NYC mayor claims media is giving him negative press because he is black

New York City Democrat Mayor Eric Adams claimed during a press conference Tuesday in Albany that mainstream media is giving him negative press coverage because he's a black man.

"I'm a black man that's the Mayor but my story is being interpreted by people who don't look like me," Adams said during the press conference.

"We got to be honest about that. How many blacks are in the editorial boards? How many blacks determine how these stories are being written? How many Asians? How many east Indians? How many south Asians? Everyone talks about my government being diversified. What's the diversification in the newsrooms?" Mayor Adams asked.

"My role as mayor is being interpreted through the prisms of your realities and not mine. So, when you write stories, you're not writing stories for people who were almost homeless like me. You're not writing stories for people who were arrested and beat up by police officers. You're not writing stories for those who are dealing with high crime. You're writing them from your prisms," Adams continued.

Adams explained that he is not trying to "attack" the media but made it clear that his administration is going to be "about saying the obvious that other people are uncomfortable with saying."

Adams called out the "lack of diversity" in newsrooms and called on news networks to work on "diversifying" the press pool so he can see reporters that look like him.

"Diversify your newsrooms so I can look out and see people that look like me and say we are going to write stories based on the prisms that we have," Adams said. "That's not what we're getting and that's why I'm covered the way I'm covered. And I'm not comfortable with it."

The mayor's comments come after being frustrated with news reports that his trip to Albany to meet with lawmakers about rolling back the state's bail reform laws didn't go smoothly.

"There was no arguing, no yelling, no screaming," Adams said. "Areas we disagreed on we talked about it, and we walked through them."

"I’m trying to figure out, do you guys already write the stories before I do something and just live out what you have already written?" Adams asked. "I'm going to stop doing off topics because if you already have your perception of me and you're already going to stick to what you think I am then why am I doing this?"