Journalists unanimously passed a motion on March 7 at the Parliamentary Press Gallery’s Annual General Meeting asserting the right of journalists to ask questions “in all photo-ops and availabilities with the Prime Minister, Cabinet ministers, and all Parliamentarians, to fulfill our functions as journalists in a democratic society.”
Journalists support the motion in theory, but say it isn’t a boycott. However, they also don’t want future governments to take any pages out of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) unprecedented control over access to his entire government since winning office in 2006.
The Prime Minister does not hold press conferences in the National Press Theatre, there are no longer Cabinet “ins,” or “outs,” there is tight information control across government departments, agencies, and Cabinet ministers’ offices, and the Prime Minister has taken to doing interviews with non-journalists that are nationally televised.
“It came out of a discussion, in general, on our ongoing frustration with trying to deal with Parliamentarians and parties,” said CBC reporter Laura Payton, the new president of the Parliamentary Press Gallery. “It’s not actually confined to one party. There are times with all the parties I think where we experience that, so we were just discussing about how we have this right to ask a question. It’s up to a Parliamentarian whether they want to answer the question, but you can’t tell us not to ask questions and that’s something that we’ve seen specifically out of the Prime Minister’s Office at photo-ops, for example.”
Steve Maher, a National Post columnist and a new director in the Press Gallery executive, said the motion is meant to give reporters on the Hill some kind of assurances if their access is challenged, like CTV cameraman Dave Ellis did last fall when he posed a question to the Prime Minister at a photo opportunity in New York City. Normally, reporters are not allowed to ask questions at photo-ops and were told so at this one, but news had just broken back in Ottawa that then Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro (Peterborough, Ont.), who was Parliamentary secretary to the Prime Minister, had been charged under the Canada Elections Act.
Mr. Ellis asked the Prime Minister about that and, as a result, the PMO said Mr. Ellis would not be allowed to cover the PM’s upcoming trip to Malaysia, which Mr. Ellis was accredited and booked to cover. However when CTV and other TV networks fought back, the PMO backed down and Mr. Ellis went on the trip.
“I think there was a desire to let gallery members know that if they find themselves being in a pickle because they are posing questions at photo-ops or something that they’ll have the support of the gallery,” said Mr. Maher in an interview with The Hill Times last week.
On March 13, the press gallery executive met with Hill bureau chiefs to further discuss access concerns. The bureau chiefs agreed on the need to assert the right of journalists to ask questions, and Ms. Payton said a number of suggestions were put forward for future action, which the executive is now considering.
Mr. Maher told The Hill Times that he’s experienced attempts to limit access. During the 2011 election campaign, for instance, he said he drove eight hours from Truro, N.S., to Yarmouth, N.S., to attend a media availability with the Prime Minister’s Office, but said when he arrived the question allocated to local reporters was given to a local Yarmouth reporter. At the time, he was the Hill bureau chief for the Halifax Chronicle Herald. He said he later raised the issue with the PMO.
“I actually did get a one question, one on one with the Prime Minister afterwards because I had made such a fuss,” said Mr. Maher.
Ms. Payton said accessing information from a range of sources “can be really incredibly difficult” for reporters on the Hill. For instance, she said she went to a 5 a.m. briefing last fall on the Canada-EU free trade agreement and found the experience “really surprising.”
“We weren’t even allowed to talk to officials. The minister’s staff were taking our questions and going to officials and coming back to us with their responses. And they weren’t even able to give any background information. I was asking about one particular measure, and they pointed me to a section in the glossy briefing book. I said, ‘Yeah, I’ve read that, I understand that, but I would like more information about how it’s going to be implemented, what it means, and how it came about,’ and they weren’t able to get me that,” said Ms. Payton, adding that “it was frustrating.”
Ms. Payton said after the Parliamentary Press Gallery’s motion was passed on March 7, she phoned up party communications staff, for all parties, to highlight and reiterate the motion.
Ms. Payton said she also met with PMO director of communications Jason MacDonald on March 10, as press gallery president, to discuss access. She said Mr. MacDonald is “easy enough to have a conversation with,” but while she “can’t say that we’ll never agree,” she said they “certainly don’t agree right now on certain elements of access.
“I’ve gone to him and discussed the concerns that people, the press gallery have talked to me about and he sort of reiterated his position, the Prime Minister’s Office position, and obviously we don’t agree,” said Ms. Payton, adding, “I’m satisfied with the fact that we can sit down and speak civilly.”
Ms. Payton said her impression from the conversation is that there’s no wiggle room on being able to ask questions of the Prime Minister at photo availabilities, but said she had the impression there was a possibility for more one-on-one interviews with the Prime Minister, and a possibility of Mr. MacDonald holding press conferences with members of the Hill media at the National Press Theatre in the future.
Meanwhile, access was the focus of talk at the Parliamentary Press Gallery’s March 7 AGM, which was on the record, but reporters could not be identified or quoted. Reporters aired grievances over the limitations put on the level of access to elected officials from all parties, with a focus on government control over media availabilities.
Journalists complained about paying thousands of dollars to cover the Prime Minister on his international trips, but then have limited access to the Prime Minister.
The discussion quickly turned to talk of a need for solidarity among gallery members to oppose limits to access following the incident with Mr. Ellis last fall.
One reporter said if the gallery does nothing to oppose the way the government tightly controls access to ministers and the Prime Minister, the next government would continue current practices.
Another reporter said it’s a problem that elected officials simply don’t answer questions and even resort to literally running away from reporters in the halls of Centre Block and elsewhere. The reporter said it’s not just government officials; Liberal leader Justin Trudeau (Papineau, Que.) did the same thing recently at the Liberals biennial policy convention in Montreal when he didn’t hold a closing press conference.
Reporters discussed agreeing among bureaus to boycott photo opportunities at which reporters were not allowed, but one reporter said that the PMO’s new 24/7 weekly video posting, a favourable recap of the week’s events, undermines any threat of a boycott because it gets out the message and picture the government wants.
Another reporter said a boycott could send the wrong message about journalists not doing their jobs and could easily fall apart. Instead, reporters said the Parliamentary Press Gallery should decide how press conferences are run, not political parties or the government, and suggested passing a motion asserting the gallery’s right to ask questions at all availabilities involving elected officials.
The press gallery executive also recently formed a new committee on March 12, specifically aimed at overseeing the status of the historic Hot Room at 350-N in Centre Block, an approximately 3,700 square foot space that currently serves as the office for 13 smaller news agencies and outlets along with staff of the press gallery. The space has long been home to the Parliamentary Press Gallery and is its historic beating heart. Before the Internet, it was a hub for news releases and other notices for journalists on the Hill.
The entire Parliamentary Precinct is being renovated as part of the massive, multi-billion-dollar project overseen by Public Works, which could last past 2030 and will have cost the government a total of $2.64-billion by the time work begins on Centre Block. In order to be renovated, Centre Block has to be completely emptied. The House of Commons Chamber and supporting offices will be housed in the West Block during the interim, while the Senate Chamber and other offices will be housed in the Government Conference Centre.
But the fate of the Hot Room has been a looming question hanging over the gallery, as some are concerned that Parliament will take the move as a chance to take over the office space. The office stretches along the northern side of Centre Block, with windows looking out onto the Ottawa River.
“It’s a very desirable space and would make a lovely caucus room or committee room and my concern is that the political parties will try to grab hold of it while we’re out,” said Mr. Maher.
Mr. Maher has proposed the gallery executive take more aggressive action to ensure the Hot Room space isn’t taken over, like retaining a lawyer. He also suggested the executive consult with former House speaker Peter Milliken and former Parliamentary law clerk Rob Walsh to get advice on what the gallery should do to ensure it keeps space when Centre Block’s renovation is complete.
“In practical terms, so long as we have a Hot Room then we have guaranteed, 24/7 access to the Parliamentary Precinct by the journalists of the Parliamentary Press Gallery. But I think there’s also—it says something about the importance of free media in our democracy, that we’re there, right down the hall,” said Mr. Maher.
Work on the Centre Block is expected to begin in 2020, according to Public Works, and it’s previously been estimated the work could take 10 years.
The question of where the Hot Room will go in the interim has also been a concern of the gallery, and the newly-struck Hot Room Committee will also be focused on these talks. The committee as it stands has four members: Mr. Maher, Ms. Thompson, Mr. Boutilier and freelance reporter Alex Binkley.
At the March 12 meeting, the executive was informed that a 1,000 square foot space directly under the interim House Chamber (to be built in West Block’s courtyard) has now been reserved for the Hot Room, but talks continue to try to get a larger space.
Meanwhile, in addition to Ms. Payton as new president, the press gallery executive now includes: Postmedia Parliamentary bureau chief Mark Kennedy as vice president; iPolitics reporter Elizabeth Thompson as treasurer; Toronto Star reporter Alex Boutilier as secretary; and directors Mr. Maher; CBC reporter James Cudmore; Canadian Press reporter Jennifer Ditchburn; The Globe and Mail reporter Kim Mackrael; Radio-Canada reporter Madeleine Blais-Morin; and Radio-Canada reporter and past-press gallery president Daniel Thibeault.
Original Article
Source: hilltimes.com/
Author: LAURA RYCKEWAERT
No comments:
Post a Comment