[Mick]

I think it's SOP to request that members of a group in which one member has behaved badly, are asked not to speak to the media ("publicly or to the media?"  Same thing) for a variety of reasons, not the least of which has to do with liability and culpability.  It has nothing to do with trying to "silence" the other group members per se and everything to do with managing a legal case.

I'm dealing with one of these right now, and I've dealt with dozens of them over the past 30 years.  The message to the group's other members is to refrain from speaking in the media to keep the legal case manageable.

[Mick]

I think it's SOP to request that members of a group in which one member has behaved badly, are asked not to speak to the media ("publicly or to the media?"  Same thing) for a variety of reasons, not the least of which has to do with liability and culpability.  It has nothing to do with trying to "silence" the other group members per se and everything to do with managing a legal case.

I'm dealing with one of these right now, and I've dealt with dozens of them over the past 30 years.  The message to the group's other members is to refrain from speaking in the media to keep the legal case manageable.