Cape Coral’s mayor wants to change the way the city council speaks to media

Media often serves as a bridge between you and those you elect to office. We work to get your questions answered and bring issues to light. It’s a system of checks and balances, but one Southwest Florida Leader wants to control how that happens.

There are seven Cape Coral City Council members, plus the mayor, which make up eight distinct voices and points of view.

Cape Coral Mayor John Gunter is trying to get the city council to agree to changes in how they speak to the media. He wants city leaders to speak with one voice, instead of taking calls directly from reporters. The mayor wants council members to agree to use the city’s communications team. Gunter believes it’s the best way to make sure the information you see from the media is accurate.

“We just want to make sure that we have one voice, and we make sure that the office communication is engaged in those interviews. Say the news media wants to call me and said, ‘hey, I want to get an interview over the phone,’ the first thing we need to do is let me get with the office communications,” said Cape Coral Mayor John Gunter.

The proposed change comes after council member Tom Hayden told WINK News about a construction delay at the Cape Coral Yacht Club. Hayden did so before the city could release the information. “I thought this was at the time important information to share with the public,” said Hayden.

Hayden, a journalist for 41 years before taking a seat on the council, will oppose the media policy that asks him to use a public information officer. He said from now on he will let the communications team know when he is doing an interview but he will still engage with the media directly, “I’ve said all along from day one in this job that if I’m available, I will do, I will do the interviews,” Hayden said.

Longtime CBS News Correspondent Bob Orr said media policies like the one Mayor Gunter proposes are a slippery slope. “I can understand why the mayor or the council would want to speak with one voice when they’re talking to the citizens of the city, but it’s never a good idea to impose restrictions on the free flow of information,” said Orr.

There are still a lot of questions about what the policy would look like. For example, if the council votes on a controversial issue and it passes four to three. Does that mean those who voted no have to go through the city’s public information officer to explain their vote? The policy is an ongoing discussion. Nothing has been drafted yet.

WINK News asked the public information officer if the mayor would talk about his policy. They said the mayor was not available.