Covering press conferences

By Anna ShorinaChuvash State University

A press conference is held when someone wants to send something to the media. This is where journalists are free to ask any questions.

A press conferences are gathered in order to hold an event where TV cameras and newspaper reporters show up.

Spend five minutes in the news business and you'll be asked to cover a press conference. They're a regular occurrence in the life of any reporter, so you need to be able to cover them - and cover them well.

As we said, press conferences move quickly, so you'll need to have your questions ready ahead of time. Arrive with some questions already prepared.

Once the speaker starts taking questions, it's often a free-for-all, with multiple reporters shouting out their queries. You may only get one or two of your questions into the mix, so pick your best ones and ask those.

Any time you get a bunch of reporters in one room, all asking questions at the same time, it's bound to be a crazy scene. And reporters are by their nature competitive people.

So when you go to a press conference, be prepared to be a bit pushy in order to get your questions answered. Shout if you need to. Push your way to the front of the room if you must. Above all, remember - only the strong survive at a press conference.

It's the reporter's job to ignore the PR talk and get to the truth of the matter. So if the CEO announces that his company has just suffered its worst losses ever, but in the next breath says he thinks the future is bright, forget about the bright future - the real news is the huge losses, not the PR sugarcoating.

Don't let the speaker at a press conference get away with making broad generalizations that aren't supported by facts.

Question the basis for the statements they make, and get specifics.

Whether you're covering a press conference with the mayor, the governor or the president, don't let yourself be intimidated by their power or stature. That's what they want. Once you're intimidated, you'll stop asking tough questions, and remember, it's your job to ask tough questions of the most powerful people in our society.

 A joint press conference instead is held between two or more talking sides.

A good example is when two people are running for the president post…

In a news conference, one

or more speakers may make a

statement, which may be followed

by questions from reporters.

Sometimes only questioning

occurs; sometimes there

is a statement with no questions

permitted.

Before you plan a press conference you should have a clear idea of what you want to achieve.

Being clear about your goals will make you focused on what you want to say and you will say it.

To get publicity about your problems and efforts

Get widespread media coverage

To send a message to a decision maker about what you want

To get more people involved in your organization

To develop the skills of your members

To show the strength of your group

In a press conference you decide what information is presented , how it is presented and who presents it.

In order to hold a press conference you are the one who contacts the media and chooses the time ,place.

Set the date and time of the press conference,taking into account reporters’ deadlines .Usuallythe best days of the week to get news coverageare Tuesday through Thursday .Check to see thatthere are no competing news events alreadyscheduled at the time of your conference.

Send a press conference advisory to appropriate local media outlets at least a week before the press conference. Follow up with a phone call two days before the press conference to make sure that everyone received the advisory. Call them the day before to remind them about the event.

Make phone calls and send written invitations toprospective guests you want to have at the

pressconference, such as other members of your

group, allies, and friendly politicians.

-to deliver your message. Generally, it’s good tohave just one or two speakers during a pressconference so people don’t talk on top of eachother.

You will need a person to control the process and keep reporters on the subject. If someone goes off subject, the moderator can return the focus by saying such things as: “That’s an interesting point, but we are here today to discuss...”

Reporters and guests may wish to have a copy ofwritten statements or a press release. You can

prepare a packet of factsheets, charts or graphs.

Practice roles with the members of your group.It’s important that everybody understands his/her

role in the event. Think about what will happen all theway through the press conference, and how it will look

to reporters.

The key question to ask is “what if..?”

Charts, big maps, pictures or other props will

help get your message across.However, slide shows are difficult for TV,

radioand print reporters to use.

Hope for the best and prepare for the worst. That's great advice to keep in mind if you are in charge of organizing and running a press event. Here are some things that might go wrong and how you can prepare for them.

But what you do next isn't nearly as important as what you did before the press conference began. Why? Because the best time to address press conference problems is before the event takes place.

With that in mind, here are a few common press conference disasters you'll want to be prepared to handle.

When just two reporters show up

When your spokesperson calls in sick

When your A/V resources fail.

When circumstances suddenly change

When your spokesperson is caught off-guard

 It's probably an indication that the subject of your press conference really isn't newsworthy. Take your lumps this time, but next time make sure you have something that's more capable of drawing

a crowd.

It's possible that the person you designate to be your spokesperson won't be capable of performing that role on the day of the event. That's why it's important to have one or two backups

You had a beautiful PowerPoint presentation prepared for reporters, but five minutes before the press conference your projector broke. Now what? Audio-visual enhancements are great, but you should also provide hard copies of your presentation to attendees. 

Let's say you've called a press conference to announce a major partnership with a former competitor. Before the press conference takes place, your new partner suddenly pulls out of the deal. Should you still go through with the press conference? Maybe, but it depends on whether or not you've planned for contingencies

Notice how we said "when", not "if" your spokesperson is caught off-guard? Eventually, a reporter is going to ask a question that your spokesperson either can't or won't answer. Her response will be dictated by how well she has been prepped for the Q&A section of the event. In general, honesty is usually the best policy

 "I'll get back to you," or "I can't answer that question," are acceptable responses for most reporters.