Occasion where members of the
press are gathered together to receive
information about a
particular subject. This is a
situation that is
positive for both parties: the person (or company) that has something
newsworthy to tell gets to talk to many
journalists at once , the press gets
good stuff to
publish and the chance to ask
questions.
Sometimes though, a press conference is held when somebody else than the information giver has decided a press conference would be useful (in the case of
politicians or
film stars this usually involves a
scandal that needs explaining). In such a case the press are often experienced as a crowd of
nosy bastards asking difficult and
impertinent questions.