This journalist lamented in a second tweet that "after more than five hours of [Emmanuel] Macron in plenary, see [Roberta] Metsola and repeating press releases to him without asking questions is a waste of time." According to her, this appointment was "designed solely to ensure that the new president of the [Parlement européen] get her photoshoot with [Emmanuel] Macron [et] beautiful flags.
Comment: That sums up how politicians view journalists these days, they're the servants of the establishment, not of truth nor of the people. In a way this is understandable, because over the last decade and more, but particularly over the last 21+ months, journalists have done little but parrot the mainstream narrative, rather than do any investigative work and hold power to account.
"It seems that the Elysée insisted on some form of press release (without questions)," she also tweeted.
France Info confirmed the information at the end of the afternoon: "While Emmanuel Macron was to respond to journalists in Strasbourg after his speech before Parliament, the press conference was transformed into a statement, without questions. In protest, some European journalists left the room before the start of the intervention.
CNews journalist Loïc Signor assured that he was one of the journalists who left the room where the press conference was to take place: "After several hours of waiting at the European Parliament, the journalists learned that there would be no no questions during President Macron's press conference... We left the room!"
In another video, relayed by Sóler Cárdenas - who defines herself as "a 3.0 journalist and correspondent for Latin America" - we can see Emmanuel Macron being arrested by an individual, probably a journalist. The president asks him if he is well. The person responds, "Not so much." Emmanuel Macron then retorts: "I answered questions for three hours ..." And the individual to cut him off: "But not to us, not to the press."
"You, I had already made you in December on the French presidency", justifies Emmanuel Macron who affirms that soldiers were waiting for him "so that he can present his wishes".
To another individual, also probably a journalist, who would have liked to question him (in particular on the exchanges he had with MEPs and a presidential candidate Yannick Jadot), Emmanuel Macron insisted: "I'm not going to make comments on what I have just done, as a matter of principle. So I answered the press for several hours in December in Paris on the French presidency. There, I came to answer the deputies."
Comment: Yahoo reports: Now these journalists know how their Russian compatriots feel, because both Biden and Macron have banned them from press conferences, ostensibly because they're from Russian media, but actually because they're much more likely to ask questions that threaten to expose the propaganda narrative.
Yet again this also highlights just how unusual President Putin is on the world stage, because he regularly holds press conferences where all news outlets are welcome to ask questions, uncensored; he also holds annual Q&As where the people of Russia are able to question, and sometimes even confront, him directly:
- Putin wraps up 2021 with a major press-conference: NATO, China, anti-vaxxers
- Putin Warns Wokeness is Destroying West: "It Happened in Russia 100 Years Ago, it's Evil, and it Destroys Values"
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