Challenges
1. Concerns about political independence
MOECM is part of the mayor’s executive office, a structure that raises serious concerns about its political independence. The office that makes the final decision on ad placement is the same one that promotes the mayor’s agenda, invites community media journalists to the mayor’s press conferences and sends out the mayor’s press releases to them.
Under Mayor Eric Adams, MOECM regularly sent op-eds authored by the mayor for direct placement in community media outlets. Some publishers saw this approach as a not-so-subtle quid pro quo, and suspect they were penalized—either by being excluded from ad campaigns or receiving reduced ad dollars—after refusing to run the op-eds or for publishing critical coverage of the mayor.
CCM heard this claim from a handful of publishers, but none could provide evidence of a communication or direct request, and it was unable to independently corroborate whether these outlets were indeed penalized.
However, the mere potential for corruption inherent in this structure is unacceptable. This report recommends creating a structure independent of the mayor’s influence, and establishing firewalls between political leadership and advertising decisions. Until then, the city should immediately implement transparency measures, including public disclosure of decision-making processes and enhanced oversight of advertising spending (more on this in the Recommendations section).
2. Shifting budgets and allocations
Neither Executive Order 47 nor Local Law 83 established a dedicated advertising budget for community media—or for news media in general. The dollar amounts allocated each year depend on broader city budget decisions made by the mayor and city council members, which may result in sweeping budget cuts, spending freezes or expansive allocations. The latter occurred during the COVID-19 crisis, when the city significantly increased its advertising budget to support public information campaigns about health services and vaccination. Conversely, between September 2023 and March 2024, in the midst of a major budget freeze and spending cuts in New York City8, much of the advertising spending was halted and no new advertising campaigns were launched.
The city has also been inconsistent in what percent of its ad spend goes toward community media. Since Executive Order 47, the city has met or exceeded the 50% allocation mandate in all but two years. It directed 84% of its ad spending to community media in 2020, 82% in 2021, and 51% in 2024. However, in 2022, only 18% of its ad budget went to community media, and 40% in 2023. Notably, the sector still received record dollar amounts during those two years: $23.1 million in 2022 and $16.92 million in 2023.
The fluctuation in ad spending has particularly affected smaller community media outlets that rely more heavily on these dollars. Some are now advocating for a set-aside advertising budget for community media and want it codified as an entitlement.
This report, again, cautions against over-reliance on government advertising revenue.
3. Challenges in data access and reporting
Local Law 83 requires annual reporting on advertising in community media. MOECM has complied with this requirement, though its reports lack sufficient detail about where ads were placed and the criteria used for placement. The data remains difficult to access and interpret, as MOECM’s databases include total city ad spending without distinguishing between community and mainstream media. In addition, MOECM does not use a consistent system to categorize news organizations—for example, some titles owned by a newspaper chain are listed individually, while others are grouped under the chain’s name.
Additionally, MOECM released its 2024 report nearly seven months after the close of the fiscal year—far too late for meaningful analysis or course correction. In addition to the delay, poor data organization made it difficult to analyze if the city had complied with the law’s requirements. The New York City Comptroller’s Office publicly criticized this delay as an “unacceptable” lapse in transparency and oversight.
According to the comptroller, the inclusion of two major commercial broadcast companies incorrectly identified as community outlets further muddied the picture. However, this inclusion appears to reflect a flaw in the data—specifically, the mislabeling of the broadcasters as community outlets—and not a misplacement of ads intended for the community media sector into mainstream media organizations.
________________
8 The 2024 MOECM report states that this was the result of “an unprecedented citywide financial crisis resulting from expiring COVID-19 federal funding, fiscal cliffs created by permanent programs funded with temporary stimulus dollars, city contracts that had not been negotiated for years, and an unexpected increase in spending due to the influx of asylum seekers into New York City,” which “resulted in deep budget cuts across every city agency.” MOECM granted two types of waivers to city agencies in FY24: Legal Mandate Waivers for agencies required to publish legally mandated notices in general media outlets, and Full Agency Waivers for agencies with advertising budgets under $5,000 per fiscal year. The total waiver spending for FY24 was $79,712, allowing agencies to balance legal requirements and budget constraints while supporting ethnic community media when possible. Waivers were also granted under the original executive order.
Made Possible By
