Public employees' freedom to talk with journalists depends on widely varying local and state policies and court rulings

Reporting on police, fire and other government services can be difficult in states that increasingly limit the ability of public employees to speak freely with journalists.

The disparity was brought to light by Andrew Wolfson of the Louisville Courier Journal, who began his story by noting the law in several other states, then writing, "No court in Kentucky has ever ruled that restricting public employees' speech violates the First Amendment, which leaves local and state agencies free to gag the very people who may know best whether those agencies are doing their jobs."

Wolfson notes, "Researchers at the University of Florida’s Brechner Center for Freedom of Information have found that courts in at least 20 jurisdictions have thrown out rules restricting public employees from spilling information to news outlets, on the grounds they violated the free speech rights of those workers. He gives some examples:

"In Connecticut and Nevada, courts have struck down rules requiring state troopers to get permission before talking to reporters, saying they violated the First Amendment. In Texas, a federal appeals court invalidated a sheriff’s policy forbidding comments to reporters on any topic 'that is or could be of a controversial nature.' . . . In Michigan, a federal district court struck down an ordinance with criminal penalties that required firefighters to send all media inquiries to the fire chief."

Wolfson reviewed 35 Kentucky agencies' policies and "found that 70% restrict or prohibit employees from talking to news outlets − some in ways that legal scholars say are unconstitutional," he reports. The state community-college system tells employees to refer news-media calls to the marketing and communications unit, even if faculty are called about topics not related to the system.