Ocasio-Cortez hit with backlash from mainstream media after banning reporters from town hall

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the democratic socialist running for Congress, has become the target of intense criticism following a report that she recently banned media from attending a public town hall.

What's the background?

As TheBlaze reported Friday, Ocasio-Cortez, who is running for New York's 14th congressional district, banned media from attending a town hall event in her district earlier this week. Her campaign later explained it did so because it did not want to distract from the purpose of the community meeting.

After news about the campaign's decision began to spread online, Ocasio-Cortez addressed the controversy on Twitter, calling it a "non-story," adding media was banned because the audience included people from vulnerable and marginalized communities.

Campaign spokesman Corbin Trent later explained: "We wanted to help create a space where community members felt comfortable and open to express themselves without the distraction of cameras and press. These were the first set of events where the press has been excluded."

"This is an outlier and will not be the norm," he said.

How did media react?

While Ocasio-Cortez believed the incident was a "non-story," national mainstream media reporters did not feel the same way — and they made their feelings very clear on social media.

Washington Post reporter Seung Min Kim:

Ali Yashar, who writes for HuffPost and New York Magazine:

NBC News reporter Benjy Sarlin:

Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs:

And how does the presence of reporters make people feel unsafe?

— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) August 17, 2018

NPR reporter Tim Mak:

New York Times correspondant Jose Del Real:

Daily Beast senior editor Harry Siegel:

Washington Examiner senior correspondent David Drucker: