I've never been a fan of The Sun. Even so, I must support their current suit against the Maryland Governor (Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.), who has banned two Sun journalists. In the end, this is a fight over principle. Those in the media are also beginning to realize what's at stake: a coalition of the nation's leading news organizations (the New York Times Co., The Washington Post, the Associated Press, Time Inc., CNN, the E.W. Scripps Co. and Advance Publications Inc.) have thus decided to support The Sun with a 27-page amicus brief stating that "the First Amendment is designed to protect the press and the public against governmental attempts to restrict speech disapproved of by those in power," and "yet the Governor's order, by his own admission, seeks to do precisely that: he seeks to coerce journalists into providing coverage that is pleasing to him on pain of being subject to an official boycott if they do not." The brief goes on to state the implications of the governor's ban: "In short, the retaliation against The Sun's reporter and columnist has an undeniable chilling effect on all those who report on the affairs of Maryland state government."
Thanks to Cut to the Chase for pointing to this story.
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The Hedgehog (regarding those who submitted the amicus brief): Cripes, I don’t think I could have put together a group of news orgainzations more liberal than this group if I tried. The only thing you could do is add CBS and Newsweek into the mix and you would have a clean sweep of every liberal news orgainzation in the country. Seriously, is it really any surprise that a cabal of liberal news orgainzations is backing The Baltimore Sun in their fight with with a Republican Governor?
3 comments:
Interesting that the story that originally got the governor's goat concerned his plan to sell off public lands. Some of us across the border in PA are viewing this with great alarm - we have close to 2 million acres of state land. If the plan succeeds, it will represent another lowering of the bar, I think, in the ever-shrinking role of government to protect and promote public space.
That's very telling. Of course the governor's attitude is perfectly in tune with the current zeitgeist--the insistence that the public not bother about the facts but simply fall in line behind "strong leaders."
That's very telling. Of course the governor's attitude is perfectly in tune with the current zeitgeist--the insistence that the public not bother about the facts but simply fall in line behind "strong leaders."
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