Tories off to a poor start when it comes to working with local journalists
BelfastLive journalist James McCarthy has lifted the curtain on what really went on during Rishi Sunak’s campaigning stop in Belfast which culminated in a rather awkward question about the Titanic.
James’ question to the PM — asking him if a stunt at the Titanic Quarter in Belfast suggested he was captaining a sinking ship — made news bulletins and TV shows throughout the weekend, with prime minister squirming in response while a secretary of state smirked alongside him.
But it was James’s experience of the whole press event, which saw local journalists kept away from the picture opportunities and the National press pack, which will perhaps be of more concern to local journalists nationwide.
James wrote: “While the national media captured the Prime Minister’s aquatic adventure, local reporters were prevented from filming the Prime Minister disembarking the boat and eventually frogmarched to the other side of the road by the Conservative Party’s press team to a location where we could merely watch on through a fence.
“Eventually, when the British media had wrapped up we were allowed to cross the road and get set up. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister was handed a lifejacket and directed down the gangway and back onto the boat he had just come off so that local crews could get the shot they were prevented from filming only minutes beforehand.
“After reporters had been directed to set up and prepare for a huddle with the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State, a member of the PM’s team came barging up the gangway to inform everyone that it was only UTV and the BBC were permitted to be in that area and that everyone else had to leave until the broadcasters had conducted their one to one interviews in a move that sparked an outcry from all present.
“Eventually, it was agreed that the press conference would take place first followed by the one-to-one interviews and at that point, the PM and the Secretary of State emerged from the speedboat once more to take questions.
“When I asked the Prime Minster if given that we were in the Titanic Quarter, if he was captaining a sinking ship, it may have elicited a smirk from the Secretary of State, but in reality, the Prime Minister’s answers were full of the usual bluff and bluster.”
If political party PR teams do fail to appreciate the importance of giving access to local journalists during a General Election, it will sadly be a sign that little has improved since 2019, when journalists regularly found themselves sidelined at press events, despite warm words from political party leaders.
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