The city slashed its advertising spending on ethnic and community media (ECM) outlets in fiscal year 2024, hampering companies and organizations that are a key source of information for many city residents, according to an audit by city Comptroller Brad Lander.
Over 47% of the population of the city is non-white and is home to more than 700 community-based media outlets. These outlets serve as crucial information sources for the state’s diverse communities, providing essential news that resonates with their unique experiences and perspectives, according to the New York Coalition of Ethnic and Community Media.
So when Local Law 83 was passed in 2021, mandating all mayoral agencies to spend at least 50% of in-scope media advertising on ethnic and community media, many heralded the move as evening the playing field for ad dollars across all media outlets.
That said, the city's total ad spending budget, which includes general and ECM outlets, drastically fell by 84% since the law took hold, according to Lander.
In the third and fourth quarters of fiscal year 2022, city agencies spent about $16.4 million on ethnic and community media outlets. Then the city spent $16.9 million for the entire 2023 fiscal year, but in fiscal 2024, city agencies only spent a total of $7.2 million.
“Each neighborhood across the five boroughs is defined by its own identity and rich traditions, and community media outlets deliver critical information on a local level and in the language they speak," said Lander. "Unfortunately, city advertising budgets often overlook these outlets and by proxy, the neighborhood readership, viewership and listenership they serve. By dramatically decreasing ad spends with ECM outlets and releasing their annual spending report more than 75 days late, City Hall undermines the trust these outlets have in city government and the city’s ability to reach all corners of our vast and diverse city."
The city said overall ad spending had to be cut because it was facing an unprecedented fiscal crisis, according to the latest annual report from the Mayor's Office of Ethnic and Community Media.
The budget cut was a result of 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 the city, the report said.
"Comptroller Lander is once again showing he lacks a basic understanding of how the law works and how to do simple math, questioning his ability to even maintain the current job he has," said Adams' Press Secretary Kayla Mamelak Altus in a statement. "In Fiscal Year 2024, 51% of our advertising budget was spent on ethnic and community media — a percentage that has grown every year since we took office.
However, Lander said the drop in ad dollars in ethnic and community media "has potentially far-reaching ramifications for New Yorkers and the city’s goals to support" minority and women-owned businesses.
"Advertising in ECM outlets helps to ensure equitable access to information and resources for all New Yorkers across communities," he said.
