Members of the media were reportedly not welcome at Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s town hall meeting in Corona on Sunday.
According to a report by the Queens Chronicle, Ocasio-Cortez had banned press from attending the town hall, which was open to the public.
Since her stunning win against Congressman Joe Crowley back in June, Ocasio-Cortez has been traveling the country to rallies, appearing in interviews for high-profile magazines and television shows such as “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” She has also been hosting a “listening tour” throughout the district.
However, the Chronicle reported, it was during a recent community meeting in her home borough of the Bronx when Ocasio-Cortez had an unpleasant run-in with the press.
It was reported that while she was meeting with healthcare activist Ady Barkan, Ocasio-Cortez was slammed with questions from reporters. Reportedly there was no time scheduled for one-on-one interviews or a Q&A session at the meeting.
The interaction resulted in Ocasio-Cortez prohibiting the media from taking part in her town hall meetings in the Bronx and Corona, which took place on Aug. 8 and Aug. 12, respectively, in order to create an environment where the community would feel comfortable to speak their minds freely about the issues at hand.
Despite the media ban, members of Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign reportedly told the Chronicle that they want to maintain a “positive relationship with area media outlets.”
On Friday afternoon, Ocasio-Cortez took to Twitter to dismiss what she called a “non-story,” saying that the town hall “was designed to protect + invite vulnerable populations to PUBLIC discourse: immigrants, victims of domestic abuse, and so on.”
“We indicated previously that the event would be closed to press. Future ones are open,” she added.
This story was updated on Aug. 17 at 7:05 p.m. Robert Pozarycki contributed to this report.
