The irony of press conferences in Ghana

A GNA Feature by Samuel Dowuona

Accra, June 23, 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. 23 June 09