Sunday, September 09, 2007

APEC Newsflash: How they do it in Russia.

Our hosts at the APEC media centre have just made an announcement via the public address system regarding the Prime Minister's post-APEC press conference here this afternoon.

"All questions must be submitted in writing by 3.30pm to the Media Liason Desk in Hall 5. The question and the name of the questioner must also be listed.

Copies of the final declaration delivered by the Prime Minister at Government House in Sydney will be made available as the media enter the final press conference."

These are strange rules.

They are not the "full scale press conference at the conclusion of the APEC Meeting" the PM promised yesterday.

They would require journalists to frame their questions about the declaration before they had read it.

UPDATE: I have just heard, although it hasn't been announced, that he has backed down.

Perhaps the Russian way of doing things hasn't completely rubbed off on him. The press conference is about to start.