Council’s Press Rules Adopted Secretly Under Evan Glass

In January 2023, just one month after former CNN reporter Evan Glass became Council President, the Montgomery County Council secretly adopted the county's first written policy restricting press access to Council President press briefings.

This information comes directly from the Council’s Senior Legislative Attorney, Christine Wellons. In response to a Maryland Public Information Act (MPIA) request from The Montgonion, Wellons confirmed that no prior versions of a Council media-access policy exist. She provided the "Council President Media Availabilities Policy," dated January 2023, as the sole written policy on record.

A Publication on the Outside Looking In

For the past nine months, The Montgonion has been denied access to the Council President’s frequent press briefings, where the current president, Kate Stewart, fields questions from journalists. Council staff repeatedly denied these requests, stating The Montgonion did not qualify as "legitimate" media under the council's policies. Wellons told The Montgonion there is "not an additional formal appeal process within the County government to challenge the denial."

The Montgonion filed MPIA requests to understand the rules it was being judged against and to question how the Council could create and adopt rules that appear to conflict with First Amendment rights. The First Amendment prevents the government from conditioning press access on compliance with voluntary codes of conduct or subjective determinations about advocacy.

The Policy and the Timing

According to Wellons, there was no written Council policy on press access until January 2023. The new rules define eligibility for "members of the news media" and "news organizations" as operating "based on journalistic ethics and guidelines." The policy specifically cites "commonly taught principles in journalism education and standards in the field of journalism as published by the American Press Association and the Society of Professional Journalists."

For freelance journalists, the policy adds a further condition: they must "not be engaged in advocacy or lobbying before any branch of the Montgomery County Government, the State of Maryland, Congress or any federal government department."

Both the American Press Association and the Society of Professional Journalists' standards are voluntary. In fact, the SPJ Code of Ethics explicitly states, "The Code is not, nor can it be under the First Amendment, legally enforceable." Yet, the Council has done just that—it has incorporated these voluntary standards into an official government policy to determine who qualifies as media.

The timing raises questions. The Council operated without codified rules for press access for decades. Then, one month into Evan Glass's presidency, this formal document suddenly appeared. Glass's background as a reporter and producer at CNN makes the timing even more notable.  When asked recently whether he would grant access to non-traditional media outlets if elected County Executive, he said he "couldn’t imagine keeping anyone out of press briefings."

So why did the Council, under Glass’s leadership, adopt the county's first restrictive media-access policy? And what process did it undergo for approval? Wellons is still searching for "provenance" documents—memos or other records that would show how the policy was created and adopted. The statutory deadline for production of those records is September 24.

Why It Matters

The Council’s move to formalize access rules in 2023 marks a turning point. For decades, there were no written restrictions. Now, under a president who once covered press briefings as a journalist himself, the county has its first codified gatekeeping document. This policy conditions freelance access on not being engaged in advocacy or lobbying and requires adherence to voluntary ethics codes that predate modern media like blogs and podcasts.

The Montgonion reached out to Councilmember Glass for comment before publication. His office responded that there was not enough time. An additional 48 hours were granted, but Glass ultimately did not provide a comment. A request for comment from Councilmember Gabe Albornoz, who served as president immediately before Glass, went unanswered.

Until the Council produces the records showing who wrote the policy, who approved it, and why, the reasons for its sudden creation remain unanswered. This lack of public record, deliberation, or formal approval is alarming. It suggests a process carried out behind closed doors, with no transparency for the public or the press.

The Montgonion will continue to seek answers through further MPIA requests, reporting, and direct questioning to uncover how and why this policy was adopted and who was responsible for creating these new barriers between Montgomery County’s elected officials and the public they serve.