WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is betting that by holding regular news conferences he'll provide clarity about monetary policy without saying something that may disrupt financial markets.
The Fed said last week that Bernanke will begin holding four media briefings a year. The first sessions in April and June will give Bernanke an opportunity to discuss his next steps after completing the record stimulus from the purchase of $600 billion in Treasury securities through June.
Bernanke is trying to dispel concerns from investors, lawmakers and the public that the second round of so-called quantitative easing, or QE2, is inflationary and ineffective in spurring growth.
The central bank has faced tough criticism, primarily from Republicans, for being too secretive and failing to provide timely information on its actions during the 2008 financial crisis.
Bernanke said last month that officials were weighing the benefits of greater transparency against the risk that remarks are "misinterpreted" and trigger "unnecessary volatility" in financial markets.
'A very skilled guy'
"If we were to have a person that was unskilled in this trade, it might not succeed, it might end up backfiring," said former Fed Governor Lyle Gramley, now senior economic adviser with Potomac Research Group in Washington. "But I think Bernanke is a very skilled guy in communications. He will do a good job."
While press conferences were unthinkable for central bankers three decades ago, the Fed's recent resistance had set it apart from peer institutions in Europe, Japan and Canada.
The press conferences will be broadcast on the Fed's website and coincide with the Federal Open Market Committee meetings when officials update economic projections, allowing Bernanke to present the figures three weeks earlier than prior practice. The first will be April 27.
Bernanke, 57, had been the only head of a Group of Seven nation's central bank not to give news conferences to explain actions and projections. He had previously relied mainly on speeches, congressional testimony and occasional interviews to convey his messages.
Supreme Court
Congress and the courts have forced the Fed to become more transparent in other ways over the past year.
The Fed is preparing to release details of emergency loans it made to banks in 2008 after the Supreme Court on Monday rejected an industry appeal to shield the records, leaving intact victories in a lawsuit by Bloomberg LP, parent of Bloomberg News.
The chairman has increasingly opened up to the press and public since the financial crisis intensified in 2008 and he took unprecedented steps to revive the economy and bail out companies such as American International Group.
He has engaged with business leaders and college students around the country for question-and-answer sessions and discussions about the economy.
