A New York Times reporter revealed Wednesday afternoon the person who stood out most to her at the Clinton Global Initiative meeting in New York — an aide who followed her so closely, she escorted her to the restroom.
"[F]or me, perhaps the person who stands out is the friendly 20-something press aide who the Clinton Global Initiative tasked with escorting me to the restroom," reporter Amy Chozick wrote in a post. "She waited outside the stall in the ladies’ room at the Sheraton Hotel, where the conference is held each year."
Students from Indian School of Business present their business plan NanoHealth onstage during The Hult Prize Finals and Awards Dinner 2014 at the 10th Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting in New York on Sept. 23, 2014. (Jonathan Fickies/AP Images for Hult Prize)
"Security, foundation aides told me, dictates that the hordes of journalists, many of them from overseas news outlets, be cloistered in a basement at the Sheraton," she continued. "An elaborate maze of security barricades separates where reporters enter and roam (though not freely) from the lobby of the hotel, where actual guests enter."
[sharequote align="center"]"An elaborate maze of security barricades separates where reporters enter and roam..."[/sharequote]
According to Chozick, an "escort is required" wherever reporters go in case they "wind up somewhere where attendants with an esteemed blue badge are milling around."
Amy Chozick, national political reporter for the New York Times. (Image source: Twitter)
When she asked about the practice, Clinton Global Initiative spokesman Craig Minassian directed her to a press release about American Standard's Flush for Good campaign aimed at improving sanitation for people around the world.
“Since you are so interested in bathrooms and C.G.I,” Minassian said.
Chozick concluded saying "it wasn't always like this," recalling previous years when reporters "could roam relatively freely."
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