Media scrum
{{Short description|Improvised press conference}}
{{Globalize|1=article|2=Canada|date=November 2019}}
File:Jacklaytoninascrum2006.jpg, previous leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada in a scrum in Ottawa in 2006.]]
A media scrum is an improvised press conference, often held immediately outside an event such as a legislative session or meeting.In the News: The Practice of Media Relations in Canada by William W. Carney. University of Alberta Press. {{ISBN|0-88864-382-9}}. Some text [https://books.google.com/books?id=Nr4H_Cmxg4gC available online].Washington Post: Canadian Apologizes For Expletive About U.S., by DeNeen L. Brown 28 February 2003, Page A17. Available [http://nucnews.net/nucnews/2003nn/0302nn/030228nn.htm#705 online]. Scrums play a central role in Canadian politics[http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink/2006/10/31/harper_basen.html PressThink: Stephen Harper's Press Gallery Put Down: A Report from Canada] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071010000526/http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink/2006/10/31/harper_basen.html |date=2007-10-10 }} by Ira Basen and also occur in the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia and New Zealand. In New Zealand, such informal press events are also called media stand-ups or gaggles.
Etymology
Canada
File:Scrum - Mêlée de presse (37100733570).jpg]]
In Canada, the scrum is a daily ritual in the hallway outside the House of Commons. Members of the Parliamentary Press Gallery surround politicians as they exit the chamber. The disorganization and pressure of the scrum makes it notorious for drawing remarks that are unplanned or controversial. Liberal MP Carolyn Parrish remarked, "damn Americans, I hate those bastards" during a scrum in the run-up to the Iraq War.{{cite web|url=http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20030228/parrish_remark030226?hub=Torontohome |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080615164933/http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20030228/parrish_remark030226?hub=Torontohome |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 15, 2008 |title=CTV Toronto - Parrish faces heat from the House and the South |publisher=Toronto.ctv.ca |date=2013-02-01 |access-date=2013-02-05}}{{cite web|url=http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20030304/parrish_bullard_20030303?hub=Torontohome |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080615164939/http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20030304/parrish_bullard_20030303?hub=Torontohome |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 15, 2008 |title=CTV Toronto - Parrish mainly unrepentant for anti-U.S. remark |publisher=Toronto.ctv.ca |date=2013-02-01 |access-date=2013-02-05}}
Because of these concerns, politicians have sometimes tried to avoid the scrum in favour of more formal venues.[http://www.rrj.ca/issue/2007/summer/695/ Ryerson Review of Journalism: The 140-Year War] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080615210405/http://www.rrj.ca/issue/2007/summer/695/ |date=June 15, 2008 }} Canadian Alliance leader Stockwell Day declined to scrum, instead holding a daily press conference. Brian Mulroney restricted scrums during his time as Prime Minister of Canada by positioning himself on the stairway up to his office. This allowed him to tower over the media on the steps below him.Scrum Wars: The Prime Ministers and the Media
by Allan Levine. Dundurn Press. {{ISBN|1-55002-207-5}}. Some text [https://books.google.com/books?id=_3R8q8uOgkMC&pg=PP1 available online]. The media so resented this practice that when Jean Chrétien held a "staircase scrum" soon after assuming office, their reaction was so negative that he promised never to do it again.[http://www.embassymag.ca/pdf/2006/051706_em.pdf Embassy Magazine, May 17, 2006] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070508151957/http://embassymag.ca/pdf/2006/051706_em.pdf |date=May 8, 2007 }}: Brown-Bagging it for the Harper Family, Sean Durkin By contrast, although Pierre Trudeau's relationship with the press was rocky, he was famously quick-witted and enjoyed deflecting — or returning — barbs from reporters. Many of his famous quotations, including "there's no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation" and "just watch me", were made during scrums.
References
{{Commons category|Scrums (media)}}
{{Media manipulation}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Media Scrum}}
Category:Journalism terminology