TV executives need to better answer tough questions, not duck the press

[Commentary] It’s official: Refusing to meet the press is in. President-elect Donald Trump has gone ages without a news conference. And now, CBS’ Glenn Geller, ABC’s Channing Dungey, Fox’s Gary Newman and Dana Walden and NBC’s Bob Greenblatt — the people in charge of programming at these networks — have announced that they won’t hold news conferences for reporters and critics at the Television Critics Association press tour in January.

They claim they want critics to focus on the new series they’ll be presenting and promise that they’ll reinstate the sessions this summer. Amazon and Netflix won’t be presenting either new content or making executives available either. The press tour, which happens twice a year in January and July, is one of the few opportunities for reporters from all over the country to meet with the people who make television, and the people who decide what television gets made.