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Quarterly press conferences planned by Prime Minister

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

NEWLY appointed Press Secretary Anthony "Ace" Newbold yesterday signaled a shift in the culture of press engagement with the nation's leader, with the introduction of quarterly press conferences with Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis.

Mr Newbold advised members of the press that Dr Minnis will address the nation bi-annually, and meet with the press core on a quarterly basis during his inaugural press briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister.

Mr Newbold suggested that his briefing would become a weekly occurrence, as he performed in his role as the official liaison between Dr Minnis and members of the press. Mr Newbold noted that he was also available to facilitate press communications from other Cabinet ministers.

"I am going to speak for the prime minister," he said, "primarily about Cabinet decisions and statements he wants to make about issues of national importance.

"Primarily I'm dealing with the prime minister, his reaction, reactions to issues, Cabinet decisions and any statements he may wish to make about issues of national importance."

Mr Newbold pointed to the impromptu press conference staged by reporters at NEMA on Monday, as a primary example of why the administration was seeking to implement scheduled conferences.

Mr Newbold initially referred to Monday's press encounter as a "scrum", but later acknowledged that the term might have been too harsh, and apologised.

When questioned whether reporters will still be allowed access to Dr Minnis at press events, Mr Newbold said: "(Minnis) he will decide when he wants to talk to the press and I think he has that right and he deserves to have that right. It does not mean you're not going to speak to the prime minister.

"He will determine that, but if he's at a banquet I would imagine he wouldn't want to answer questions from the press and again it's not that he does not want the press to have information for the Bahamian people, that's not the idea, it's a protocol I think we ought to observe."

Mr Newbold continued: "He's at a banquet, he's having fun. There's no matter of national importance or security that he has to answer a question, but again he will determine that. But I ask you to consider that anyway."

During the briefing, Mr Newbold also took aim at the function of Bahamas Information Services under the previous Progressive Liberal Party administration, stating that the conduct of the agency was "obscene".

Mr Newbold underscored that BIS had been used for political purposes as he outlined a new culture of press engagement with the nation's executive, and explained to members of the press how his new posting would be resourced.

Although a budget has not yet been determined, he said it was unlikely that a staffing complement will result in any new public service hires.

"This (press conference) is being covered by BIS for example," he said, "which truly is government information services, it's the government. It's not been used that way, certainly in the last five years it's been used for party political purposes which is obscene. For the office of the press secretary it's very likely that we will be transferring or seconding."

Comments

birdiestrachan 7 years, 7 months ago

The USA has their Donald Trump and the Bahamas has their Doc' Minnis. Why is he afraid to speak to the press, so much so that Ace will speak on his behalf. Did the people vote for Ace or Doc Minnis.? This does not look good. What next,? They sound more and more like Donald Trump. and his problems with a free press.

TalRussell 7 years, 7 months ago

Comrade PMO's Press Secretary 'Ace' [I can't make 'Ace' up] is going be the kind of an interesting man's that I want to observe his representation of prime minister Minnis.

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