Press conferences

In many political systems, the press conference is an institutional arrangement of public political communication, and has, as Kumar puts it, come to be regarded as part of the foundation of democratic government. This chapter focuses on how politics and political actions are publicly performed, negotiated, and transformed in the context of press conferences. In many countries, press conferences are a routinised and frequent form for meetings between journalists and politicians. The press conference can be classified as a broad genre of public political talk. It is organised by political institutions with the overall purpose of releasing public statements and making officials available for questions from the public. The communicative activities in press conferences constitute significantly different contexts for political performances and journalism. Appearances in political press conferences are characterised by discursive and rhetorical strategies aimed at achieving certain goals.