Press conferences also help journalists get all the information that they need in
one place.
If there's an emergency situation in their community,
the press conference might have the chief of police or
the person running the fire department or other people all in the same location.
The journalists can talk to all of those people at once and
gather everything they need for a story.
Press conferences also create a controlled environment to gather the news.
That can be important for radio reporters and
TV reporters, who need to be able to capture quality audio or
be able to record video in situations where there's good light.
A lot of times, press conferences happen in rooms set up for
press conferences, so there may be lights in place already for TV cameras.
Or, audio equipment that you can connect into to record the interviews.
Press conference has also
helped journalists keep up with their competitors.
If everybody's at the same place at the same time,
you pretty much know what story everybody else is working on.
But how do press conferences work?
It's important to remember that press conferences are normally called by
the newsmaker.
That means that they have some control over exactly what
happens at that press conference.
Usually there's a speaker with time for questions from journalists.
Some press conferences have a round table format.
That's more informal.
It allows journalists to have more of a conversation
with people rather than listening to a speaker from a podium.
Some press conferences may have multiple speakers.
All of these people might be impacted by the news and
they may all have something to say.