{"id":7652,"date":"2025-06-23T09:36:28","date_gmt":"2025-06-23T09:36:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/7652\/"},"modified":"2025-06-23T09:36:28","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T09:36:28","slug":"mayor-adams-should-lift-his-press-conference-ban-on-daily-news-reporter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/7652\/","title":{"rendered":"Mayor Adams should lift his press conference ban on Daily News reporter"},"content":{"rendered":"

With all that\u2019s going on in New York City these days, from elected officials being arrested by ICE agents<\/a> to passengers being pepper sprayed on the subway,<\/a> you would think Mayor Adams would have more important things to do than picking a fight with a reporter.<\/p>\n

But there he was, the mayor of the nation\u2019s largest city, banning a reporter<\/a> from one of the city\u2019s most storied and respected news organizations from City Hall news conferences for \u2014 get this \u2014 asking a question.<\/p>\n

Adams claimed that the Daily News\u2019 Chris Sommerfeldt was being disrespectful and disruptive at a City Hall news conference<\/a> last week when he repeatedly broke protocol and blurted out questions to the mayor without being called on.<\/p>\n

\u201cListen, if he does that again, he\u2019s not to come into our conferences,\u201d Adams said to his press staff.<\/a> \u201cYou do that again, you\u2019re going to stop at the gate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou want to take a question from me, then?\u201d Sommerfeldt asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe did it again,\u201d Adams said. \u201cMake sure security knows he\u2019s not allowed back into this room.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ReportersReporters covering City Hall, including Chris Sommerfeldt at center, raise their hands to ask Mayor Eric Adams questions during an off-topic press conference at City Hall on Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023. (Luiz C. Ribeiro for New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Adams later said that Sommerfeldt was being disrespectfu<\/a>l to other reporters, a claim no other journalist has backed. What Adams conveniently left out is that he hadn\u2019t called on Sommerfeldt to ask a question in three months.<\/p>\n

Why not? Well, that really doesn\u2019t matter. It\u2019s probably some lingering petty beef over some stories the reporter wrote.<\/p>\n

What matters is that by singling him out and banning him from his news conferences, Adams is sending a dangerous message to other reporters who write tough stories about him.<\/p>\n

\u201cBanning Sommerfeldt from attending the Mayor\u2019s press conferences is plainly unconstitutional,\u201d News attorney Matthew Leish wrote to the city\u2019s legal department , citing both First and 14th amendment issues.<\/p>\n

Leish asked the Adams administration to drop the ban by noon on Monday at the latest, and did not rule out further legal action.<\/p>\n

\u201dThe Daily News and Mr. Sommerfeldt expressly reserve all of their rights and remedies,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s way more time than Adams deserves. He should lift the ban right this second, and apologize to Sommerfeldt, the press corp that covers him and the city of New York.<\/p>\n

Full disclosure: I\u2019ve known and worked with Sommerfeldt at The News for nearly a decade.<\/p>\n

Further disclosure: As a former City Hall reporter, I\u2019ve known and worked with Adams for more than twice that time. Over those years, Adams has been accessible, fair and well reasoned. There is no favorite in this fight.<\/p>\n

Wrong is just wrong.<\/p>\n

There is no law that says Adams has to call on a specific reporter. There is also no law that says a reporter can\u2019t shout out a question at a press conference. We\u2019ve seen it a thousand times from the White House to the red carpet.<\/p>\n

By banning this one reporter, Adams did himself no favors with the rest of the media, and the timing could not have been worse with Election Day right around the corner.<\/p>\n

After the ban, news outlets were lining up to denounce the action.<\/p>\n

The New York Press Club,<\/a> the Freedom of the Press Foundation, and PEN America have all called on Adams to drop the ban.<\/p>\n

The irony is that Sommerfeldt wasn\u2019t even asking the mayor a tough question. He threw Adams a softball follow-up to a question about what independent party line he was running on in his re-election bid.<\/p>\n

Given the mayor\u2019s recent legal troubles \u2014 corruption indictment, sexual harassment allegations \u2014 the shouted questions could have been a whole lot worse.<\/p>\n

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