http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/07/nyregion/de-blasio-snubs-new-york-post.html 2016-10-07 01:32:54 De Blasio Snubs New York Post Reporter and Calls Paper a ‘Right-Wing Rag’ Mayor Bill de Blasio took his disdain for The New York Post to a new level at a news conference Thursday, pointedly ignoring the tabloid’s City Hall bureau chief and sharply criticizing its coverage. === For weeks, Mayor The mayor took his disdain to a new level on Thursday, blatantly and pointedly ignoring the paper’s City Hall bureau chief, Yoav Gonen, during a news conference, and belittling The Post while doing so. The conflict erupted in a petulant exchange, with Mr. Gonen furiously, and futilely, trying to attract the mayor’s attention. Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat, refused to call on him, explaining that he had “no use for a right-wing rag” while excoriating Mr. Gonen for a recent story he did not write. “Mr. Mayor? Mr. Mayor? Mr. Mayor? Over here,” Mr. Gonen said, speaking up in frustration. “You can keep calling all you want,” Mr. de Blasio said. “Are you going to call on me today?” Mr. Gonen asked. “I’m calling on real media outlets, go ahead,” the mayor said, signaling a reporter from The New York Observer. It is nothing new for a mayor of New York to view the city’s press corps with contempt. And some powerful public figures, including Donald J. Trump and Raymond W. Kelly, a former New York police commissioner, have gone further, barring reporters from events altogether. But Mr. de Blasio’s very public and dismissive display was extraordinary in the history of antagonism between City Hall and the press. It reflected an escalation of Mr. de Blasio’s longstanding war with the tabloids, which he and some of his closest aides deemed irrelevant early in his tenure. But political operatives said they saw no purpose in the mayor’s lashing out. “I understand his frustration, but unfortunately losing your temper with the news media gets you nothing but stories about losing your temper,” Karen Hinton, Mr. de Blasio’s former press secretary, said. Her advice: Call on the reporter, answer the question, then move on. George Arzt, a political consultant and former press secretary for Mayor Edward I. Koch, was a reporter and City Hall bureau chief for The Post from 1968 to 1986 and offered a similar view. “No one that I’ve seen before this has gone after a paper as an institution,” he said. “You can’t say everyone on the paper is against me without making them against you. He’s creating his own problem.” During his time in Mr. Koch’s administration, Mr. Arzt said, the mayor’s chief bugaboos were investigative reporters from The Village Voice, namely Wayne Barrett and Jack Newfield. The two would never get interviews, Mr. Arzt said, “but they were allowed to ask questions in the Blue Room” at City Hall during news conferences. Mr. Kelly, as police commissioner, barred the reporter Leonard Levitt from entering Police Headquarters in 2006. “He claimed I was a security threat,” said Mr. Levitt, recalling that his picture had been posted at the security desk along with those of six men banned from the building for coming in drunk or threatening the commissioner. After a lawsuit, Mr. Levitt returned to the building; he still reports on the police. The news conference with Mr. de Blasio on Thursday included several exchanges in which the mayor appeared exasperated with reporters’ questions about transparency and overlapping investigations into his administration. All the while, he ignored the raised hand of Mr. Gonen. “You can keep trying, man,” Mr. de Blasio said. “In the back for the last one.” Mr. Gonen then began to ask his question anyway — a request for comment on a report by the Citizens Budget Commission, a fiscal watchdog, about “You can talk all you want,” the mayor said. “I’m credentialed just like the other media,” Mr. Gonen said. “That’s nice, I appreciate solidarity,” Mr. de Blasio said before explaining that his anger stemmed from “I’ve got no use for a right-wing rag that attacks people who are good public servants and tries to undermine their reputation,” he said, pointing to Mr. Calise who was seated nearby. “I’m not playing that game.” “Thank you,” Mr. de Blasio said standing to leave. “Have a nice day.”