Murphy's Logic: Politicians should do more interviews

Murphy’s Logic: Politician interviews CTV’s Steve Murphy says politicians should make themselves available for interviews instead of issuing prepared statements.

Kamala Harris, the Democrat running for president of the United States, has been criticized for not doing more interviews. But Harris is by no means the only politician who’s avoiding or limiting sit down encounters with journalists. It’s an increasingly common strategy, designed to limit risk to the speaker.

As prime minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau does relatively few interviews, beyond annual year-end reflections with the major networks. He has often opted to take questions from non-journalists who are more likely to ask about his socks or his favourite flavour of ice cream.

Mr. Trudeau’s news conferences are often limited to a handful of questions and the responses are often not answers so much as talking points. Pierre Poilievre is also doing few sit down interviews, limiting the opportunity for the kind of follow-up questions that challenge clever three-word slogans.

Increasingly, federal and provincial ministers issue statements rather than be interviewed by reporters who can challenge answers and ask follow-up questions. A prepared statement is often not so much an answer as a comment that may or may not address the issue at hand.

Those who attain and aspire to high elected office should be required and willing to display their ability to think on their feet, in live and unedited exchanges with reporters. Voters are entitled to real answers to real questions; persistent questions posed by journalists who call out nonsense and non-answers when they hear them.

There are only two reasons why leaders won’t provide answers: they either don’t have them or don’t want you to have them.