The Government speaks. A press conference held without questions

A robust protest by the parliamentary press association on the occasion of the presentation by the government of the revisions to the economic and financial document (DEF), insisting upon “Guaranteeing the rôle of journalists”.

They called it a press conference but journalists’ questions were not permitted. For some time now this tendency has tended to become routine. The latest happened on the 3rd October 2018 in Palazzo Chigi, the office of the President of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister).

The journalists had been called by the President of the Council, Giuseppe Conte who presented, together with his ministers, the revisions to the economic and financial document but journalists were prevented from asking questions. This time, unlike previous occasions, there was a protest by the parliamentary press association (Asp).

In a message, the Asp wrote, “The journalists had been hurriedly called by several spokespersons of the members of the government into the room in Palazzo Chigi devoted to press conferences. At the end of the declarations of the President of the Council and the ministers, to great surprise and disappointment, it was not permitted to ask any questions. A serious act which prevented journalists from fully carrying out their job of informing on such a relevant and awaited measure both in Italy and in Europe, as the next budget. We hope that such episodes will not be repeated. This will make it impossible for the press to perform fully their role in a dialectical relationship with government institutions and political parties”.

GFM (wt)