When Mirror staff attempted to interview the new Performing Arts and Conference Center executive director last week, we ran into a challenge.

As we mentioned in last week’s story, Federal Way city spokesman Chris Carrel initially attempted to facilitate a phone interview between the Mirror and Theresa Yvonne. However, after he insisted to be part of the interview due to city policy, the Mirror declined based on the newspaper’s editorial standards.

To be clear, we did not decline the conversation with Yvonne; we declined Carrel’s presence during the interview.

Carrel explained to me it is the city’s policy to have a media affairs person present when a reporter speaks with city staff regarding city business. He said his presence in an interview allows him to have a “better appreciation” for the topic at hand and helps him to determine what follow-up information a reporter may need following the interview.

When the Mirror challenged this policy — as we have in the past — the issue was avoided on a seemingly political technicality.

Mayor Jim Ferrell ultimately decided that Yvonne was still a city of Lancaster employee and turned the matter back over to city officials there.

But the issue resurfaced this week.

Our staff requested to speak with the city’s finance director, and Carrel asked our staff to send him questions that he would “handle at his level.” When we insisted on speaking with the finance director himself, the city’s spokesman attempted to facilitate an interview but, again, said he or the chief of staff would be present, in accordance with city policy.

What our staff experienced is unfortunately becoming all too common between government agencies and media, on a local and national level.

The Society of Professional Journalists released the results from two surveys in 2014 about journalists’ experience with obtaining public information. The surveys documented reporters’ perceptions about whether government press officers interfered with reporting.

The vast majority of the 4,000 reporters who took the survey said the amount of control is increasing and they see it as only getting worse. Journalists agreed that public information officers’ current level of media control is an impediment to providing information to the public.

As a journalist who has worked in five cities throughout my career, I have encountered several agencies — including the cities of Kirkland, Bellevue and Bothell — who did not require a public information officer present during interviews.

But this issue goes beyond mere inconveniences for journalists.

More and more, agencies are attempting to control what information the public receives and how the media gathers that information.

The Mirror’s paramount duty is to provide as much information as we can to our readers, so that you may make informed decisions. When an agency tries to manage the message, control what information we disseminate or how we receive that information, it threatens the very core of democracy.

People need as much information as possible to be free and self-governing — whether it’s the city’s hiring decision of a new executive director or a basic expenditure.

With a media affairs person present during an interview, government officials may be less inclined to speak freely with journalists. While the level of inhibition is impossible to measure, reporters learn early on through journalism training that the most effective interview is one between the reporter and the interviewee.

While Federal Way’s media policy is unwritten, it is an approach city officials have followed for years, according to previous Mirror staff.

We need more direct — and unfettered — access to our government officials. We need to be able to pick up the phone, call city staff directly when we have a question, without any strings attached and without seeking permission to do so.

The Seattle City Council has an Open Government Committee in which city leaders and others discuss how to improve communication between the city and its constituents. This may be a good model for Federal Way to follow.

As we move into Sunshine Week that begins on March 15 — an annual nationwide celebration of access to public information — I urge Federal Way officials to reconsider their approach to the media in an effort to increase their transparency and gain the community’s trust.

Moreover, this isn’t a battle between the media and government. It’s about the information the public receives to self-govern.

That information belongs to you.