A Sahan Journal reporter was banned Tuesday evening from entering the Republican election night watch party at the Double Tree Hilton Hotel in Bloomington.
Noah Rouen, an election night party organizer with the state Republican party, told Sahan Journal reporter Katelyn Vue that gubernatorial candidate Lisa Demuth’s team intentionally did not respond to Sahan Journal’s request, filed before Tuesday, for the watch party because her campaign did not want the news outlet to attend.
Demuth’s team did not immediately return messages seeking comment Tuesday evening.
Sahan Journal is a nonprofit, digital-only media outlet covering Minnesota’s immigrants and communities of color.
A different staffer at a media check-in table told Vue about 6:30 p.m. that Sahan Journal was among some media outlets that are not allowed at the party. The staffer did not specify which outlets were banned.
Reporters from other news outlets, including the Star Tribune, were admitted into the party.
Rouen initially said he would discuss the matter further with Vue, but left the media check-in table and returned about 30 minutes later with three security guards.
When asked why Sahan Journal was not allowed in, Rouen offered a few short hostile replies. He referenced an article Sahan published on Oct. 27 about a TV ad from Demuth that focused on shootings and a terrorism plot allegedly involving Somali suspects. A local political science professor called her ad “racist,” and an imam described it as “racial attacks in paid political format.”
Two of the security guards stood on either side of Vue as Rouen stood facing her. The third security guard stood further back from the group.
“Just make sure for your story you ask the DFL how many times they let Alpha News [a right-wing local news outlet] in,” Rouen said to Vue.
Rouen said he didn’t have the names of other news outlets that were banned from the party, and declined to connect Sahan Journal with a member of Demuth’s team at the party. He also prohibited Vue from speaking with people in the lobby area.
A security guard told Vue about 7 p.m. to leave the hotel immediately. When Vue asked the guard to speak with Sahan Journal’s attorney on the phone, the guard declined and motioned towards the door. The security guard followed Vue outside, stood at the hotel entrance and watched her walk out to her vehicle in the parking lot.
J. Patrick Coolican, editor-in-chief of the Minnesota Reformer, told Sahan Journal Tuesday evening that his media outlet was also banned from the party.
Max Nesterak, the Reformer’s deputy editor, emailed a request to attend the party to Rouen and Jenna Dicks, director of operations and finance for the Republican Party of Minnesota. Nesterak received an email from Dicks on Nov. 2, rejecting the request.
Coolican said Reformer reporters have not been prohibited from attending Republican-led events in the past.
Dicks did not provide a reason why the Reformer was banned from the party, Coolican said.
“Well, I can imagine why — we’re considered an unfriendly outlet,” he told Sahan Journal. “But I think if you look at our history over six years, we’ve written a lot of damaging stories about Democrats.”
Vue also submitted an email request to Dicks and Rouen to attend the party, and Dicks responded on Nov. 2, confirming that Vue’s name was added to the attendance list. Dicks did not immediately return messages seeking comment Tuesday evening.
The Minnesota chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA-MN) issued a statement condemning the bans.
“AAJA-MN condemns the decision by Republican House Speaker Lisa Demuth’s campaign this evening to bar at least two local journalists and outlets from entering her watch party,” said the organization’s statement. “We stand with reporter Katelyn Vue and Sahan Journal. Freedom of the press is essential to democracy.”
