The growing practice of having government public relations staff handle all press inquiries has raised questions of openness and constitutionality, a government watch group said in a recent release.
Critics of government public relations staff fielding all press inquiries have raised concerns that those staffers are acting as gatekeepers, potentially hiding information from the public. Adding to the issue, if government employees are prohibited from talking to the press, it could be a violation of the U.S. Constitution.
A recently published brief by The University of Florida’s Brechner Center for Freedom of Information included incidents where Texas government agencies potentially infringed employees’ free speech rights by barring them from talking to reporters.
The brief collected research primarily from Society of Professional Journalists members Carolyn S. Carlson and Kathryn Foxhall. Their research examined U.S. government officials’ freedom of speech when engaging with journalists, and whether courts favor agency policies on restricting speech.
“Decades’ worth of First Amendment case law establishes that public employees have a constitutionally protected right to speak about work-related matters without needing their employer’s permission,” the brief summary said. “Policies and regulations that require pre-approval before government employees can discuss their work with the news media are invariably struck down as unconstitutional when challenged.”
Foxhall spoke with Texas Business Coalition on how many Texas journalists are forced to be redirected to an agency’s media department for comment requests and are frequently shut down or never reach the proper source.
"In Texas, dozens of government entities post online their policies about employees speaking to reporters,” Foxhall said. “Many require employees to direct all press inquiries to the public relations office. Many stop short – barely – of requiring silence from employees. Public officials often disregard requests for comments, either emailed or called in, or they simply forward messages to public relations staffers."
The report highlighted Barret v. Thomas, from Texas in 1981, where the Fifth Circuit Court forced the removal of a sheriff’s rules that prevented his staff from speaking to reporters unauthorized and about any topic deemed “controversial.”
While they may be seen as unconstitutional, “gag” policies restricting conversations with the media like those already ruled as such by U.S. courts are still found to exist in many different government branches, with the brief mentioning discoveries in environments ranging from Cabinet-level federal agencies to local police departments.
Foxhall, a veteran Washington D.C. reporter, has done research for SPJ’s “Censorship by PIO” awareness campaign alongside Carlson.
“We should be able to be able to talk to the right person with the right information, and we should not kid ourselves when there is a controller, the public relations people, working for the people in power,” Foxhall said.
Other states examined include New York, Georgia, Michigan, Massachusetts and Connecticut.
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