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Sunday, February 19, 2006

Law - Federal Appeals Court Upholds Maryland Governor's Ban on Talking to Reporters

"Court Upholds Ban on Talking to Reporters" was the headline to an Adam Liptak story Thursday in the NY Times. Some quotes:

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. of Maryland did not violate the First Amendment rights of two Baltimore Sun reporters by prohibiting state employees from talking to them, a unanimous three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, in Richmond, Va., ruled yesterday.

In November 2004, the governor's press office issued a directive instructing every employee of the state's executive branch not to speak to David Nitkin, a political reporter at The Sun, or Michael Olesker, a columnist who has since left the paper.

"Do not return calls or comply with any requests," the directive said. The reason for the ban, it explained, was that the two reporters "are failing to objectively report on any issue dealing with" the governor's administration. * * *

The Sun sued the next month, saying the directive amounted to unconstitutional retaliation against the reporters for exercising their First Amendment rights. A trial judge dismissed the case in February 2005, and yesterday the appeals court affirmed that dismissal.

"It is common knowledge," Judge Paul V. Niemeyer wrote for the panel, "that reporting is highly competitive, and reporters cultivate access — sometimes exclusive access — to sources, including government officials. Public officials routinely select among reporters when granting interviews or providing access to nonpublic information."

Mr. Ehrlich's directive was part of the ordinary "rough and tumble" of political reporting, Judge Niemeyer continued. "Having access to relatively less information than other reporters on account of one's reporting is so commonplace," he said, "that to allow The Sun to proceed on its retaliation claim addressing that condition would plant the seed of a constitutional case in virtually every interchange between public official and press."

If all this sounds familiar, see this ILB entry from almost this same time last year, Feb. 15, 2005, titled "Maryland governor's public records dispute with press recalls that of Hammond's mayor." It began:
Some of you may recall this ILB entry from Dec. 29, 2004 titled "Hammond mayor denies local paper access to police records." The mayor's chief of staff was reported as saying: "[A]ccess to police information is being withheld because there is a strained relationship between the mayor's office and The Times."
The NY Times story says The Sun has decided not to appeal the 4th Circuit decision. Here is the 4th Circuit's Feb. 15, 2006 opinion in The Baltimore Sun v. Ehrlich.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 19, 2006 06:49 PM
Posted to General Law Related