This is sad to see, I can think of no others who have done so much for our small-ish community. To me it seems a bit of an over-reaction. If they're worried about CR's communicating with the press it should have been said to them. If they weren't told this when the position was created, then it's just a conversation with the CR's to not talk to the press moving forward. It's like making a mistake at a job, which you didn't know was a mistake, and being laid off for it.
I hope the devs take the time to consider the importance of having community reps, and that it is worth developing guidelines and training for the position. It's so much easier to have singular voice to sort out the cacophony of ideas coming from the community.