Claiming their free-speech rights are being violated, five p.r. consultants filed papers in Manhattan federal court Tuesday to toss out a state regulation requiring them to report their communications with reporters as a form of lobbying.

Under an edict issued in January by the state’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics, “any attempt by a consultant to induce a third party — whether the public or press — to deliver the client’s lobbying message to a public official would constitute lobbying.”

The activity would have to be reported under the threat of civil fines or criminal prosecution.