I'm going to be consistent on my position when it comes to the First Amendment and the press: The press has the freedom to say whatever it wants (unless it's libelous or slanderous, of course). It doesn't have the right to be given access or accommodation by those it seeks to cover. Generally I think that if someone wants to cover you as part of a news story, you're better off working with them than refusing, but there are times when a news outlet is so patently biased and unfair - as happened last summer with the Trump campaign and the Washington Post - there's no point in trying to work with them.
You can criticize it as a media relations strategy, but it wasn't a violation of the First Amendment.