As of Monday, July 1, ALL Ethnic and Community Media outlets finally have equitable access to City Hall’s Press Room 9. We rightfully have a seat at the table!
I want to thank Mayor Eric Adams, his Chief Advisor, Ingrid Lewis-Martin, and the Deputy Mayor of Communications, Fabien Levy, for their tremendous support of Ethnic and Community Media in our City.
It should be understood that Room 9 has been underutilized by the assigned media outlets for years – at least since the pandemic, if not before. Every day there are numerous unoccupied desks, yet legitimate media outlets without assigned desks must hunt around for a space somewhere to set up their laptops and work.
Even more importantly, the distribution of assigned media space did not reflect the populations that make up the City. The big-name papers each had multiple desks assigned to them – but they don’t cover all of the communities the way smaller, more localized papers and other outlets do. Their staffs are smaller and more of their people work remotely, so reserving an inordinate amount of desk space for them simply makes no practical sense.
For the small outlets, having direct access to City Hall improves the quality and quantity of information that we can provide to our readers in ways that they appreciate. We don’t have large staffs and big budgets, but we have loyal readers who appreciate our efforts. When I asked my question of the Mayor on December 19th, it was the culmination of years of frustration experienced by me and by my peers and colleagues doing the ethnic and community media work.
Room 9 is not owned by any particular media outlets. No one is “entitled” to be there. It is owned by the people of New York City and should be shared accordingly. That fact has now been confirmed and reinforced by the work of Mayor Adams and his administration in “diversifying Room 9.”
THE HISTORY
On December 19, 2023, during Mayor Adams’ weekly media briefing, I asked the Mayor to provide Room 9 access to ALL Ethnic and Community Media outlets. Mayor Adams said that he would do so and he expressed his support for our work.
Please note that immediately following the December 19th media briefing, some “mainstream” reporters started tweeting that Mayor Adams wanted to limit media access to Room 9. This was not true; it was a lie. On that day, they began a misinformation campaign (using Twitter/X) designed to create a panic within the “mainstream” and more powerful media outlets. Then they convinced the NY Press Club president to release a statement based on the lies. One of the reporters even published an article that he was forced to correct because it purposely misled readers regarding what was asked of the Mayor and the Mayor’s response.
Then some reporters went to City Council members, pressuring them to pass a bill stopping Mayor Adams from providing Ethnic and Community Media outlets greater access to Room 9.
I wish I could say the fear-mongering campaign ended there, but it didn’t. I was then personally harassed and bullied for having the audacity to ask that Ethnic and Community Media outlets have access to Room 9. I was the first voice challenging the status quo and I was targeted accordingly.
But I was not the only one being threatened. Some Room 9 reporters were threatening to sue the Mayor and the City if the changes took place. Imagine that. To this day, I do not understand why such a reaction took place – why people felt so insecure and so threatened.
Fortunately, Mayor Adams and his team did not back down on the issue and moved forward with their planning.
Independent of the Mayor’s office, there were many late-night calls with community leaders. We discussed how to address the clearly racist and classist response from these Room 9 reporters. Various community leaders wanted to have a press conference on the steps of City Hall to expose the intimidation tactics to the public and to put the mainstream outlets on notice that their resistance to this simple and fair policy change would not be tolerated and would not succeed.
One night in April — four months after my question to the Mayor — I called Ms. Zawadi Morris and shared with her the bullying and harassment that had happened behind the scenes that very day. Zawadi’s response was “Hell No!” She then told me that she would accompany me to Room 9 and we would both go have a seat at an empty desk. We did it and our action further infuriated some Room 9 reporters. Why such anger? We were both legitimate members of the press, leaders of our respective publications engaged in coverage of City Hall, and there were plenty of empty desks. Was it because we were two Black women asserting our right to be treated fairly?
The support I received from community leaders, my mentors, fellow publishers such as Mr. El Hadji Ndao from SunuAfrik Radio, Mrs. Faye Rodney from NY Carib News, Zawadi, and others kept me going. The fight for Room 9 access was and remains bigger than me. It was clearly a big issue for those resisting the change. The more they tried to keep us out, the more determined I was.
THE GRATITUDE
Accordingly, I want to acknowledge some allies and thank them. Ms. Darlie Gervais, from CUNY’s Center for Community Media, offered her immediate online support from the very first day (December 19, 2023) through the following days and months. Darlie stood up for Ethnic and Community Media outlets on Twitter/X when the mainstream reporters and their misinformed and manipulated supporters were attacking Mayor Adams and us for believing that everyone should have equal access to New York City’s government and public servants.
I want to acknowledge and thank the community leaders (non-elected and elected) who supported me and all of the Ethnic and Community Media outlets. Ironically, some of them do not wish to be named because they, too, are concerned about the irrational insecurity on the part of some so-called unbiased reporters during these past four months.
But, we won.
Last week Monday, July 1st, I sat at my desk in Room 9. There are desks for other Ethnic and Community Media outlets. If we need to push for more, then we will do so.
As we say in South Africa, AMANDLA!
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Mona Davids is the Founder and Publisher of eight New York City newspapers: LittleAfrica News, New York Voice News, Staten Island Voice News, Brooklyn Voice News, Bronx Voice News, Queens Voice News, Bed-Stuy Voice News, and Harlem Voice News.
Below is the June 28, 2024 email sent by Fabien Levy with the new Room 9 seat assignment layout.
