NEW YORK (FN) \u2014 Mayor Eric Adams has come under fire after threatening to bar Daily News senior City Hall reporter Chris Sommerfeldt from future press conferences for attempting to ask a clarifying question without being called on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The incident occurred during Adams\u2019 weekly briefing Tuesday, when Sommerfeldt interjected to ask about the mayor\u2019s ballot line in the upcoming election. Adams had just stated he was running on both the \u201caffordable and safe\u201d and \u201cantisemitism\u201d lines when Sommerfeldt asked, \u201cIf you can only pick one\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou\u2019re calling out a lot, Chris, stop calling out! You must have done that in school,\u201d Adams said in a sing-song tone. He then turned to his press staff and added, \u201cIf he does that again, he\u2019s not to come into our conferences.\u201d Addressing Sommerfeldt directly, Adams said, \u201cYou\u2019re going to stop at the gate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/video><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThough Sommerfeldt remained in the room for the rest of the briefing, he was not allowed to ask further questions. The mayor\u2019s office has not confirmed whether the ban will be enforced going forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe Daily News Union swiftly condemned the mayor\u2019s remarks in an open letter and social media posts, calling the threat \u201ca flagrant disregard for the role of the press.\u201d Executive Editor Andrew Julien added, \u201cOur reporters have the right to ask questions, and taxpayers aren\u2019t funding the police to keep reporters out of City Hall press conferences.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nOther journalists and press freedom advocates have also weighed in. The New York Press Club issued a statement saying, \u201cBarring a reporter for doing their job is not only undemocratic \u2014 it\u2019s dangerous.\u201d PEN America called the threat \u201can affront to journalistic integrity and transparency.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nSommerfeldt has reportedly not been called on by Adams\u2019 staff in over three months, raising further concerns about selective access and control over media engagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAdams has faced mounting criticism for his tightly managed press events, where off-topic questions are banned except during one designated weekly session. Even then, outlets are often ignored for the duration of the hourlong briefing.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe controversy adds to growing tensions between City Hall and the press corps, with calls for Adams to clarify his stance and reaffirm his commitment to open government. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (FN) \u2014 Mayor Eric Adams has come under fire after threatening to bar Daily News senior City Hall reporter Chris Sommerfeldt from future press conferences for attempting to ask a clarifying question without being called on. The incident occurred during Adams\u2019 weekly briefing Tuesday, when Sommerfeldt interjected to ask about the mayor\u2019s ballot […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":22666,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-international"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Mayor-Eric-Adams.jpeg?fit=942%2C622&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22665"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22665\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22684,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22665\/revisions\/22684"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Though Sommerfeldt remained in the room for the rest of the briefing, he was not allowed to ask further questions. The mayor\u2019s office has not confirmed whether the ban will be enforced going forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Daily News Union swiftly condemned the mayor\u2019s remarks in an open letter and social media posts, calling the threat \u201ca flagrant disregard for the role of the press.\u201d Executive Editor Andrew Julien added, \u201cOur reporters have the right to ask questions, and taxpayers aren\u2019t funding the police to keep reporters out of City Hall press conferences.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other journalists and press freedom advocates have also weighed in. The New York Press Club issued a statement saying, \u201cBarring a reporter for doing their job is not only undemocratic \u2014 it\u2019s dangerous.\u201d PEN America called the threat \u201can affront to journalistic integrity and transparency.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sommerfeldt has reportedly not been called on by Adams\u2019 staff in over three months, raising further concerns about selective access and control over media engagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Adams has faced mounting criticism for his tightly managed press events, where off-topic questions are banned except during one designated weekly session. Even then, outlets are often ignored for the duration of the hourlong briefing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The controversy adds to growing tensions between City Hall and the press corps, with calls for Adams to clarify his stance and reaffirm his commitment to open government. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEW YORK (FN) \u2014 Mayor Eric Adams has come under fire after threatening to bar Daily News senior City Hall reporter Chris Sommerfeldt from future press conferences for attempting to ask a clarifying question without being called on. The incident occurred during Adams\u2019 weekly briefing Tuesday, when Sommerfeldt interjected to ask about the mayor\u2019s ballot […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":22666,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-international"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Mayor-Eric-Adams.jpeg?fit=942%2C622&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22665"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22665\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22684,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22665\/revisions\/22684"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}