Is this the end of Eric Adams’ off-topic Tuesdays?

So-called off-topic Tuesdays, once the only opportunity for reporters to pepper Mayor Eric Adams with questions, have ceased without fanfare. Since June, the mayor has instead opted to field questions after scheduled announcements and events.

Adams launched the weekly press conferences in October 2023, saying it would help avoid confusion. “This will give you an opportunity so we don’t mix the messages. We want to be as clear as possible,” Adams said at the time. Journalists cried foul. The fast pace of news in New York, they argued, demanded opportunities to put a variety of questions to the mayor more than once a week. “Right now, there’s a mayor called Mayor Adams, and the rule that we put in place (is) so we don’t mix messages,” Adams responded as reporters objected to the change. That weekly press conference became known as “off-topic” – which describes questions that don’t pertain to a particular announcement the mayor is making. 

Initially, off-topic Tuesdays featured several senior members of the administration toting massive binders. They, too, were available for general questions from reporters. That changed after Adams was indicted on federal bribery and fraud charges (which were later dropped). In October of 2024, he started appearing alone.  

But this summer, Adams’ off-topic Tuesdays seemed to melt away after a June 17 press availability at City Hall. At that off-topic, the mayor got irritated when Daily News reporter Chris Sommerfeldt shouted out questions without being called on. The break from decorum followed several months during which Sommerfeldt wasn’t given an opportunity to ask a question. “You’re calling out a lot, Chris. Stop calling out, You must’ve done that in school. Stop calling out,” the mayor admonished in a sing-songy voice. When Sommerfeldt asked again for the opportunity to ask a question, Adams banned him from attending the press conferences. “You’re not going to come into this conference, my off-topic, and be disrespectful,” Adams said. Sommerfeldt declined to comment for this story.

Since then, the mayor has reversed his ban on Sommerfeldt, but he has not held an off-topic press conference in City Hall. 

On June 24, the mayor took off-topic questions after a public safety announcement at the 115th precinct in Jackson Heights, Queens. That was the last time Adams held an off-topic Tuesday with reporters. Two days later, he formally launched his reelection campaign. 

In the weeks that followed, Adams resumed taking questions here and there at press events, a pattern that continued into August.The number of questions varied. On July 21, after speaking about the use of police drones to combat subway surfing, Adams took eight questions from reporters on different topics. On a few occasions, he took as many as five off-topic questions. More often, though, he took only two or three.

In contrast, at the off-topic Tuesday availability on June 17 at City Hall, Adams responded to at least 20 questions.

“The Adams administration’s goal is always to get as much information out as possible to New Yorkers about how we are serving them, driving down crime, and making the city more affordable,” Press Secretary Kayla Mamelak Altus said in a statement. “This is done through town halls, interviews, and press conferences, where off-topic questions from reporters are fielded as much as possible for as much time as the mayor’s schedule permits.”

The mayor didn’t shy away from microphones during the last few weeks. He kept up a busy schedule of appearances on local TV news broadcasts, cable news shows, radio programs and podcasts. City & State counted a few dozen in July alone. But sitting with a favored podcast host or music radio morning show isn’t the same as being queried by reporters on the City Hall beat. 

“Mayors have always had an adversarial relationship with the press,” said former Bloomberg News City Hall reporter Henry Goldman. He covered three mayoral administrations - Giuliani, Bloomberg and de Blasio. “There's always been tension, there always been disagreements. That’s endemic to the relationship, and it should be,” Goldman said. “I think  that (Adams) is the most hostile of any mayor that I have seen toward the press,” Goldman said. 

Adams wasn’t the first mayor to put reporters in a box. Bill de Blasio angered journalists when he abruptly and unexpectedly cut off a reporter at a news conference in March of 2017 and subsequently announced that he would take off-topic questions only once a week. The move was an about face for a mayor who was known to ramble on at press conferences, sometimes close to two hours. De Blasio took further control over access when he moved to virtual press conferences during the COVID-19 pandemic, a practice he maintained until almost his last day in office.

A spokesperson for the mayor did not respond to questions about whether off-topic Tuesdays are officially over or whether they could come back in the future.