In individual Q&A sessions with reporters and editors from the community and

In individual Q&A sessions with reporters and editors from the community and ethnic press, organized by the Center for Community and Ethnic Media (CCEM) at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, mayoral candidates answered questions about how their administrations would handle the current dearth of advertising dollars spent by the city on the more than 270 ethnic and local media outlets in New York.

CCEM released a report in March that found the city spends $18 million every year in newspaper ads that promote issues such as health and education. Only $3.2 million of that, or about 18 percent, is earmarked for community and ethnic publications, which together, have a total circulation of 4.5 million, or 55 percent of the city’s population. CCEM executive director Garry Pierre-Pierre, who moderated the eight Q&A sessions over the last three weeks, asked each candidate if they planned on addressing the discrepancy which potential leaves millions of New Yorkers out of the loop about city policies and programs that affect them.

John Liu
Like Thompson, Democrat John Liu responded to the CCEM report after its release in March: “We must do much, much better,” he said at the time.

The city comptroller elaborated during his Q&A session, saying that the issue of “inequities of city spending” had never left his mind after first engaging in the subject four years ago. Like his rivals, Liu looked at the bigger picture of the importance of transmitting information out to New Yorkers.

“It’s not about the dollars and it’s not about the news outlets,” he said. “It’s about how best to get official information from the city out to everybody in New York City and the reality is not everybody reads the New York Times or the Daily News or the New York Post … people read a lot of other literature and other newspapers.” He said he has relatively limited options as comptroller because most of the ads his office places are in financial publications like Pensions & Investments, but that things would be different if he’s elected mayor.

“I would have far more control over what the commissioner and the various agencies are doing and I think I have a particular sensitivity in terms of how best to get information from City Hall and the various city agencies to everybody in the city of New York.”

Anthony Weiner
Former Congressman Anthony Weiner came out in support of increasing the ad money the city spends in community outlets but took issue with the question.

“I would direct more towards ethnic newspapers but I don’t know if reporters should care,” he said, explaining that he believed the question crossed the line that divides the business and editorial side of journalism.

He acknowledged that local and community newspapers are “issue leaders in the conversation of what goes on.” However, in terms of the report, he did not see it as a “journalism question” that would be of concern to reporters.

See more at: http://www.voicesofny.org/2013/06/candidates-support-increasing-ad-money-city-spends-in-community-papers/?utm_source=Voices+Newsletter&utm_campaign=dd6eeb4172-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_ffee07af47-dd6eeb4172-32371745#sthash.bOHU4UCo.dpuf