Reporter’s Diary: Fans take over press meets as film stars enter politics

In the past, during press meets held by party leaders, they would be accompanied by senior colleagues to address the reporters gathered there. But now, the press meets are being held in the presence of cadres, who not only occupy the space allocated for the reporters but also cheer for every statement made by their leader. 

The recent press briefing convened by actor-turned-politician and Makkal Needhi Maiam president Kamal Haasan is a case in point. On Tuesday, when Haasan convened a press meet to explain his party’s stand on the Citizenship Amendment Act, it turned into a public meeting with his supporters cheering for his statements.  As a result, at the press conference, journalists were not able to go near the stage as MNM cadres and office bearers were occupying most of the seats. The over enthusiastic cadres not only disturb the reporters covering the press meet but also created a space crunch at the already overcrowded meeting hall.

This trend of press meets being converted into mini-public meetings in the State began with actor-turned-politician Vijayakanth, who initiated this trend of being accompanied by party cadres during press meets. Now the trend is spreading to other political parties as well, which doesn’t augur well for politicians as well as reporters as it defies the very purpose of holding the interaction with media.