Challenging questions in Saudi press conferences

Abstract

Press conferences that host high ranking officials have not been a common practice in Saudi Arabia. Nevertheless, since 2020 this has changed clearly as Ministers have begun to appear in regular press conferences, a new format that requires examination and comparison to see the extent to which it is in line with the previous findings of this kind of interaction in western contexts. The current paper concentrates on examining the practice of challenging officials. The questions from these press conferences have been categorized using a framework that assesses aggressiveness through four aspects: initiative, directness, assertiveness, and hostility. The results show that journalists score a high level in the first dimension, but achieve generally low scores in the other three dimensions. The overall results indicate that journalists display a degree of initiative-taking and bring some concerns of the public to officials, but with a high proportion of cautious and non-assertive questions, an interaction system that avoids a high level of confrontation toward officials.