Although he is an announced candidate for governor, Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. said on Saturday that he intends to stay on as a Saturday morning talk show host on WBAL-AM. He told listeners during his show this weekend that WBAL has requested that he stay on the air until he becomes an official candidate, by which he means the date when he files his candidacy with the state board of elections. This plan is likely perfectly legal, but it fails any test of media ethics.
Filing for election makes no practical difference in whether Mr. Ehrlich is a candidate for office. Both before and after filing with the state, he can and will raise money, build a staff, attend events and advocate for his election. He will be subject to the same campaign finance laws whether he has filed with the state or not. The same applies to Gov. Martin O'Malley; he hasn't even announced that he's running for re-election, but he must be treated as a candidate.
According to Mr. Ehrlich, the station has offered to give equal time to Mr. O'Malley. That's a good gesture on the station's part, but merely offering it doesn't get WBAL off the hook. Mr. O'Malley appears unlikely to accept the offer because two hours on the station is not of equal value to him as it is to Mr. Ehrlich. WBAL listeners skew politically toward Mr. Ehrlich's base; it is useful to him to be able to communicate with those listeners because it keeps them informed and energized about his candidacy. If not for the show, Mr. Ehrlich would have to expend his own resources to accomplish the same task. There is little electoral advantage to Mr. O'Malley communicating with the WBAL listenership, however. If WBAL could somehow finagle the governor two hours on WYPR-FM, that might be more of a fair trade.
Beyond the politics, giving the governor equal time is still not equal treatment. Mr. Ehrlich is, after all, a paid employee of WBAL. It's also worth asking whether the station would make the same offer to all of the other candidates for governor. Former Ehrlich cabinet secretary George Owings III has announced that he is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor, and businessman Brian Murphy has said he will seek the Republican nomination. Neither has yet filed with the board of elections, though a handful of other candidates have: J.P. Cusick of St. Mary's County, Ralph Jaffe of Baltimore County, and Susan J. Gaztanga and Doug McNeil of Baltimore City. Does the station intend to give each of them two hours of airtime, too, or just the ones who have not yet filed? (One imagines the early filers might have held off had they known about the chance for free airtime.)
Mr. Ehrlich said on the air Saturday that he doesn't want his show to devolve into a "We love Bob, we love Martin" segment, but no matter how much he may profess his intention to maintain a high-minded debate about the issues facing the state, the appearance on the radio of a publicly declared candidate for office furthers his political aims. WBAL's actions effectively support that effort. There's no rule that says the station has to be balanced or objective -- certainly not in its talk shows -- but the station does have an ethical obligation to maintain its independence from overt politicking, and its actions here fail that test. Now that Mr. Ehrlich is a declared candidate, his show is not an appropriate use of the public airwaves.