The guidelines, issued by Speaker Sue Hickey and circulated this week, also prevent photographers taking shots of "unparliamentary behaviour".

Members of the media aren't allowed to converse with MPs in the vicinity of the House of Assembly, ministerial offices or party rooms.

Filming and photography is only allowed in the opening 10 minutes of question time, while snaps of MPs not engaged in debate aren't allowed.

The guidelines effectively ban reporters from working in certain areas of the parliament, Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance chief Paul Murphy says.

The head of the journalists' union on Thursday wrote to Ms Hickey asking her to rescind the rules.

"The guidelines represent an outrageous assault on press freedom, undermine the role of the media in carrying out legitimate scrutiny of the work of the state's elected representatives," Mr Murphy wrote.

Ms Hickey told parliament she was working to make the guidelines best practice.

"Our protocols have not changed in many years - the rules are exactly as they've always been," she said.

"We are comparing them to parliaments all around Australia and we believe they're very consistent."

The state Liberal government says the guidelines are a matter for the parliament's presiding officer and not them.

Tasmanian Greens leader Cassy O'Connor described the rules as a crackdown on free press, while Labor MP Sarah Lovell says they are heavy-handed and strange.

"I have never felt threatened by journalists approaching me in the corridors of parliament," Ms Lovell told reporters.

It is understood to be the first time Tasmanian parliamentary reporting guidelines have been put together in one document.

Australian Associated Press