Right-Wing Town Officials Decided to Remove a Media Table for the Local Paper in Retaliation Over Negative Coverage
We have seen this 2025 edition of the Fountain Hills Town Council — not each member, but rather, a usual majority bloc — strip away the ability for residents to file ethics complaints and even more recently, silence residents’ speech during the Town’s Public Comment period. Mayor Gerry Friedel, who pledged “transparency” during his election campaign, was facing an ethics charge prior to joining the majority bloc in stifling ethics filings and public speech. We have seen this majority bloc — often aligned with the political action committee ROT that endorsed candidates such as Friedel — even besmirch the town’s local newspaper, the Fountain Hills Times Independent, for doing its job of informing local residents.
From Phoenix New Times:
“A few months ago, President Donald Trump created a First Amendment firestorm by barring the Associated Press from certain events because the outlet declined to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the ‘Gulf of America.’ In Arizona, a similarly petty battle is playing out over the freedom of the press.
“In the Valley town of Fountain Hills, a right-wing contingent of the town council removed a press table — primarily used by the local Fountain Hills Times Independent newspaper — because those councilmembers did not like the tone of the paper’s coverage. The paper can still cover town council meetings but must sit among the crowd.
“The reason for the change was revealed in an op-ed from Councilmember Brenda Kalivianakis, which fittingly appeared in the Times Independent. After noticing the table had been removed during a May 6 council meeting, Kalivianakis filed a public records request for emails about the decision. Those emails revealed that at least two councilmembers explicitly tied the table’s removal to their dislike of the paper’s coverage.
“’Frankly, I am fed up with the Times partisan reporting and think it is time to remove the corner ‘reporters’ table,’ Councilmember Rick Watts wrote in one email. ‘If the Times personnel cannot act and report in a factual, nonpartisan manner, without resorting to sensational headlines, reporting on the council and various commissions without obvious bias, then I see no reason for providing any special seating accommodation.’
“An email from Fountain Hills Vice Mayor Hannah Larrabee echoed Watts’ disdain for the local press.
“’I’d like to suggest we remove the media table from the council chambers,’ Larabee wrote. ‘The Fountain Hills Times Independent, especially since the change of ownership, has consistently misquoted the council, reported on items while only seeking statements from one side of the aisle, and on several occasions reported on my job without researching or seeking to understand what I do there.’
“Watts and Larabee did not respond to a request for comment from Phoenix New Times, including about which stories published by the Times Independent had ‘sensational headlines’ or showed ‘obvious bias.’ A quick scroll through news headlines from the outlet didn’t reveal any that are particularly sensational.”
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