Why is the city of Sebastopol making it harder for reporters to cover city government?
A new press policy, which will come before the council for discussion next week, infringes on reporters' ability to cover city government and raises constitutional questions
CORRECTION: We would like to correct one error in our description of the city’s original press policy from Nov. 4, as described in this article. The policy the city ultimately developed did not require council people to alert city hall before talking to the press. Although that idea was discussed by the council on Nov. 4—and I spoke against—it was left out of the final policy at Councilmember Hinton’s insistence, according to Mayor Zollman and Assistant City Manager Mary Gourley. This was ultimately rendered in the policy as, “Appropriate City staff should always be alerted to media contact.”
This article has been edited to remove this error.
The first sign of trouble came in November of 2024 during what seemed like a prosaic discussion of the roles and duties of the mayor and vice mayor. The council’s committee on city protocols suggested that the mayor be the only person allowed to speak for the city council as a whole when talking to the press. Council members were still allowed to speak for themselves individually. This is a commonplace provision.
But then came the kicker. The committee, made up of outgoing Mayor Diana Rich and incoming Mayor Stephen Zollman, also suggested that anytime a councilmember was approached by a member of the press, they had to first alert the city manager and the assistant city manager, who would then alert the mayor and all the other council members that one of their number would be talking to the press.
That raised my eyebrows as a reporter, and I did something I’ve rarely done in all my years of reporting: I got up to speak against this proposal in public comment. I said it would slow council members’ ability to respond to reporters’ questions. The council assured me that it would not, and the policy passed 4 to 1, with Councilmember Sandra Maurer dissenting.
After I sat down, I thought of another reason why this policy was a bad idea—namely, that it could have a chilling effect on council members’ willingness to freely speak their minds. It would give them the feeling that they were being watched—by the mayor, by city staff and by their fellow city council members. And I suspected this could transform what was usually an interesting, free-wheeling exchange into a more controlled interaction, producing cautious, carefully massaged responses of little substance.
Ultimately, that practice did not make it into the final policy, which read as follows:
[Mayor] to serve as the City’s primary media spokesperson in coordination with City staff. Appropriate City staff should always be alerted to media contact.
Nothing under the Mayor’s duties shall limit any individual Council Member’s ability to interact with members of the public or media.
In December, I did a long, in-depth interview with Mayor Zollman. Then at the end of our hour-and-a-half interview, he said he wanted to tell me about the city’s newest press protocols, which were meant to carry out the policy above.
How to strangle the flow of information
Zollman began by saying, “If you’re not getting as quick of a response as you’ve been accustomed to, there’s a reason. The press protocols…”
I interrupted him: “I knew that would slow things down.”
He replied, “The council protocols are what the council protocols are. I don’t see it as a slowdown. A lot of thought went into the council protocols. I am the spokesperson, but in the protocols, it says that I will—it’s not like maybe—I will work with staff—and when I say staff, I mean all staff.”
Over the next 20 minutes, he rolled out a list of new rules for press coverage—rules about how reporters should (and should not) contact the city government, who they can talk to, and what questions would (and would not) get a quick response.
None of these rules had been approved by the city council, but Zollman told me that he felt they simply elaborated on the press policy the council passed in November.
When I explained to him that these rules would make it almost impossible for me to do my job, he spread his hands and shrugged.
He said he’d laid out these same rules to Press Democrat reporter Amie Windsor, noting, “She didn’t like it, and you probably won’t either.”
After our interview, I wrote to the city—the mayor, the city manager, and assistant city manager—asking for clarification and a written copy of the new policy.
At first, Mayor Zollman seemed to back off. On Jan. 2, he wrote me, “I did not mean to convey that my suggestions about press interactions were to be taken as any type of formal protocols outside of what the full council approved.”
But it was clear that something had already changed inside the city government. When I tried to reach a department head, I was told point blank that all press inquiries now had to be routed through city hall.
Then, on Feb. 6, in response to questions from me and the Press Democrat’s Amie Windsor, the mayor sent a long response outlining these practices in depth. (See the full letter at the end of this article). Some of the practices in his letter are harmless, but some strike right at the heart of how reporters gather information when covering city government.
LIMITATIONS ON WHO YOU CAN TALK TO: “For staff, the primary and initial points of contact should be the city manager and assistant city manager. They may designate department heads to speak as well.” This is a huge departure from how the city has worked in the past, when reporters developed working relationships with different department heads and could easily call or text them with questions as issues arose. This relationship had other benefits: it familiarized readers with the people who make city government work and rendered them as full humans and not as faceless bureaucrats.
Having to go through four people (the department head, the mayor, the city manager and the assistant city manager)—for every single press request will vastly increase the amount of time it takes to get a response. It is also an enormous waste of staff time. Zollman noted that two departments—police and fire—may be contacted directly, though the mayor, city manager and assistant manager should be cc’d in any written communication to them.
LIMITATIONS ON METHODS OF ASKING QUESTIONS. “You may use any communications method to reach Councilmembers or staff. We prefer questions in writing (e-mail especially) as that will help us respond more effectively and promptly. Questions that are submitted in writing via email will result in quicker responses. We recognize that some things are more difficult to explain in writing.” This is tricky wording—first it says reporters may reach out in any way they like, then it says that only one method—email—will get a quick(ish) response. Sometimes emailed questions are fine—it gives sources time to think about their answers. I often give people an option of responding via telephone or text (the two quickest for both me and the respondent), in person or via email. I give people this option because some people feel more comfortable talking than writing (or vice versa). But email, despite the Mayor’s claim above, is clearly the slowest. Journalistic interviews often involve follow-up questions, which, if done via email, also increase the response time.
LIMITATIONS ON HOW LONG IT TAKES TO RESPOND: “The more time we have to respond, the more likely we will be able to respond” and “Please submit requests for interviews at least 24 hours in advance.” Perhaps the city is unclear on how journalism works. Reporters work on tight deadlines—often we work on stories that are due that same day or the next day. I am happy to schedule long in-depth interviews—like the one I did with Zollman in December—days, even weeks, in advance. But for most daily journalism, excepting long investigative pieces, reporters need an answer that day or the next day.
LIMITATIONS ON WHAT TOPICS CAN BE DISCUSSED. “We will attempt to respond to questions on all City-related topics. Our ability to respond will at times be constrained due to other priorities, availability of data, deadlines, etc. We will likely be more responsive to questions related to the City’s priorities (as adopted by the Council) or of particularly high public interest. Questions not related to City goals may have delayed responses.” Again, that deceptively soothing first sentence—but the last sentence tells the real story: the city will decide what’s important for reporters to cover and what’s not—or at least what they’re willing to comment on.
A case in point: The Redwood Marketplace story
Sebastopol Times readers may remember a recent article I did about some future development ideas for the Redwood Marketplace. After I wrote the article, I thought, “Gee, I bet people are going to wonder what the city’s new community development director is doing to help this re-development along?” The former CVS building in Redwood Marketplace is, after all, one of the largest and longest-running vacancies in Sebastopol.
On Tuesday, Feb. 18, at 11:37 am, I emailed Community Development Director Emi Theriault. After briefly explaining the nature of the story, I asked “I’m wondering if the city could have any role in moving this along? It’s been sitting there for years.”
As a courtesy, I cc’d City Manager Don Schwartz and got an immediate response from him: “We will discuss and get back to you.” Later that day, I got a message from Mayor Zollman: “We have not had a chance to touch base on this. Will do soon.”
So now we had three people—Ms. Theriault, the city manager and the mayor—who had to find time to put their heads together to formulate an answer to a single question.
That night, at the city council meeting, I asked Schwartz if they were going to have an answer for me before tomorrow morning. He looked rueful and said “No.”
The next day I held the Redwood Marketplace story and ran something else, waiting for the city’s response. The day after that—we post in the morning—I still hadn’t heard from the city. Since I didn’t have another story to run in its place, I ran the Redwood Marketplace story that morning without the city’s response.
Six hours after the story was posted, Schwartz called with that response. He said the city had attempted to contact CVS in November to inquire about the property, but hadn’t gotten any response. He also noted that Ms. Theriault was working hard on higher priority economic development issues, like the Barlow Hotel.
A perfectly good answer. But why did it take three people and 48 hours to formulate that response?
This is not the only example. In the past month, multiple calls from Sebastopol Times reporters have gone unanswered by city department heads since the imposition of these new rules. Important stories—about Sebastopol’s crime rate, about its use of county mental health services, about the continued flooding of Healdsburg Avenue in heavy rains—have gone unanswered and these stories unwritten.
When I asked the city manager why this was happening—why the change in policy—he was silent for a long moment, then he said, “I think you should ask the mayor.”
And so I did. Since policies are normally devised to solve a problem, I asked him, “What problem are you trying to solve with these new protocols? What is the reason behind them? Why do you feel they are needed?”
Mayor Zollman answered like so: “The short answer to all of the questions is that I am doing what I thought was needed to comply with the council’s recently passed protocols.” Then he wrote back, “I forgot to add that from my way of thinking, the proposed process was a way to provide responses in an efficient and timely manner to press inquiries.”
The city staff report on the issue puts it this way: “It is the goal of the City of Sebastopol to keep the public informed about achievements and efforts of the City and staff. By following [these press policies], the Mayor believes the City can maintain a strong, transparent, and proactive relationship with the media, ensuring that all communication is timely, accurate, and aligned with the City’s goals and values. By taking the time to receive the inquiry and provide clean and accurate responses, the City can ensure that its communications are consistent, transparent and accurate.”
Constitutional questions
Last week the Sebastopol Times reached out to the First Amendment Coalition (FAC), a national nonprofit organization that protects and promotes a free press, freedom of expression, and the people’s right to know. I sent them a copy of the mayor’s email, describing the new, proposed—but, actually, already enacted—city press policy.
FAC attorney David Loy called from Texas. Referring to the email, he said, “This is emblematic of things we’ve been seeing for a while in local government, and we’re very concerned about it.”
Perusing the document, he identified two areas that he found to be likely violations of the First Amendment:
the requirement that government employees get permission before they speak to the press (“A clear case of prior restraint,” according to Loy);
the requirement that council members contact city hall before they talk to the press (“Prior restraint or close to it,” Loy said.) [NOTE: Again, as it turned out, the language in the final Nov. 4 policy was softened to “Appropriate City staff should always be alerted to media contact.”]
Loy said there were other issues with the policy as well—issues that didn’t rise to constitutional violations, but were more like questions of best practice.
“In the last couple of years,” he said, “I’ve heard of various government agencies at the local, state and federal level clamping down on the flow of information, demanding more and more control of the flow of information, and trying to force the press to only speak to approved people, such as public information officers, and restrict or at least impede the ability to talk to other staff.”
Loy said that’s a model that’s allowed for private business but is dangerous when applied to government institutions.
“People in government should not be thinking, ‘We’re like a private business, and we get to control the message and control the flow of information as we see fit. The press is the guardian of the public interest,” Loy said, “and it’s in everyone’s interest for government to be accountable and responsive to it in every way possible.”
As I was writing this story, I couldn’t help but wonder what other reporters thought of the new press policy. Amie Windsor of the Press Democrat declined to comment, but I ran Mayor Zollman’s email by a couple of retired Press Democrat reporters. Former Press Democrat reporter Mary Fricker connected me to the First Amendment Coalition. Sebastopol resident and retired Press Democrat reporter Bleys Rose wrote back: “I hope you ignore this [policy]. Reporters have the right to respectfully ask whoever and whatever they want. If someone won’t talk to you, put that in your story.”
We need your help
The Sebastopol City Council will discuss this issue at their upcoming council meeting on Tuesday, March 4. If you enjoy the Sebastopol Times’ in-depth coverage of Sebastopol and its city government, please email your councilmembers opposing these new policies. Especially at this time, when transparency in government is more important than ever, explain to them that reporters must have free, open and timely access to the workings of city government.
If you can, please attend the council meeting to speak in public comment on this issue. I know this is a big ask. The question of press access is listed last on a very long agenda—which means it will probably be handled late at night, when most people have dropped off Zoom and there’s no one left in the council chamber but the city council, the city staff and me (plus Oliver Dick). If enough people show up to speak on this issue, it might be moved to the top of the agenda. If not, there is always the possibility, if the meeting runs too late, that this agenda item will be kicked to the next council meeting.
We appreciate any support you can give us on this issue. Your right to know about your city government is at stake.
An email from Mayor Zollman describing the proposed new press policy
Greetings Laura and Amie,
Following up on your inquiry some time ago, I’d like to share the media practices for the City. I believe that following these will provide you with the ability to receive timely, accurate answers to inquiries on City matters.
Who on staff and council are we in the media allowed to speak with?
The Mayor is the spokesperson for the Council; each Councilmember may also speak for themselves. Thus, you can speak with any member of the Council. Generally, the Mayor will speak on policy issues and major initiatives. He may ask other Councilmembers to speak on areas of their expertise, such as members of Ad Hoc Committees on topics assigned to those Committees.
For staff, the primary and initial points of contact should be the City Manager and Assistant City Manager. They may designate Department Heads to speak as well. Generally, staff will speak on administrative and operational issues and budget topics. Staff may also speak to adopted policy issues particularly when there are questions about recommendations in staff reports or to provide background information.
What ways (email, text, phone call) are we in the media allowed to reach out to potential sources?
You may use any communications method to reach Councilmembers or staff. We prefer questions in writing (e-mail especially) as that will help us respond more effectively and promptly. Questions that are submitted in writing via email will result in quicker responses. We recognize that some things are more difficult to explain in writing.
What is the city's preferred timeline for responses to questions?
The more time we have to respond the more likely we will be able to respond. We would appreciate your providing ‘real’ deadlines. There have been instances when reporters provide a deadline that we cannot meet, and we do not pursue responses because we believe we have missed a deadline. Thus, If/when we learn about a new deadline we are unlikely to be able to respond because we have stopped (or never started) working on a response.
Questions received late in the day, on weekends (including Fridays, when City Hall is closed), and on holidays generally will not be answered until the next business day.
Please submit requests for interviews at least 24 hours in advance.
Can you confirm: we in the media should not expect responses to questions or topics that do "not align with the city's goals?"
We will attempt to respond to questions on all City-related topics. Our ability to respond will at times be constrained due to other priorities, availability of date, deadlines, etc. We will likely be more responsive to questions related to the City’s priorities (as adopted by the Council) or of particularly high public interest. Questions not related to City goals may have delayed responses.
What am I missing?
Questions on major public safety incidents (crimes, fires, etc.) should be directed to the Police and Fire Chiefs or their designees.
When sent by e-mail or text please cc: the Mayor, City Manager, and Assistant City Manager.
During emergencies we may designate another staff person as the Public Information Officer, per our Emergency Operations Plan. This may occur before declaration of an emergency, such as when there is a high risk from a wildfire or flood.
As always, let me know if you have any questions.
Cheers,
Stephen
The Sebastopol Times provides some the best local reporting I have ever seen. Thank you for exposing the latest missteps of the city council.
I can understand that the city of Seb is under a lot of pressure....financial and other...and the mayor would like to control the narrative to avoid conflicting and possibly distracting or biased stories being 'printed'. But the optics of a gag order are not good, especially in the bigger political environment.