Mark Bourrie on the Parliamentary Press Gallery

Today on Ottawa Watch, Mark Bourrie has a great piece on the Parliamentary Press Gallery :

The gallery of today is not the gatekeeper of anything. Want the best coverage of Question Period? Tune into CPAC from 2:15 to 3:00 Monday to Thursday, 11:15 to noon Friday (and at rebroadcast times) and see it yourself. Want coverage of debates, written up the old fashioned way? Go to www.parl.gc.ca and look over the electronic Hansards. At least someone will be reading them. Reporters aren't.

You barely need to be here to cover Parliament. Quite possibly, you could so a good job witha phone, a computer and a TV in Flin Flon. In fact, most reporters never go into the Commons. They watch Question Period on TV, then hike over to collect quotes in the post-Question period scrums.

Update: An alternate take on the press gallery

** Related: ** Ottawa Politics Guide