CHIEF Secretary Anson Chan Fang On-sang wants to bar the public from her briefings to the Legislative Council.
She says she could better exchange views with legislators in private, and councillors could tell the press what had been said.
'People speak their minds more freely without having to be recorded by television cameras,' a spokesman for Mrs Chan said yesterday.
Although most Legco meetings are open to the public - and Mrs Chan's briefings have been so since the last legislative year - the spokesman added that the proposal was not a retrograde step because the briefings were not formal meetings.
But Democratic Party member James To Kun-sun said he did not understand why Mrs Chan had made the suggestion.
'I don't think there's anything secret she would tell us during her briefings in Legco,' he said.
