Hacker News Reader

Comment by traceroute66 | Hacker News Reader

> It's not about "licenses to exist", but access to the press clubs (kisha clubs)

Its the same in the UK.

UK "political editors" working for the larger media outlets are granted lobby passes, which they guard like some precious gem stone.

Lobby passes grant the journalists free access to certain parts of the Parliament buildings, in particular the lobby (hence the name of the pass !). It also grants them access to the Downing Street media briefings, which due to some obscure tradition, are always held behind closed doors.

That's why many UK "political editors" ask such dumb limp questions of UK leaders. Its because they run scared of having their sacred lobby pass taken away from them.

View on HN

I lived in London a couple of years in the early 2000s and me and my roommates used to watch Jeremy Paxman interview politicians and we were more or less in chock that he actually pushed them when they tried their usual non-answers.

Now, we were quite young and didn’t really know that much about British politics to get that much out of it but it was so refreshing to see a interviewer that didn’t just back down like they do back in my home country.

> Jeremy Paxman interview politicians and we were more or less in chock that he actually pushed

Yes, Paxman was good at pushing politicians.

But he was not a lobby pass holder either, AFAIK. So he had nothing to loose.

Politicians with a grilling fetish came to see him on Newsnight knowing exactly what they would be facing.

But he equally represented a generation of political journalists that seems to have been lost with the newer generation. The new generation of political journalists seems to have lost that "dog with a bone" sprit, even those who are free of the self-imposed restrictions of the lobby pass.

The Johnson partygate, for example, came out of leaks rather than tough questioning of politicians. There are rumours around that some of the more high-profile lobby journalists were at said parties....

> That's why many UK "political editors" ask such dumb limp questions of UK leaders

To be fair, politicians still feel the need to get on TV and face Paxman and Andrew Netflix and so on, who are happy to take them to pieces whatever their personal political leanings. That plus PMQs and constituency duties, and I think UK politicians get grilled sufficiently…

Which is why "Prime Minister's Questions" time is so valuable and entertaining.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com