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Locked Out
October 27th, 2009

Go to WABC-TV’s web site this afternoon and you can see a story on Halloween costumes, a lot of coverage of the rain and – our favorite! — a slide show of Dancing with the Stars. You also get one, eight-sentence AP story on tonight’s mayoral debate.

Go to Gotham Gazette, and you’ll find an in-depth look at Bloomberg’s record, an article on what the mayor has — and has not done — to improve transportation in the city and a story looking at the fact and fiction behind the campaign rhetoric.

So, which source of New York City news does not get credentials to attend tonight’s debate?

Gotham Gazette.

Officials at ABC, where the debate is taking place, denied us admission “for the safety and security of everyone at the station.” In a phone conversation, vice president and news director Kenny Plotnik stressed security, citing the outburst by the Rev. Billy at the first debate.

We have no idea what this has to do with us.

Surrendering its independence, ABC’s said it had decided to grant admission only to journalists with police press credentials. Plotnik admitted that the police policy is flawed and agreed that this policy could result in a restaurant critic getting into the debate while Gotham Gazette does not.

For the record, this is ABC’s decision. NY1 allowed Gotham Gazette to attend the first mayoral debate, which it sponsored. And ABC was generous enough to admit us to the comptroller candidate’s debate between John Liu and Salim Ejaz.

Of course, our difficulty does go back to the city. Gotham Gazette has been denied a police press pass by the Bloomberg police department since summer of 2007. This apparently is because we are online (The city does not have any published rules stating that online publications are not worthy of those cards we see dangling from other reporters’ necks). And last year, three bloggers won credentials after they sued the city.

Meanwhile the administration has started efforts to revise the press pass rules. Not, of course, in time for tonight’s debate.

By Gail Robinson on October 27, 2009, 1:39 pm
In category: Electoral Politics, Gotham City | 1 Comment »

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One Response to “Locked Out”

  1. keepleft Says:
    October 27th, 2009 at 8:42 pm

    Just goes to show how hell bent against the 1st Amendment they are in addition to lack of recognition of the voters choice twice against term limits and you should acknowledge how stifling and frightening it really is in bloomberg’s corporate new york. thanks for publishing the article.

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