Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot Doesn’t Regret Decision to Filter White Journalists Out of Interviews: ‘Spurred a Very Important Conversation’

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) said in an interview released Monday that she was “unapologetic” about her policy of restricting interviews with White journalists.

“I would absolutely do it again,” Lightfoot said in an interview with The New York Times’ “Sway” podcast. “I’m unapologetic about it because it spurred a very important conversation, a conversation that needed to happen, that should have happened a long time ago.

“Here is the bottom line for me,” she added. “To state the obvious, I’m a Black woman mayor. I’m the mayor of the third-largest city in the country. Obviously, I have a platform, and it’s important to me to advocate on things that I believe are important. Going back to why I ran — to disrupt the status quo. The media is critically important to our democracy. … The media is in a time of incredible upheaval and disruption, but our city hall press corps looks like it’s 1950 or 1970.”

Lightfoot made headlines in May for saying she would being “prioritizing” non-White reporters who requested interviews. The Chicago Tribune’s Gregory Pratt wrote at the time that he was “a Latino reporter whose interview request was granted,” but that he “respectfully canceled” when the mayor’s office refused to lift the new policy.

More recently, Newsmax’s William Kelly alluded to the policy in June as he was engaged in a five-minute showdown with Lightfoot related to crime in the city. “White reporter in the house!” Kelly shouted, suggesting the policy was related to his treatment by Lightfoot.