Federal lawsuit challenges 'unconstitutional' Key Biscayne media policy

The Key Biscayne Independent filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against the Village of Key Biscayne, claiming a media policy adopted last year is an unconstitutional infringement on the free press.

In November, the Key Biscayne government issued a media policy that gagged its employees, prohibiting them from speaking to news media unless permitted by Village Manager Steve Williamson or government spokeswoman Jessica Drouet. The policy explicitly tells staffers that if they speak out of turn, they could face disciplinary action.

“This wide-ranging limitation on speech—sweeping in not only statements made pursuant to official duties, but also casual conversation, personal opinions, and whistleblowing on matters of clear public concern—is unconstitutional,” the complaint said. The Independent is represented by attorneys from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, a nationally known media freedom organization, and the Florida law firm Shullman Fugate.

In an editorial that is running separately today, Editor-in-Chief Tony Winton said the newspaper felt its newsgathering had been curtailed, calling it an “intolerable limit on free inquiry that we feel must be challenged.” 

“Our legal action was not taken lightly, and we are always open to reaching a reasonable resolution of this issue,” Winton said. 

The complaint filed in the Southern District of Florida by Miami Fourth Estate (the corporate name of the publication)  names the Village of Key Biscayne and Williamson as defendants. The lawsuit seeks a ruling that the gag policy is unconstitutional and an injunction prohibiting the Village from enforcing it.

Journalism organizations have been raising the alarm on such gag policies being adopted by municipalities nationwide.

Lawsuit filed in the Southern District of Florida

The Society of Professional Journalists has called such policies “Censorship by PIO.”

The head of the Brechner Center for the Advancement of the First Amendment at the University of Florida calls it an effort to “propagandize our citizenry.” 

In the seven months since Williamson instituted the media policy, information once freely provided has dried up for the Independent, the lone government accountability publication on the island of 15,000.

“It definitely slows down information getting to the public because if you have one person as the gatekeeper, that’s the bottleneck and that’s inefficient,” said David Cuillier, director of the Freedom of Information Project at the Brechner Center. “Journalists can’t talk to the expert, the source. Errors are going to happen. Problems are going to happen. It’s actually going to cause more disinformation.”

Constitutional Questions

In a brief on government employee gag orders, the Center said such policies chill potential free speech before it happens and thus are unconstitutional, a violation of the First Amendment. 

“Employees who are critical of the agency will naturally hesitate to voice their concerns if they must first ask permission from the very people whose judgments they call into question. Only those who adhere to the party line would view such a requirement without trepidation.”

There has been an effort through the courts to challenge such policies. 

Journalist Brittany Hailer, with support from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and Yale Law School Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic, sued Allegheny County in Pennsylvania when it barred jail employees and contractors from speaking publicly with members of the news media on matters of public concern without first getting permission. 

The federal case settled in April 2024 after Allegheny County agreed to make substantive revisions to several policies, including rules on speaking to the media. 

The Society of Professional Journalists is keeping track of municipalities that instill media policies limiting government access through its project, Gagged America.

Double Standards and Ghosting Reporters

Williamson said his policy doesn’t apply to residents – who can reach out to administration staff without having first go through the PIO. Cuillier said that doesn’t make sense since journalists are a proxy for citizens.

“Village of Key Biscayne will not communicate in any manner with any press entity without the approval of the Village Manager and/or the Community Engagement and Communications Officer,” the policy reads.

“The Village of Key Biscayne will enforce strict adherence to his policy. Staff non-adherence to this policy may result in disciplinary action,” Williamson’s policy concludes. 

The gag order came down in late November, soon after Williamson objected to stories in the Independent, demanding changes, though there was nothing factually wrong.

The Village Council has never discussed  the policy in an open forum.  Most Village elected officials have refused to comment on it.

Vice Mayor Oscar Sardiñas, at a January strategy session, told a reporter he agreed with an opinion piece by resident Matt Bramson that ran in the Independent supporting the media policy. The Jan. 9 column argued that the government should emulate media policies as they are practiced in the private sector. 

“Matt’s article is amazing, by the way – the opinion piece he wrote, so good,” Sardiñas said. 

The policy was instituted shortly after Williamson objected to a Nov.14 article in the Independent, where Building, Zoning, Planning Director Jeremy Gauger – a trusted and reliable source of information – was quoted on U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar possibly moving into her island condo before a certificate of occupancy was approved.

Around the same time, Police Chief Frank Sousa cited legal obstacles, later challenged as unfounded, to delay the release of a police report on a group of teens who drove through the security fence of an island home at high speed. The Independent learned that Key Biscayne police had not submitted the citation for the teen driver.

“Once we start thinking or rationalizing that it’s okay for mayors and county executives and school board superintendents to decide what we should know or not know, then we no longer have a democracy,” Cuillier said.

Managing the media 

The policy appears to contradict the County’s Citizens’ Bills of Rights, which states that a key job of government is to provide the public with full and accurate information. “This government has been created to protect the governed, not the governing.”

“The Village manager and the police chief have a communications track record, where their lack of communication and their lack of transparency have caused actual harm to the residents of Key Biscayne,” marketing and communications expert Thom Mozloom said. 

“This new policy doesn’t do anything to alleviate anyone’s concerns about ongoing communication and problems.”

Mozloom cited the Oscar Olea case, where the Village failed to respond to a public records request by the Independent on complaints about the gymnastics teacher in October 2023. It was not until late January, when two of his former students came forward, that the alleged abuse came to light via the Miami Herald.

In the meantime, residents kept sending their kids to Olea’s classes, including council members. Olea now faces felony charges of sexual assault and remains in Miami-Dade County jail. He has pleaded not guilty.

Mozloom is president of the M Network and a former board member for Miami Fourth Estate, the nonprofit that owns the Independent. His firm has advised the Village and many other local and federal agencies on communications best practices.

Silenced Voices and The Public’s Right To Know

Williamson did approve – and even suggested – media interviews with Roland Samimy, the chief resilience officer. Yet, when reporters tried to interview other staffers – or even have conversations with them – for different stories, they were rebuffed or ignored.

FILE – Key Biscayne Village Manager Steve Williamson listens to debate at a Village Council session, Jan 14, 2025 (KBI Photo/Tony Winton)

Some Village staffers have been apologetic, saying they would talk if they could. One high-level staffer pretended the reporter wasn’t even there when he tried to make friendly banter before a meeting. Another became visibly nervous when the reporter sat nearby.

Other officials who once routinely returned calls to reporters on basic fact-checking have also ghosted media inquiries. Routinely, questions are sent to Drouet, who earns $130,000 a year as the Village community engagement and communications officer.

Consultants and Staff Manage the Message

Williamson also brought in Nery Ynclan, a former TV producer, to give media training to Council members and Village staff on Jan. 9 and 10. Training material, obtained through a public records request, shows how Williamson schooled his staff and elected leaders to use cliches to turn “negatives into positives.”

“Don’t wait for the reporter to guide you through your story. Always work towards the key points,” was one bullet point on the handout.

A Sept. 27 email from Drouet to staff said the seminar would partly focus on how “you don’t have to answer the question directly.”

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