In Henderson, a reporter’s picture is worth 1,000 ‘no comments’

Henderson officials in September made it a policy that employees who talk to reporters can be fired.

Later they made it made it crystal clear who they don’t want them to talk to, the Review-Journal has learned from records obtained under the state’s public records act.

A “reminder” of the city’s media policy first sent out in December and circulated among dozens of top-level city staffers in recent weeks features three large photos of Review-Journal reporter Eric Hartley, taken from the reporter’s Twitter account.

They were accompanied by a warning that Hartley had been “contacting staff members directly” and an order to redirect all such inquiries to the city’s public information office.

Hartley, a veteran journalist who has worked at newspapers in Maryland and California, is the only journalist covering Henderson full time.

A Hartley article published on Feb. 7 highlights media and civil liberties advocates’ concerns over Henderson’s “media contact and response” policy, a regulation unique in Clark County that lets officials fire any staffer who speaks to the media without prior authorization from the city’s communications team.

Attorneys and the media have decried the policy, saying it could have a chilling effect on free speech and lead to the intimidation of would-be city whistleblowers. Officials and elected leaders defended the rule as a way to prevent the release of confidential information and ensure city public information officers’ ability to put out “the correct message.”

Some 75 pages of city emails obtained under the public records request suggest employees had already heard the message loud and clear.

No fewer than 10 of those pages feature either a photo of or textual reference to Hartley, starting with a Dec. 4 email written by Henderson Communications Director Bud Cranor.

Cranor, an architect of the city’s restrictive media policy, had already introduced the reporter to some top-level administrators and elected officials by the time he fired off the missive.

He said photos of Hartley distributed via city email were meant to make the reporter’s job easier, not ward off potential sources.

“(The email) was just to say, ‘Hey, this guy is new, but he’s going to be around a lot, so don’t freak out,’  ” Cranor said. “We wanted to make sure that people knew he was not just some crackpot off the street.”

Another email accused Hartley of “visiting City Hall and the (recreation) centers and asking questions” without first identifying himself.

Hartley, who has covered Henderson for the Review-Journal since November, said he’s never been to a city recreation center.

The only time he could recall not identifying himself as a reporter was while making a routine inquiry at the city’s business licensing desk, where he was redirected to the city attorney’s office as part of an exchange with employees that never made its way into print.

Tracy Bowers, Henderson’s senior director of public affairs and economic and cultural development, said Hartley’s subsequent appearance at the city attorney’s office made staff nervous. She suggested Hartley had snuck into the office but couldn’t say for certain that he’d done anything beyond making a routine records request.

She went on to echo Cranor’s concerns over the possibility that Hartley might be mistaken for “just someone off the street demanding information.”

Bowers said Henderson does not keep mugshots on file of citizens who make such inquiries. She wasn’t aware of any similar instances where city officials had circulated photos of any other member of the media.

Nevada Press Association Executive Director Barry Smith said the problem seems to have more to do with Henderson than with Hartley.

“(Hartley) is absolutely right that it doesn’t matter who is requesting them; public records are public records,” Smith said. “They seem a little oversensitive in Henderson. … Seems to me like Eric is out doing his job.”

Review-Journal Editor Michael Hengel, who has called Henderson’s media contacts rule a “third-world policy,” wasn’t surprised, or pleased, with Hartley’s appearance in Henderson’s internal emails.

“I would interpret this as a broadcast to their staff — ‘Don’t talk to this reporter,’ ” Hengel said. “It’s fair to say that this, combined with their (media) policy, says a lot about how they operate and want to operate.”