ONE SNOWFLAKE COMPLAINT, NO EVIDENCE: ERIC ADAMS EXIT PLAN OPENS DOOR TO CITY CENSORSHIP OF JOURNALISTS
THE PROPOSED RULES WOULD AUTHORIZE THE CITY TO TAKE A JOURNALIST'S PRESS CREDENTIAL IF ONE PERSON SAYS THAT JOURNALIST MADE THEM FEEL 'UNSAFE'
JB Nicholas successfully defending freedom of the press in court in Nicholas v Spielberg in 2019. Photo credit: Steven Hirsch.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK Jan 3., 2026 Exclusive
Before he slithered out of City Hall for the last time, former Mayor Eric Adams left a parting gift for New York City journalists—with whom he battled from the beginning of his one, corruption-filled term.
From its grave, the Adams administration wants to make it easier to revoke the press credentials the City issues to journalists.
In addition to making it easier to revoke journalists' press credentials, the Adams proposal would make it harder for journalists to obtain credentials in the first place by requiring "applicants to be either employed by or affiliated with a 'media platform' or be a member of a journalism association."
The proposed rules would also create a two-tier system of credentials with so-called "Premier" credentials issued to journalists with 20 or more years' experience.
Finally, Adams' proposal would lengthen the maximum time press credentials may be suspended from six months to one year.
Zohran K. Mamdani was sworn in as the CIty's new mayor Jan. 1. One of Mayor Mamdani's first official acts in office was to undue executive orders Adams issued in an attempt to hamstring him and his administration.
It is not clear if the Mamdani administration supports the proposed new rules and intends to see them through.
An email inquiry to Mamdani's press office sent late Saturday night asking if the new mayor intends to adopt Adams' proposed changes was not immediately responded to.
In a city that loves to keep the public out of public places with police lines and official “frozen zones,” press credentials—which allow holders to cross police lines and bring cameras into courts—are an essential tool in a journalist’s kit. They’re as important to reporters as laptops, and as important to photojournalists as cameras.
For almost 100 years, press credentials were issued to journalists by the NYPD. A federal civil rights lawsuit by this reporter led in 2020 to the rules currently in place that govern the issue, suspension and revocation of press credentials. The settlement ended decades of censorhip by the NYPD who silenced journalists by threatening to revoke press credentials, actually revoking press credentials and manipulating the press credentialing process—as my successful federal lawsuit against the NYPD proved.
When those rules were put in place, the City Council also removed press credentialing from the NYPD and placed it in the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment—where it remains today.
The proposal posted online by the Mayor's Office is dated Nov. 25, 2025.
The author JB Nicholas arguing for press freedom in the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Department in November.
In an apparent attempt to blunt potential opposition to the proposed changes, MOME is seeking the authority to create a two-tier press credentialing system. Journalists with more than 20 years' experience would be entitled to "premier" press credentials under the proposal.
Journalists with more than 20 years experience are exactly the kind of journalists who could effectively rally opposition to the new rules.
The proposed changes also require applicants for press credentials to show "Employment Verification."
According to the proposal, “Employment verification” means a document issued by a newsgathering organization stating that the applicant ... is employed by the newsgathering organization either as an employee or as one otherwise professionally affiliated for gain or livelihood with such newsgathering organization."
In the alternative, applicants may show "a document issued by a journalism association stating that the applicant... is a current member in good standing."
Most troubling of all, the proposed rules would "expand the criteria to deny, suspend or revoke a press credential." Specifically, the proposal if adapted would add new grounds for suspending or revoking a journalist's city-issued press credential to include "verbal or physical threats to the safety or welfare of specific individuals or the general public.”
They would also include conduct that places “a person in reasonable fear of physical injury."
Since the current rules already make crimes a basis for suspension or revocation of press credentials, the proposal seeks to add conduct that is not criminal as a basis for suspension or revocation.
All it would take, under the proposed rules, for the City to take a journalist’s credential would be for one person to say that reporter or news photographer made them feel "unsafe."
Call it the “snowflake rule.”
These proposals, if adapted, would revive the official censorship of journalists my settlement agreement with the City in the federal civil rights lawsuit I won, Nicholas v Bratton, ended.
It would also thwart the City Council's intent in moving press credentialing from the NYPD to civilian oversight at MOME in the first place—which was to ensure official censorship of journalists was not revived in practice by the NYPD.
The City plans to hold a virtual hearing on the proposed changes Wednesday, Feb. 4.
The Free Lance News plans to oppose the proposed rules and haul the City back into federal court if it pushes them through.
In the meantime, journalists wishing to comment on the proposed changes may do so here.
This is a breaking news report. Check back for updates, including a response, if any, from Mayor Mamdani.
For tips or corrections, The Free Lance can be reached at jasonbnicholas@gmail.com or, if you prefer, thefreelancenews@proton.me.