Press threaten to boycott politicians not taking questions
"United action" to be discussed to halt drift toward one-sided media conferences
The Federation of the Press Associations of Spain (FAPE) on Tuesday urged journalists to boycott news conferences called by institutions or individuals who decline to field questions.
"If we give in, freedom of information will suffer," the president of FAPE, Elsa González said. She said FAPE would hold a meeting today with journalists and media chiefs to deal with the issue. If there is a boycott, she said, it has to be from a "unified position."
On Monday the head of the center-right Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), Iñigo Urkullu held a news conference to announce the PNV would not longer support the ruling Socialists in parliament in protest over a bar on Basque party Bildu standing in forthcoming elections, but subsequently declined to answer journalists' questions.
