It's called controlling the narrative.

"At a Pierre #Poilievre [#AxeTheTax rally] in Corner Brook, NL this evening, where the media was asked to leave following PP's speech preventing us from posing questions to the party leader.
This is highly unusual for an event that the media was invited to cover. I was quite vocal in my opposition to the request. In the end, we had to comply, as it was ‘technically’ a private event and we were there by invitation of the party." - Don Bradshaw NTV News