Mayor Mamdani tapped former City Councilman Rafael Espinal to lead his media office on Monday — and made it one of Espinal’s first orders of business to revoke ex-Mayor Eric Adams’ 11th hour effort to place new restrictions on press access in the Big Apple.
The new rules, which Adams’ Office of Media and Entertainment rolled out on his final day in office, would’ve put tighter restrictions on who can obtain New York City press cards, including by requiring applicants be employed by a “media platform” or a member of a journalism association. The new rules floated by Adams also would’ve expanded the criteria for denying, suspending and revoking the cards, which journalists use to gain access to press conferences, crime scenes and other events and incidents.
After officially appointing Espinal as his commissioner of the mayor’s office of media and entertainment, Mamdani said at a morning press conference in Brooklyn that he’s directing him to rescind Adams’ last-minute press card reforms, calling them “an attack on the press.”
“We will be withdrawing those proposed rules, and much of the reason for that is that we view a number of these proposals as being an attack on the press, the free press,” he said, standing alongside Espinal. “There’s no need for us to be advancing that same vision.”
Specifically, Mamdani said he sees Adams’ proposed rules as an attempt to “restrict the press’ ability to engage with the mayor’s office.”
Gardiner Anderson / New York Daily News
Mayor Zohran Mamdani, center, and City Council Speaker Julie Menin, right, announce the appointment of Rafael Espinal, left, as commissioner of the Mayor’s Office Of Media and Entertainment on Monday. (Gardiner Anderson / New York Daily News)
After running a social media-savvy campaign, Mamdani has signaled he hopes to expand the tent of media able to cover him.
Last week, he invited a large group of influencers and social media content producers to ask him questions at his first press briefing in the City Hall Blue Room, an event from which his team excluded journalists working for more mainstream outlets. Influencers and content producers, as well as some freelance reporters, likely could’ve had a harder time securing New York City press cards had Adams’ rules been adopted.
Besides overseeing the processing of press cards, the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment is tasked with coordinating city government support for local film and television production. The office also approves permits for film shoots in the city.
Espinal, who has been working as the president of the Freelancers Union since leaving the City Council in 2020, said he sees his job as an opportunity to facilitate more film and media production in the city.
“Because if we have more production, we have more access to jobs and when people have more jobs, the city becomes more affordable to them,” he said.
