Knicks fined $50K by NBA for banning New York Daily News from news conference
The New York Knicks have been fined $50,000 by the NBA for violating the league’s media policy.
The reprimand comes after the team did not allow the New York Daily News to cover the post-draft news conference with No. 3 overall pick RJ Barrett and second-round choice Ignas Brazdeikis.
The decision to ban the Daily News from attending goes against the NBA’s rules regarding equal access for the media, the NBA said in a statement. The Daily News was the only organization not credentialed for the news conference on Friday, June 21.
Moving forward, the NBA said, the team has “agreed to comply” with league rules. The Knicks said in a statement that they made an “error.”
“The Knicks acknowledge that we did not comply with the NBA’s media policy, and made an error in interpreting Friday’s announcement as an invite only event,” the team said in a statement. “As we do throughout the year, we have and will continue to provide access to credentialed media as per the League’s policy.”
Knicks have rocky history with Daily News
To put it lightly, the Knicks — under the ownership of James Dolan — and the Daily News haven’t had the most cordial working relationship.
In December, the Knicks banned Daily News reporters from attending a news conference held by team president Steve Mills. That came after the paper ran a headline that said “Do It” after rumors of Dolan selling the team surfaced. Since then, the Daily News’ coverage of the team has been limited by the team.
Longtime NYC-area hoops reporter Adam Zagoria characterized the paper as “effectively banned” by Dolan.
FWIW, The Daily News was not invited to this presser for @RjBarrett6 and @_iggy_braz but every other NYC outlet covering the team was.
Jim Dolan doesn't like the coverage and has effectively banned them from covering the team.— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) June 21, 2019
Knicks widely criticized
Dolan has a reputation of attempting to control access for reporters who have been critical of his tenure as team owner.
The most recent incident was widely criticized by NBA reporters and the Professional Basketball Writers Association said the Knicks’ behavior was “unprofessional and unacceptable.”
“James Dolan, the owner of the Knicks franchise, previously has said that barring Daily News employees from media availabilities sends the Daily News ‘a message.’ In reality, the only message he is sending is that he is a bully who retaliates against legitimate news outlets that publish content he dislikes,” the PBWA statement said.
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