Mayor Adams says he's banning NY Daily News reporter from press conferences for 'calling out' questions
Published in News & Features
NEW YORK — Mayor Eric Adams said Tuesday that one of the Daily News’ two City Hall reporters is no longer welcome at press briefings.
The apparent ban came as Chris Sommerfeldt, The Daily News’ senior City Hall reporter, sought to ask a clarifying question about the mayor’s ballot line in the upcoming election despite his not having been called on by Adams’ team during the mayor’s weekly press conference.
Sommerfeldt has not been called on by the mayor’s staff in more that three months.
Adams, in response to another reporter’s question, had just finished saying he was running on both the “affordable and safe” and “antisemitism” ballot lines.
Sommerfeldt began to ask, “If you can only pick one …” before Adams began talking over him.
“You’re calling out a lot, Chris, stop calling out!” the mayor said in a sing-song tone. “You must have done that in school.”
Adams then turned to his staff.
“Listen, if he does that again, he’s not to come into our conferences,” Adams said to his press staff. “You do that again,” he turned back to Sommerfeldt, “you’re going to stop at the gate,” he said — an apparent reference to the security barrier between the public and official portions of City Hall.
“You want to take a question from me then?” Sommerfeldt asked.
“He did it again,” Adams said. “Make sure security knows he’s not allowed back into this room.”
Sommerfeldt was not escorted out of the room and stayed for the remainder of the press conference, but was not able to ask any questions.
A mayoral spokesperson did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment as to whether they intend to keep Sommerfeldt from attending future press conferences.
“Our reporters have the right to ask questions and taxpayers aren’t funding the police to keep reporters out of City Hall press conferences,” said Andrew Julien, executive editor of the New York Daily News.
In a series of posts to social media and an open letter to the mayor, the Daily News Union — which represents the paper’s reporters and editors — called on Adams to revoke the ban.
“To ban a reporter from future press conferences for doing the very thing a press conference is designed to facilitate — asking a question — shows a flagrant disregard for the role of the press and for our colleague’s professionalism,” the union said.
Adams has drawn criticism from the press corps for his practice of banning off-topic questions — those unrelated to any event at which he appears — at all but one press conference a week.
The weekly off-topic press conferences are also tightly controlled, with mayoral press staff often choosing not to call on an outlet at all during the hourlong event.
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