Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker‘s office apparently now gets to tell residents in the state which businesses are essential and which reporters are fair enough to ask questions.
CHICAGO CHURCH SAYS MAYOR ‘MILITARIZED’ POLICE
Amy Jacobson, a journalist at Chicago’s Morning Answer AM 560, received a remarkable email from Pritzker’s office that criticized her for addressing an anti-lockdown rally that “was attended by people holding hateful Nazi imagery.”
Jordan Abudayyeh, his press secretary, must have missed Jacobson’s tweet calling out those with Nazi-themed signs. But she informed Jacobson that “an impartial journalist would not have attended that rally in that capacity and therefore you will no longer be invited to participate as an impartial journalist.”
FOLLOW TODD STARNES ON TWITTER
Jacobson posted the letter on her Twitter account. Abudayyah’s email did not sit well with many on social media who have criticized Pritzker’s coronavirus orders as too extreme.
RobertFeder.com, a popular media blog in the city, reported that Jacobson was one of the speakers at a Saturday rally outside the city’s Thompson Center. She was called out by other journalists for giving the speech but was defended by Jeff Reisman, the regional vice president of the station.
“In this time of uncertainty, I would hope that Gov. Pritzker and his staff would be more transparent and accountable to the people of Illinois. Picking and choosing which media outlets are allowed to ask questions creates the impression that Gov. Pritzker isn’t willing to answer difficult questions,” he said. “I hope this decision would be reversed immediately and that Amy would be given access once again.”
The website reported that Jacobson has been a vocal critic of Pritzker’s lockdown amid the coronavirus outbreak. She recently criticized the governor over a family trip from Florida to Wisconsin that would be in violation of his order, the website said.
Rich Miller, of Capitol Fax, reported that “Jacobson is only barred from submitting questions directly to the governor’s press secretary, but she can still submit questions to the two pool reporters like lots of folks do. Whether those reporters will accept her questions is uncertain, though, since she spoke at the reopen rally.”
The Gateway Pundit reported that Jacobson actually called out signs at the protest that compared Pritzker to Adolph Hitler. She posted that there is “no need for this.”