New York City's new policy governing press credentials is more strict than what was used by the NYPD
Photo: Mike Segar/REUTERS After the NYPD arrested journalists covering 2020 protests over George Floyd’s murder, the City Council passed a law stripping the police of the power to issue press credentials. Instead, the law put the mayor’s office in charge of giving out the passes that let reporters into official events and behind police lines.
When the City Council passed Local Law 46 last spring, it moved credentialing authority to the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment. Months later, at the end of the de Blasio administration, MOME fashioned the new rule, which went into effect this January under the Adams administration. The rule specifically asks applicants whether they have a felony conviction or “open case for a lawful arrest for a misdemeanor while newsgathering,” regardless of conviction.
MOME would also consider whether issuing a credential to someone with a record would “involve an unreasonable risk to property or to the safety or welfare of specific individuals or the general public,” which drew criticism for being too vague. Keith Powers, the council member who sponsored the law, said he was caught by surprise by how MOME interpreted its new authority. “I was not aware of this rule in the application process, and think it should be removed to uphold the intention of Local Law 46,” he said in a statement.
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