Speaker Menin recounts early city investment in ethnic media
Menin thanks Brewer and recalls starting city investment in ethnic and community media over a decade ago. She describes a 2016 million-dollar CUNY journalism grant and reads her earlier statement that ethnic media reflects New York's diversity.
Thank you so much, Chair Brewer, and I really want to thank the chair for holding this important hearing.
I'm Julie Menon, speaker of the New York City Council, and we want to thank members of the public for being here today for this hearing.
So this issue that we are discussing today around the mayor's office of community and
ethnic media is not new to the city council and it's certainly not a new issue for me.
I've long recognized the importance of ethnic and community media, which led me to start investing in that over a decade ago.
In 2016, when I served as commissioner of the mayor's office of media and entertainment,
We announced a million-dollar grant to CUNY's journalism school to create new programs that would help New York City's community and ethnic media outlets stay competitive and bring them further into the digital age.
And we were really proud to announce that program.
At that announcement, here is what I said.
The diversity and breadth of New York City's community and ethnic media reflects the diversity of our city as a whole, and it is crucially important to keep these outlets thriving.
These publications add key perspective to our local news landscape, and they keep New Yorkers in the know, whether their native language is English or Bangla.
We look forward to collaborating with the Journalism School on this important initiative, which builds on their history of providing excellent training for journalists at ethnic and community publications.