What Kind of Fighter Do Democrats Want?

""Are you Elaine?" she asked. I recognized her from the entrance of the event, where I had identified myself as she'd waved me into the building's press area. Yes, I answered. "Her team has asked you to leave," she said. When I asked why, the staffer looked at her phone and read dutifully: "They just said, 'Elaine from Atlantic, white girl with a hat and notepad. She's interviewing people in the crowd. She's a top-notch hater and will spin. She needs to leave.'"'"

"Last year, I wrote a profile of Crockett that displeased the congresswoman. I interviewed her several times for the story, but after she learned that I'd called some of her colleagues in Congress without asking her permission, she told me that she was "shutting down the profile and revoking all permissions." (In retrospect, I suppose this was a helpful signal that Crockett does not have a firm grasp on the First Amendment, or at least does not particularly care for it.)"

"As security guards began to materialize around me, I wondered to myself what distinguished a top-notch hater from a middling one. I agreed to leave, and four guards, including at least one who was armed, escorted me out of the building, through the parking lot, and right to the edge of the nearby highway, where they waited as I ordered a car."

A reporter attending a Representative Jasmine Crockett campaign rally in Lubbock, Texas was escorted out by armed security guards after being identified by campaign staff. The removal followed a previous profile the journalist had written about Crockett that displeased the congresswoman, who had attempted to revoke permissions for the story. Campaign security personnel cited the journalist as a "top-notch hater" who would "spin" coverage. The journalist was escorted through the building, parking lot, and to the highway's edge. The incident raises questions about press access at political events and candidates' attitudes toward critical journalism.

Read at The Atlantic