New York, NY — Fifty-one ethnic and community media outlets, who publish in 14 different languages, have issued an urgent appeal to Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, calling for the immediate restoration of city advertising commitments that have collapsed under the Adams administration. The group, coordinated by the Center for Community Media (CCM) at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY and URL Media, warns that the ethnic and community media ecosystem cannot survive another four years of neglect from City Hall.
“Ethnic and community media do more than report news,” the letter states. “We interpret public policy for immigrant neighborhoods, connect residents to services, and build trust as AI and algorithms create misinformation havoc. Information gaps in this city can quickly become life-threatening divides.”
At the center of the concerns is Local Law 83 (LL83), a 2021 mandate requiring all city departments and agencies to spend at least 50% of their advertising budgets with community and ethnic media. Prior to that, 82% of the city’s $18 million annual ad budget went to large mainstream outlets, leaving just 18% for media serving immigrant and working communities, based on research conducted by CCM.
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