So you’ve probably heard that Prime Minister Stephen Harper doesn’t like the press very much. And you may have been told that the media hate Harper. Whether or not this is true — perception has, by and large, become reality on Parliament Hill. This chill has manifested itself most obviously as a dispute between the 300 and something members of the Parliamentary Press Gallery (PPG) — of which I am one— and the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
The PMO has decreed that press conferences held by the Prime Minister in the Parliamentary precinct will be moderated by a member of the PMO’s staff — chiefly Deputy Press Secretary Dmitri Soudas. If you want to ask the PM a question, you must find Dimitri, have him write down your name in his little black book and then he will, at some point during the press conference, call out your name. The PPG at first chafed under this List protocol. The PPG itself had been used to moderating these press conferences. We used to seek out a PPG executive, have that PPG executive member write our name down in a little black book and then, at some point during the press conference, the executive member from the PPG would call out your name.
For the record: Every time I have put my name in Dimitri’s book, he has called out my name. And every time I have put my name on a list maintained by the PPG, my name has been called.
In any event — the PPG wanted it done one way. The PMO wanted it done their way. There was much protesting by both sides and eventually, the PMO decided to hell with the PPG: Harper wasn’t going to do press conferences here. And he didn’t. He did lots away from Ottawa with the regional media where the PMO could run press conferences the way the PMO wanted.
After months of this, PPG solidarity cracked. CTV and many other news organizations agreed to do things the PMO’s way. We were on The List! We thought we’d made our point but, at the end of the day, we thought we would best serve our viewers and readers by asking the PM some tough questions. But some organizations believed they were fighting for a more important principle, that those who are being questioned ought not to choose the questioner. And so, decisions were made by senior executives of The Canadian Press, The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star and CBC that their journalists in the PPG would not put their names on The List.
And so we come to today. This week, the Parliamentary Press Gallery held its annual elections for its executive and its annual meeting. For the first time since 1974, there were three candidates competing for the job of Press Gallery President. Richard Brennan of The Toronto Star, Elizabeth Thompson of the Montreal Gazette, and my colleague, Rosemary Thompson all contested the top job and the issue of PPG-PMO relations were at the centre of their campaigns. In an election held Wednesday with one of the highest turnouts ever (I’m told), Brennan, who had served as the president of the Queen’s Park Press Gallery in Ontario for eight years, won the top job. Brennan’s executive includes:
- Hélène Buzzetti of Le Devoir, vice-president
- Angeley-Marie Bonenfant of Radio Canada, secretary
- Jim Bronskill of Canadian Press, Treasurer
- Yves Malo of TVA, Past-President
Today we elected the five directors to serve with the executive and they are:
- Jennifer Ditchburn of Canadian Press
- David Ljunggren of Reuters
- Chris Rands of CBC Radio
- Rosemary Thompson of CTV
- Hugo De Grandpré of La Presse
And then the 100 or so members who attended this meeting held a spirited discussion about the relations between the PMO and PPG. As it turns out, the chiefs from the big bureaus here got together and tried to work out a plan that accomplishes the following:
- Allows for an orderly, dignified press conference, as befits the Prime Minister of the country.
- Fairly apportions questions between French and English media.
- Fairly apportions questions among different media organizations
- Allows the PMO to moderate the press conference.
And so here’s the plan the bureau chiefs came up and which was unanimously passed by members of the Press Gallery:
PROTOCOL FOR NEWS CONFERENCES
The Bureau Chiefs' reached a consensus on a protocol for [the Prime Minister’s] news conferences.
If the proposal receives the approval of the membership, the Parliamentary Press
Gallery Executive will approach the Prime Minister's Office. (ED NOTE: This approval was given today)
The proposal is simple and straightforward and favors no organization over the other
Here is how it would work:
Two microphones will be set up when the Prime Minister holds news conferences. One
microphone will be for the Francophone media and the other for the English-speaking
media.
One reporter from each news organization will line up on a first-come-flrst-served basis.
The Press Gallery staff will monitor the line to ensure the rotation is maintained by news
organizations.
Reporters will ask questions on a rotation from English to French.
Each news organization gets only one question in the first round. Each news organization gets only one question if there is a second or third round.
The PMO will call out the name of the reporter and news organization standing at the microphone.
Now we’re off to the PMO. We hope they like the cut of Mr. Brennan’s jib.