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"Comms team" aka "communications team" refers to the mayor's communications staff. You're confusing the comms team—i.e., Rowland and her team—with the influencers to whom they send alerts and press releases. Also, fyi—some of the influencers are getting paid, though not by Rowland's team:

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Whoa! "convicted in 2008 of sending money to Hamas"—sounds bad! Weird that @mayor.nyc.gov would support them! By "rapping lyrics"! If NYT reporters or editors did basic research, they would know that "conviction" was a Bush-era witch hunt based on lies, secret evidence, mistranslations, & bigotry—

"We, the undersigned U.S. and international civil and human rights organizations and individuals, call on the Biden Administration to pardon the “Holy Land Foundation Five.” Shukri Abu-Baker, Ghassan Elashi, Mufid Abdulqader, Abdulrahman Odeh, and Mohammad Elmezain are prominent Palestinian-American philanthropists who once ran the largest Muslim charity in the United States. The Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development was shut down by the Bush administration and designated as a terrorist organization in the wake of 9/11, even though it donated money to Palestinian charities that the U.S. government itself supported. Its leaders are serving sentences of up to 65 years in federal prison.[1]

The defendants in the Holy Land Foundation (HLF) case were never accused of directly funding terrorist organizations or terrorist attacks, nor were the Palestinian charities they funded accused of doing so. Nonetheless, they were prosecuted under US “material support” legislation on the notion that the social programs they financed help win the “hearts and minds” of Palestinian people for Hamas.[2]

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But it gets worse! At least one of the Times's "political reporters" has a history of amplifying Walden's hate speech. For example: in this NYT story from May, they amplify Walden's false claims about the Holy Land Five:

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/13/nyregion/mamdani-opponents-money-campaign.html?unlocked_article_code=1.-lA.UFOj.BfpZ0YOQ7gi1&smid=url-share

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If you know NYC politics, which is literally the NYT's job & not yours, you know Common Sense's founder, Jim Walden, as the unrepentant racist crank & failed mayoral candidate who tweeted this disgusting hate speech from the group's official account:

Tweet from @nyccommonsense Twitter account: "Ok, Dora, I'll say it differently. a terrorist attack in NYC would be a complicated problem for the Mayor because he'd be rooting for the terrorists."

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Here, the @nytimes.com quotes an Islamophobic hate group as if it was a good faith "opposition" group, concerned with "common sense"—instead of a dark-money-funded hate speech machine that spouts vile religious bigotry:

"An organization that recently formed in opposition to Mr. Mamdani, NYC Common Sense, asked the city’s Department of Investigation to look into the mayor’s relationship with influencers and the administration’s use of Signal. The City Council is also preparing to hold a hearing on the matter."

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Reading Rauh's quote, you wouldn't know that @citizensunionny.bsky.social, a once-legit group, endorsed serial sexual harasser, grandma killer, & noted corruption doer Andrew Cuomo for mayor! The fantastic local news outlet @hellgatenyc.com interviewed Rauh at the time. It was... embarrassing:

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A couple of points, as a "traditional journalist" who used to cover NYC politics: The two Times reporters (who don't seem to be on here, but feel free to tag them if I'm wrong) quote Grace Rauh of @citizensunionny.bsky.social. Rauh sounds like a concerned citizen who simply wants the best for NYC!

"“Use of Signal runs counter to the city’s document retention policy and its ability to comply with the Freedom of Information Law,” said Grace Rauh, who heads the organization Citizens Union. “Any discussion of official government business must occur in a manner that ensures records are preserved and accessible.”"

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takes some balls to say this directly to their face

"“The monopolization of the media has resulted in legacy press hemorrhaging readers and viewers, essential reporting often locked behind paywalls, and ownership increasingly concentrated in the hands of a small number of wealthy corporations and billionaires who exert their own editorial agendas over the news,” she added."

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Rowland's quotes here are on 🔥

“At a moment of profound distrust in politics, our job is not to preserve decades-old communications norms or protect the gatekeepers who once controlled access to public information,” Ms. Rowland said."

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Annia Ciezadlo @anniaciezadlo.com · 02/09/2026

The real reason the @nytimes.com did this hit job: They are butthurt that @mayor.nyc.gov's team no longer grants "traditional journalists" absolute power to gatekeep the news. And you know what? As a "traditional journalist" who loves newspapers, I think the mayor is right. Here's why: 🧵

"The influencers effort is led by Emilia Rowland, a new media expert who worked on Mr. Mamdani’s mayoral campaign and his transition team. Ms. Rowland, who earns $175,000 as the mayor’s director of new media and cultural communications, contended that working with influencers was a higher priority than interacting with traditional journalists."

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Fun fact that I just learned at the @newyorkgroove.bsky.social live show: in 2023, the entire cast of Severance walked out in solidarity with the Writers Guild strike

Writers Hamilton Nolan (formerly of Gawker, currently of Substack) and Liz Hynes (of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver) on stage at Caveat in New York City

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Trump re-upped his OZ tax breaks in the 2025 Big Ugly Bill, aka the Murder Budget. That solid patch of green on the lower right is Gary—one big "opportunity zone." A smart reporter or editor would look at this map & ask why Trump's tax breaks haven't done jack for Gary.

The federal government's Department of Housing and Urban Development's map of "opportunity zones." Shows Chicago's south side and Gary. https://www.hud.gov/opportunity-zones

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Ever wondered what happened to Trump's "opportunity zones"? (Remember those?) As part of his 2017 tax bill—a massive giveaway to the ultra-rich, & a big part of why our deficit is $40 trillion—he passed a huge tax break that was supposed to "incentivize" the rich to invest in low-income areas.

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Gary, Hammond, Calumet City, Dolton, Michigan City, Miller—all of these areas (especially the ones in Indiana) experience a modern-day form of redlining. It's more subtle than the original redlining, which was a physical red line on a map. But imo just as destructive. This is Harvey, Illinois—

The infamous Boogie Nights, a strip club in Harvey, Illinois. Long abandoned. Overgrown with weeds.

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Annia Ciezadlo @anniaciezadlo.com · 23/08/2026

I'm glad to see all the coverage of the blackout in Gary, Indiana. But all of the stories I've read leave out this key fact—my guess because the reporters never bothered to visit that area before the blackout: Vast swaths of Gary (& surrounding areas) had no power *even before* the storm hit.

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When you get to Penn Station on a Saturday and this is the first thing you see, there is only one explanation: God loves socialism

Handwritten sign in a New York City subway booth says: “Trains Running Normally! Have a smooth weekend” with little smiles and balloons

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and here's an ever creepier threatening one they sent @sarahkendzior.bsky.social's alter ego, an elderly man named Stanley:

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Here's one they sent my mom just this morning, as I was telling her about @adambonica.bsky.social's story:

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@sarahkendzior.bsky.social posted this doozy that they sent to her alter ego, Stanley:

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