Soccer Dad

Schaefer Gives some "fatherly" advice

Listening to the Sean and Frank Show this morning on WCBM and one of their "shocking news items" was about an elderly driver in France whose GPS told him to make an U-Turn. Alas it was into high speed traffic. Fortunately there were no serious injuries. Apparently GPS modules giving faulty instructions isn't unheard of:

"It's not the first time we've had a GPS incident," one of the officers said, recalling the time a police vehicle found itself face-to-face with a motorist going the wrong way in accordance with his computer's instructions.

Of greater importance, though, they talked about this Baltimore Sun article, "Meet with The Sun, Schaefer advises governor". Apparently former governor and current compltroller Schaefer thinks that Governor Ehrlich should kiss an make up with the paper despite its limitations.
Shortly after I called Sean and Frank's producer, Hoz, to remind him that Schaefer hadn't always made up with the press, someone e-mailed Sean and Frank that Ehrlich should increase the sales tax on newspapers. What I had reminded Hoz is that Schaefer did exactly that. He expanded the sales tax in Maryland to include periodicals, as I recall, in a fit of pique with the Sun.
The Sun responded with a hysterical screed by its then publisher, Michael Davies decrying the tax. (The Sun never had much of a problem advocating more taxes for the rest of though. One editorial I remember advocated extending the sales tax to services.) I don't recall that Schaefer ever apologized.
The Hedgehog Report has doubts about how effective Ehrlich's boycott will be. He also questions why Ehrlich took on Michael Olesker who's an opinion columnist.
I think Ehrlich was very shrewd here. He's been at odds with the press lately, especially over his plan to sell public lands. It hasn't just been the Baltimore Sun, the Washington Post has also been rather unkind. But he didn't go after other reporters at the Sun or the Washington Post at all. He zeroed in on two incidents where the paper was objectively wrong. By choosing carefully instead of saying "the press isn't fair to me" he puts the press on he defensive. Now the press has a credibility problem.
Earlier I had pointed out that the Sun had a reporter who went from reporting on Annapolis to acting as a spokesman for Parris Glendening. The Sun has a lot to defend in its coverage. By selectively taking it on, maybe Ehrlich will force them to be a bit more honest.
Incidentally the Sun's article doesn't make it sound as if Ehrlich will simply "kiss and make up" anytime soon.

Posted by SoccerDad at December 3, 2004 2:02 AM