New York mayor Bill DiBlasio taking questions from reporters in the Blue Room at City Hall. Photo by Yana Paskova for The New York Times.
They are known as the "Room 9" crowd: credentialed reporters who cover the political beat at New York City Hall - where the press room (Room 9) is just down the hall from the Blue Room, where press conferences are usually held.
The denizens of Room 9 have seen mayors come and go, but rarely have such high hopes for transparency been laid so low as with current New York Mayor Bill DiBlasio. "While the mayor does hold news conferences, he frequently limits questions to a predetermined topic. The shift has not gone unnoticed," writes The New York Times. "The New York Press Club has publicly objected to it, and reporters have started to ignore the restrictions."