WHY IS THE MAMDANI ADMINISTRATION RUNNING BACKGROUND CHECKS ON JOURNALISTS?
THE CITY COUNCIL REFUSED TO ALLOW THE MAYOR TO CONDUCT ‘BACKGROUND CHECKS’ ON JOURNALISTS IN 2021, BUT MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI IS DOING IT ANYWAY
Protest sign at Womens’ March in New York City, Jan. 21, 2017. Photo credit: JB Nicholas.
MALONE, NEW YORK Aug. 31, 2026
The New York City agency responsible for issuing press credentials to journalists is running background checks on people who apply for one.
The Mayor's Office of Movie and Entertainment is doing these background checks despite a 2021 decision by the City Council that specifically refused to give the Mayor's office, known as MOME, the legal authority to investigate journalists' "backgrounds."
But at some point after November 2023 MOME added a new question to its Internet application portal asking applicants if they were ever convicted of a felony. If the answer is "Yes," that brings up three additional and new questions demanding the applicant reveal the charge or charges, the year or years they were allegedly committed and the place or places they happened in.
Not even the NYPD asked journalists applying for press credentials if they had a criminal record while they issued official press credentials on behalf of the City from the beginning of the 20th Century until 2021—when the City Council took press credentialing authority away from the NYPD and transferred it to MOME.
The official credentialing of journalists has long been a thorny problem for multiple mayors. Earlier this year, Mayor Mamdani spiked new, restrictive rules for press credentials outgoing Mayor Eric Adams proposed in his final days in office. But Mayor Mamdani also elevated social media "influencers" over traditional press.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s press office ignored a list of questions about the new background checks on Monday.
The rules governing both the issuance and suspension or revocation of press credentials were established by two federal lawsuits that were settled by the City in 2010 and 2021. Both settlements do not allow the City to conduct free-ranging "background checks" on people who apply for press credentials.
The 2021 settlement does allow the City to suspend or revoke the press credentials of journalists "lawfully" arrested or convicted of a misdemeanor "while engaged in a news gathering capacity." It also allows the City to suspend or revoke a journalist's press credential if they are "lawfully arrested" for any felony.
But these rules only give the City the legal power to suspend or revoke a previously-issued press credential. They do not give the City the power to deny a press credential to someone previously convicted of a crime. These rules only apply to potential future criminal behavior, not past.
After news of the 2021 settlement broke, then-City Councilman now State Assembly member Keith Powers proposed a bill revoking the NYPD's press credentialing authority and transferring it to the Mayor's Office. His bill, Int. 2118-2020, included a requirement for "background checks."
But after individual journalists and professional journalist associations spoke out against the background check requirement at a public hearing in Feb. 2021, Powers and the rest of the bill's sponsors pulled the background check requirement from the final version of the bill that became city law, Int. No. 2118-A (FINAL).
Assemblymember Powers ignored a request for comment on Monday.
Robert Sherrill established the constitutional right of former criminals to work as journalists, even if their work takes them to the White House, in a federal Court of Appeals' decision from 1977 called Sherrill v Knight. Sherrill had been convicted and fined for assaulting the press secretary of Florida's governor, according to the New York Times.
New York’s “clean slate” law took effect in 2024. The new law automatically seals most criminal convictions after a specified period of time. It does allow exceptions for firearm and some “professional licenses,” but not government-issued press credentials.
Norman Siegal, former Director of the New York Civil Liberties Union who represented bloggers in the federal lawsuit that led to the 2010 settlement, couldn't be reached on Monday. But he testified against the background check requirement at the 2021 public hearing on the proposed City Council bill to revoke the NYPD’s press credentialling power.
"You can’t allow them to open that door," the local legal legend told the City Council. "The background checks like we had in the 50s."
Mickey H. Osterreicher, general counsel of the National Press Photographers' Association, condemned the new background check requirement in an email to The Free Lance News on Monday.
"Credentialing should facilitate newsgathering, not become a mechanism for regulating journalistic behavior or imposing subjective judgments about who is worthy to report the news," Osterreicher said. "Decisions affecting press access must be based on narrowly tailored, objective, and reviewable standards, not arrests, unproven allegations, or discretionary enforcement actions that may themselves have been used to interfere with constitutionally protected reporting.”
The Mayor's Office did not respond to an invitation to comment. Neither did the Deadline Club or the New York Press Photographers' Association.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The author is a reformed felon who was the plaintiff in the federal lawsuit that led to the 2021 settlement. He too testified against a background check requirement at the 2021 public hearing on the City Council’s proposed bill.
Send tips or corrections to jasonbnicholas@gmail.com or, if you prefer, thefreelancenews@proton.me