One of the limitations of the press conference format is that if you need more than two questions to nail a politician, you're sunk. You might get your first question in, if you're lucky even two, but if you need three you have to depend on your colleagues continuing on the same thread and hitting the press secretary out of the park.
Now imagine an ad-hoc network going on, maybe with pdas, maybe laptops, maybe projected light on glasses, who cares. You not only throw out your own questions but you provide the rest of the group the killer followup question, the knowledge only you know about when a briefer is lying, etc. In other words, you create something of a press conference chat room where evasions are researched and dissected with the press gaining intelligence because the questioning process becomes more explicitly collaboration across outlet lines. Sometimes you get to take the briefer's head off after others set you up for it, sometimes it works the other way around. But press conferences become more intelligent, more focused, and more productive for all concerned.
Posted by TMLutas at March 17, 2004 06:46 PM