Mara Gay, a member of the New York Times editorial board, on Monday criticized freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's (D., N.Y.) treatment of the press, equating her behavior to that of President Donald Trump and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D.).
Gay appeared on MSNBC's "The Beat" to discuss Ocasio-Cortez's recent criticism of the media, including the New York Post, which recently asked whether the self-proclaimed democratic socialist still lives in her New York congressional district. Gay criticized some of the attacks against Ocasio-Cortez but said she was concerned about the congresswoman's reaction to recent questions from the Post, and she came to the defense of the paper for practicing "accountability journalism."
"My actual point of concern is that the congresswoman has yet to address these claims appropriately to members of the press," Gay said. "There is traditionally a very important relationship between members of the media, including the Post, and elected officials. That's something that they could have dealt with privately, and she could have at least responded to a press inquiry."
Host Ari Melber then asked Gay whether she was saying Ocasio-Cortez was seizing on coverage of where she lives in order to pick a fight with conservative media rather than engaging with the press to clarify questions about her residency.
"That's right, and let's remember that the congresswoman actually ran her campaign in part based on the idea that former congressman Joe Crowley didn't really live in his district in all practicality and really hadn't spent enough time there, so this is a relevant question," Gay said. "Yes, the Post is conservative and they may not always be fair to her, but it's a fair question, and it's one I believe that she should respond to in-kind and not just ignore press inquiries."
"Does that remind you of someone?" Melber asked.
"It reminds me of two people. One would be Donald Trump, and the other would be Mayor Bill de Blasio," Gay said.
De Blasio has a history of attacking the media, especially New York reporters.
After losing a court battle with NY1 and the New York Post, City Hall released more than 4,000 pages of de Blasio's emails with outside advisers last year. The documents revealed that he went on profane tirades about coverage, expressed hope for the demise or diminishment of publications like the New York Post and the New York Daily News, attacked the New York Times for not publishing op-eds he wrote, and blasted the news business in general.