I will personally define press
conference as STRICTLY A MEDIA EVENT, IN WHICH MEMBERS OF
THE PRINT AND ELECTRONIC NEWS MEDIA ARE ADDRESSED BY A
NEWSMAKER AFTER WHICH MEMBERS OF THE NEWS MEDIA ARE ENTITLED
TO THE RIGHT TO ASK QUESTIONS AND RECEIVE ANSWERS FROM THE
NEWSMAKER IN QUESTION. Any forum short of these is something
other than a press conference.
Strictly speaking, the only stakeholders in a press
conference are the journalists (reporters) and the newsmaker
(the one who addresses the reporters).
Unfortunately in Ghana that is not the case most of the
time. When one goes to a press conference in Ghana, one
could be at a loss as to whether it is a trade union
meeting, political party forum, shareholders forum, a
meeting of heads of departments of a particular sector, or
management seminar. In fact, a typical press conference in
Ghana looks like anything but a press conference.
The “Meet the Press” series hosted by the Ministry of
Information (MOI), for instance, is yet to meet the
standards of a real press conference. One wonders whether to
call it “Meet the Departmental Heads” or “Meet the Press”.
In fact, it looks more like a forum designed for sector
ministers and heads of state agencies to address heads of
departments under them; except that at the end of the
address, the press, who are largely pushed to the back
bench, are allowed to ask questions.
The heads of departments and their lieutenants occupy
several rows of seats in the rather small MOI conference
hall. Journalists usually hang at the back, and they do so
respectfully because, as we are trained to do in Ghana, one
must prefer one’s elders above oneself.
It is even worse at political party “press conferences”;
crowds of people, supposed to be supporters and sympathisers
of the newsmaker, take prominent positions at the press
conference venue, while members of the news media who, at
the end of the day, are the ones expected to hear the
message clearly and to report on it accurately, are rather
pushed to the back bench and to the fringes.
Political party supporters whose presence at the press
conference is totally unnecessary and, indeed, a violation
of journalists’ rights rather get to the press conference
venue ahead of journalists and take the front row and leave
the relatively uncomfortable spots for journalists to
occupy.
Often times too, several rows of seats from the front are
reserved for some “important people” whose presence is
equally unnecessary, as they could wait and monitor the news
or get copies of the speeches later.
As if that is not enough, when journalists move to the front
to mount their cameras, take shots, position their recorders
or to hear the speakers better, these political party
supporters shout at them and ask tell rudely to either bend
down or leave the front so they (the supporters) can see
what is going on.
Many times, journalists become the topic for discussion
among political party supporters at press conferences. They
often say things like “these journalists are fond of this
behaviour; they always move to the front and block our view
– can’t they just stay at the back and do their work.” In
fact, some even threaten to beat up journalists or smash
their cameras in such circumstances.
That is not all. Political party supporters compete with
journalists during question time. Some get into queues and
ask leading questions to assist their political leaders to
score cheap political points, while journalists wait to seek
clarifications to issues in order to file accurate reports.
The competition doesn’t stop with question time; party
supporters also compete with journalists for copies of
speeches read at press conferences and in the process some
journalists are denied copies of important speeches needed
for accurate report, among other things.
The other observation is that some people hold what they
call press conferences and only address journalists but do
not take questions. That is completely unacceptable. First,
because it violates the very essence of a press conference
and second, it creates the impression that journalists do
not have a choice to question the one-sided information
provided by the newsmaker.
Indeed, that violates what journalism is all about.
Journalists are to look for news at events. What the
supposed newsmaker thinks is the news, may not necessarily
be what the journalist considers to be the news. The
journalist is within his right to fish for information about
the claims the newsmaker makes in his speech in order to
decide what is news. The newsmaker does not decide what the
news is for the journalist.
Journalists are not PR persons to be used by people, who
usually have an agenda, to get their side of issues across
without making themselves available to be given the
opportunity to defend their claims and allegations through a
question and answer session, which is what a press
conference is all about.
This is important because the journalist can be held liable
for libel and slander if he picks libellous and slanderous
information from a press conference and reports it. The fact
that the journalist attributes the information to the one
who said it does not exonerate the journalist from being
included in a law suit.
There are only four conditions under which the journalist
enjoys a privilege with regards to reporting libellous or
slanderous information – information picked from Parliament,
the courts, from a commission of enquiry and from the
security services; obviously press conferences are not
included.
Given what a press conference actually is and what dangers
journalists could face if they do not insist on the strict
adherence to the tenets of a press conference, it is this
writer’s opinion that journalists in Ghana must begin to
insist on their rights as far as press conferences are
concerned.
As much as the intervention of the Ghana Journalists
Association (GJA) could be useful in addressing the issue at
the official level, journalists at a press conference can
also stand up for their rights as a team and insist that
non-journalists should either be excused from the press
conference or that they should be pushed to the back benched
for journalists to occupy their rightful places in front.
One of the principles of a press conference is that
journalists should always work as a team even in planning on
how to ask questions. That team work should also be
channelled towards insisting on press conferences being what
they should be – strictly an interaction between journalists
and newsmakers.
In plain language, at press conferences, the newsmaker and
the assistants take their place at the head table and the
floor of the venue is for journalists and only journalists.
Only journalists have the right to occupy front seats.
Second, no one other than journalists can ask questions.
Copies of speeches are meant for journalists and nobody
else.
Press briefings at the presidency also do pass for press
conferences.
It is about time people are made to realise that the most
important stakeholders at a press conference are the
journalists and the newsmaker.
GNA
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