Research released last week by Massey University senior lecturer in journalism Dr Catherine Strong said a ''disturbing'' paragraph added to the operating policies of city and district councils in New Zealand, including Central Otago, prevented elected members talking to media about ''anything negative within their council''.
Mr Lepper said while the idea of councillors being gagged could be true in theory, in practice it was not.
''The reality is that elected members tend to say anything they feel like saying and I have no memory of the code of conduct being used to censor elected members.''
Mr Lepper, who had about 24 years' experience in local government, said the research was ''an academic exercise'' conducted by someone who had ''no practical understanding of the reality under which we work in Central Otago''.
Dr Strong said the council was one of several whose code of conduct could stifle free speech.
''My concern is councillors are being put in a position of being spin doctors for their council ... they are the ones that should be speaking out and expressing concerns about council operations.''
She had talked to ''a few'' councillors who reported the code of conduct had prevented criticism of their respective councils.
Central Otago was not one of them.
She suspected newly elected councillors approved their council's code of conduct without scrutinising the media section.
Six of the 10 Central Otago councillors were in their first term in office.
First-term councillor Stephen Jeffery said he had not experienced any gagging.
''I have always been able to say what I thought. I usually do.''
He said he would not have any problem with speaking out if he had an issue with council activities, and would not support any form of gagging.
Fellow first-term councillor Nigel McKinlay said he had not felt inhibited or restricted ''in any way'' when speaking inside or out of council.
Dr Strong said some journalists had expressed concerns regarding the addition of a gagging clause.
It was a threat to freedom of speech, in a country with a high degree of freedom in media and government.
Her research found 43 of the 67 city and district councils in New Zealand used codes of conduct as set out by the the Local Government Act 2002 ''to acknowledge the necessary relationship between the media and the council''.
A further 14 councils included their own wording to a similar effect. Another 10 included ''disturbing restrictions'' on what elected members could say in public.
Other councils, including Central Otago, included similar wording.
In some cases, clauses had been added after having problems with ''outspoken councillors'', as an attempt to prevent it from happening again.
However, not all had enacted their clauses yet.
''It's not to say there is any impact at this stage [but] they have the right to take this step,'' Dr Strong said.
Mr Lepper said the council would be happy to look at the wording of any future documents.
