Maryland Politics -- Ganging Up on Ehrlich

The Baltimore Sun reports:

A coalition of the nation's leading news organizations filed a legal brief yesterday supporting The Sun in its lawsuit against Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., contending that the governor's ban on two Sun journalists was an act "characteristic of repressive regimes."The 27-page amicus brief was filed in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., by lawyers representing the New York Times Co., The Washington Post, the Associated Press, Time Inc., CNN, the E.W. Scripps Co. and Advance Publications Inc.

This suit is a response to Ehrlich's banning all state employees from communicating with Sun columnist Michael Olesker and Maryland political editor David Nitkin. Clearly the journalistic community sees Ehrlich's action as a threat and is mobilizing to fight it.

Read it here.

Robert Farrow, over at the Baltimore Reporter, notes that the list of the Sun's supporters is a rogues gallery of liberal interests. They allege that Ehrlich's action is characteristic of "repressive regimes" to which Farrow responds: "it is also characheristic of repressive regimes to not report the truth and lie to support a particular political agenda, as the MSM does."

I wouldn't take it so far as he does, but it is true that the MSM, including all of the listed news organizations, have had more than their share of scandals lately.

Read Farrow here.

Farrow's judgment is mirrored by that of David Wissing over at the Hedgehog Report. Wissing asks:

Seriously, is it really any surprise that a cabal of liberal news organizations is backing The Baltimore Sun in their fight with with a Republican Governor?

Read him here.

Seriously, I think that there is something more than simple liberal bias at work here. The news community insists on certain rights and privileges and justifies them as being neccessary to doing their job of informing the public. It is not surprising that major news organizations would band together to oppose any attempt to restrict their activities. The fact that they are all liberal organs is incidental, but telling.