Baltimore 'Sun' Writer to Fight Ban Over Baby Bib Gift

By: Joe Strupp A staff writer at The Sun of Baltimore who was banned from writing about state government after giving Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. a baby bib for his newborn son says she has lost sleep over the discipline, which she feels is unfair, and plans to fight it.

"I am going to challenge this, I am reviewing my options," said Pat Meisol, a 16-year Sun features writer who often covers state-government related stories. "I was disciplined based on their perception that I've done something wrong and that perception is wrong."

Michael Hill, co-chair of the Sun unit of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild, which represents all editorial employees at the paper, said the union was "looking into what we can do for her." But he believed that Meisol's gift was just a token. "It was not much more than stopping in the hallway to say congratulations."

Sun Editor Tim Franklin, who approved the decision by Managing Editor Tony Barbieri to bar Meisol from covering state government, said Tuesday the ban may not be permanent, but added that such a move is needed to remove any perception of conflict.

"This isn't necessarily forever," said Franklin. "I'd be willing to revisit this issue in a year or more. But now we have to do right by our readers."

Meisol's response: "If you are going to do that, why ban me at all? If you think I am biased, why not fire me?"

The uproar began after Sun reporter David Nitkin, using a public records request, received a 22-page list of presents that arrived at the governor's home this spring following the birth of Joshua Ehrlich, son of the governor and his wife Kendel.

Among the gifts was the bib from Meisol, who has written about the governor's family and state officials. The list also revealed that Sun editorial writer Karen Hosler had trees planted in the baby's honor.

According to an article in the Sun, "the paper's unwritten ethics code prohibits staff members from accepting any gifts from news sources or making contributions to any political or advocacy groups. Implicit in the code is a prohibition on giving gifts to public figures, which could create the appearance of a conflict of interest."

After Nitkin's story ran on April 23, Barbieri instituted his ban on Meisol. "We concluded that to ensure that our readers believe that we are truly independent, this had to be done," Barbieri said in an article in his paper.

Editorial Page Editor Dianne Donovan, meanwhile, ordered Hosler, who had the trees planted, not to write anything at all regarding Maryland politics or policies. "This means Ms. Hosler cannot cover two of her specialties, environment and health issues," the Sun reported on Sunday.

Meisol contends that her gift of a baby bib is no different than buying a source or public official lunch or dinner in an effort to network and find out information. "I am expected to maintain these relationships," says Meisol, who travels to Annapolis to write about stories related to each three-month state legislative session. "The idea here is that buying the bib was a business expense, no different than taking someone out to dinner."

But the reporter acknowledges that she did not report the gift on her expense account and never asked any supervisors if the purchase was a problem. "There are a lot of things, like mileage, that I never put in for," she says. "There are a lot of things I do to develop sources."

Meisol, who said she did not know that the paper's code barred gifts to public officials, adds that she was doing the paper a service. "I felt like I was being the classy representative of this paper," she said. "I felt like we had to acknowledge this baby being born."

She also believes the paper overreacted because of the recent ethical scandals that have rocked the newspaper industry. "The newspaper is so concerned about the perception, they are not looking at the reality," she said. "I am one of the best reporters they have and they are way over-reacting considering what I have done for this paper."

Still, Franklin remained adamant that the newspaper take the action it did. "Pat, I think, sent it with good intentions, but I think it raised questions about how she would cover the governor," the editor said. "I told Pat that this doesn't speak badly of her coverage and I think you would see in her past work that there was no bias in her work. But this is clearly the thing to do."

Public Editor Paul Moore, who wrote about the situation Monday, agreed that the ethics code should be clearer and said a written code is still being crafted. "The fact that we don't have a specific ethics code makes it difficult for reporters," Moore said. "A final written version is still being discussed."

Hosler, whose husband works in the Governor's Office of Crime Control and Prevention, reacted less-angrily than Meisol, saying she understood the concerns over conflict with her actions. "It is just accommodating my position with the fact that my husband works for the governor," she said.