Sit Down Reporters, and Let the Mayor Tell You What ‘Real’ Journalism Is

Among Mayor Bill de Blasio’s responsibilities as the leader of the biggest American city is the important task of determining for the public which press outlets are “real,” and which ones are fake. The New York Post, once again, didn’t make the cut.

In a weekly news conference today, the mayor, who not all that long ago admonished city agencies for their lack of transparency while serving as public advocate, iced out the New York Post completely, declining to answer a single question from the paper’s City Hall bureau chief, Yoav Gonen. He was apparently displeased with a Post report that highlights a 140 percent increase in “special assistants” in his administration that costs the city $18.7 million.

.@BilldeBlasio is ignoring @yoavgonen from @nypost, says he's only going to call on "real media outlets"

— laura (@nahmias) October 6, 2016

City Hall is a paying subscriber to the apparently fake paper. The mayor has previously said the paper has a “clear right-wing agenda” and is a “propoganda rag” after a reporter asked why he pushed back a meeting with blind New Yorkers impacted by the Chelsea terrorist attack to go to the gym. He continued to lash out against local reporters today, downplaying the many investigations into his administration. 

De Blasio, downplaying probes into him, notes of Clinton: "The next president has been through more investigations than I can count."

— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) October 6, 2016

And he had this advice for pesky reporters, whose job it is to ask questions:

"Oh stop. Those are apples and oranges. Don't even try that. Come on," de Blasio says to @chayesmatthew. "Try and ask a real question."

— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) October 6, 2016

"I don't know why you're not hearing my point, respectfully," BDB to @jfermino. "You really have to try and listen to what I'm saying."

— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) October 6, 2016

De Blasio asks @nahmias why she expected him to know details about a City Hall subpoena. "Because you're the mayor," she responded.

— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) October 6, 2016

While City Hall reporters commiserated on Twitter in a self-righteous First Amendment fit, I had only one question: Where is Chirlane?