Morano asks who decides directory eligibility and whether appeals exist

Thank you.

And just to pick up on

One of the things that both Chair Brewer and Councilmember Stevens were alluding to, I'd like to get a little bit more clarity on how you get on this list, right?

So your office maintains the citywide marketing directory, which agencies use to identify eligible media outlets.

Who determines whether an outlet qualifies for inclusion?

Are the eligibility criteria public?

And is there a formal appeals process if an outlet is rejected?

Thank you for that question, Councilman.

Yeah, that is one of the most important things in this office.

So I can read for you the current criteria that's on the website.

Sure.

It's in the law.

So it says, serves a particular communities of people based on native language, race, color, gender, national origin, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, disability, or immigrant status to

target a discrete neighborhood, geographic region, or population within a city rather than the city as a whole, or three, falls within a specifically tailored subject matter as determined by the executive director.

So I think that as a member of the media previously and in my conversations with publishers, the folks from Nycolum, the New York City

local community and ethnic media group are here.

So many publishers have expressed confusion about this list.

And that's why I do think creating a much more public policy and approach to this and having a public conversation so that there isn't confusion about which publications are in and which publications aren't,

I think is really one of my main goals for this office.

And as I said, I think it can really be a model for the rest of the country as well.