Incident details
- Date of incident
- June 27, 2025
- Targets
- Times Union
- Government agency or public official involved
- Type of denial
- Press credential or media list
Denial of Access
John Sarcone III, the acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York, briefly removed the Times Union from his office’s media distribution list after it published a critical story on June 27, 2025.
John Sarcone III, the acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York, ordered his staff to remove the Times Union from his office’s media distribution list after the Albany-based outlet published an investigation about him on June 27, 2025.
The Times Union reported July 9 that it had not received a news release from Sarcone’s office since the publication of the June story, which detailed how, in an affidavit, Sarcone had listed a boarded-up building in Albany as his primary residence.
As interim U.S. attorney at the time, Sarcone was required to live in the Northern District, which covers much of northern and central New York. He had long been a resident of Westchester County in southern New York.
In a July 7 email to his assistant U.S. attorneys, shortly before being reappointed in a special “acting” capacity, Sarcone asked for confirmation that the “Times Union has been deleted from our distribution list,” the outlet reported.
While Sarcone and the office’s public information officers did not respond to the Times Union’s requests for comment about the removal, the outlet wrote that “the directive that had been in place for roughly two weeks was apparently rescinded” as of July 9.
Casey Seiler, the Times Union’s editor, in an interview with the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, noted that Sarcone’s response simply made the paper more determined to report on his actions.
“He is probably unfamiliar with what is known as the Streisand Effect, which is, if you’re familiar with it, the idea that that sort of guns-blazing response to a negative story just tends to draw more attention to the story that you’re ticked off about.”
Seiler added, “Our response to getting stonewalled is to do a story about getting stonewalled.”
Sarcone’s office did not respond to a voicemail message requesting comment.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker catalogues press freedom violations in the United States. Email tips to [email protected].
