Fed mulling regular press conferences

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A Federal Reserve official tells CNN that the Fed has not ruled out the idea of having regular news conferences to discuss monetary policy and other issues.

The official says the Fed is thinking carefully about all aspects of its communications, and that news conferences are among the ideas that have been raised although no decisions have been made. The idea was first reported in a Wall Street Journal online article Tuesday evening.

The official noted that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has already done a "sort of" news conference at the National Press Club, where he took some 30 minutes of questions from reporters at a recent appearance.

By comparison, the head of the European Central Bank speaks at a news conference following each ECB interest rate announcement.

Bernanke has also done long question-and-answer sessions following many of his speeches and he has appeared on CBS' "60 Minutes."

The official noted that the Fed has added a significant new section of its Web site in an effort to communicate very clearly and broadly during the current economic situation

But for now, there has been no decision on regular news conferences, says the official, who spoke on background because the official was not authorized to comment on the record.

-- From CNN's Scott Spoerry