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He has press conferences. He
makes speeches. He occasionally meets with the editorial boards
of newspapers. But his press conferences are very limited. The
man who built a media empire for himself shows great disdain
for the representatives of the news media who try to question
him at City Hall - or elsewhere.
While Mr. Bloomberg's schedule calls for question-and-answer
sessions with reporters, he generally permits just one question
per reporter - and this limits information drastically. If a
reporter tries to follow up on an answer, Mr. Bloomberg ducks
by swiftly pointing to another reporter, inviting a change in
subject.
As a reporter who has covered nine mayors over the last 54 years,
I know that public figures don't always answer the question they're
asked. For this reason, follow-up questions are essential because
they often force officials to cough up information that they
might otherwise withhold.
The mayor's approach is particularly dispiriting because his
predecessors have been far more forthcoming in their press conferences.
It's true that Mayor Rudolph Giuliani barred video cameras south
of Canal Street after the Sept. 11 attacks. Mr. Bloomberg and
his police commissioner, Ray Kelly, deserve praise for opening
up the streets again. In the Blue Room at City Hall, however,
it's another story.
Mr. Bloomberg's role as czar of a multibillion-dollar company
gave him experience in ruling over his own board. But apparently
it didn't prepare him for the scrutiny the press exercises as
a First Amendment right. Although Mayor Giuliani could be combative,
as a skilled lawyer, he seemed to enjoy jousting with journalists.
David Dinkins may not have always enjoyed it, but he felt it
was his duty to answer all questions at a news conference. And
Ed Koch was delighted to spar with reporters. He thought he could
get the better of any one of us.
I'm not the only one who has noticed Mr. Bloomberg's question
rationing. On the day after the long-awaited budget agreement
was announced, a reporter complained that Mr. Bloomberg allowed
only five questions at a press conference. Another reporter,
Dominick Carter of New York 1, told me that the only way to get
the mayor to take a follow-up question is to shout and make a
spectacle of yourself. Richard Steier of The Chief, the weekly
newspaper for municipal employees, says a reporter often can
get by an initial evasion by other public officials with a follow-up
question, but that doesn't happen with this mayor. A reporter
for a major newspaper says, "I think maybe Bloomberg is
trying to avoid putting his foot in his mouth."
The mayor isn't the only one to blame. The press, after all,
is letting him get away with this behavior. The mayor has his
job and we have ours: to stop the filibuster, to cut through
the spin, to clear out the press-conference fog.
I remember when New York reporters, even the uninformed ones,
were tough, feisty, irreverent. Some of the younger reporters
today seem not to know those days ever existed. They have grown
up in the authoritarian eras of Mayors Giuliani and Bloomberg.
Journalism is a competitive business. But I would love to see
reporters, in the spirit of solidarity, back each other up. If
the mayor brushes a journalist off after one question, it would
be good if another reporter followed up that question. If the
mayor balks again, a third person should stay on the case. If
the mayor really wants to clear the air with the press, the New
York Press Club invites him to a forum where he can air his grievances
and we can air ours.
Mutual understanding would be helpful. But it would be good for
both politicians and journalists if the old adversarial spirit
were reborn. It might bring out the best in all of us. And the
people are entitled to no less.
Gabe Pressman is president of the New York
Press Club Foundation and a senior correspondent for WNBC-TV.
This opinion piece was originally published on the Op Ed page
of The New York Times.
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