Saturday, August 4, 2018

QUEEN'S PARK PRESS CORPS GETS UPPITY

The Progressive Conservatives have, since the election campaign, required reporters covering their events to follow some fairly strict rules. At news conferences, the party places crowd-control stanchions between the cameras and whoever the featured speaker was. The space has since increased so much that one minister noted the other day, “You’re all so far away.” That’s right. Because that’s what the PC staffers who set up these news conferences have demanded.
After the politician in question had finished his or her announcement, the media would ask follow-up questions. But the Tories added a new wrinkle that I’d never seen in 35 years of covering Queen’s Park: the PCs insisted that, instead of reporters asking their questions from wherever they stood, they ask them via a single microphone held by a party official. It turned out to be a surprisingly effective way of ensuring that only a small number of questions were asked and that only those who could get the attention of the microphone holder asked them.

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