Reporter’s Notebook: Inside the First Press Briefing for the Two Sessions

Pandemic precautions are creating a dramatically different setting this week for journalists covering press briefings in advance of China’s annual sessions of the national legislature and top political advisory bodies.

Many times in years past I’ve sat with hundreds of reporters packed into a press room at the Great Hall of the People in the heart of Beijing. But for this year’s first briefing Wednesday, fewer reporters were invited. We were sequestered for the duration, tested for coronavirus in advance and seated at least one meter apart.