Chafee vs. talk radio — the right fight?

Another shoe is dropping from the Chafee administration’s decision to absent itself from talk radio. Former state representative John Loughlin, who ran as a Republican against US Representative David Cicilline, is pointing to that in rejecting an invitation to appear next week on WRNI’s Political Roundtable.

Loughlin sent me the following earlier today after I called him about a request sent earlier this week (he cc:ed it to Ron St. Pierre, Buddy Cianci’s on-air partner at WPRO):

Nothing personal, you’ve always been fair, but in a twist on Governor Chafee’s new policy, I only appear during work hours on for-profit, ratings-driven media.

Meanwhile, less than a day after rolling out a new ban on talk radio appearances by the governor and state employees under his aegis, the Chafee administration has “clarified” its stance. Via the ProJo’s Kathy Gregg:

On Monday, spokesman Michael Trainor said new Governor Chafee didn’t plan to spend his own time on talk radio, and would ban other state employees from the medium.

He said the policy emanates from a belief that talk radio is essentially “ratings-driven, for-profit programming,” and “we don’t think it is appropriate to use taxpayer resources” in the form of state employee work time to “support for-profit, ratings-driven programming.”

On Tuesday, however, Trainor said he felt compelled to clarify “that in a public emergency, such as a snow storm,” state agency directors — including the directors of transportation and emergency-management — will “of course use any outlet, including talk radio, to get important safety information out to the public.”

As might be expected, the reaction to the initial policy was strong from talk-radio personalities like WPRO  ‘s Dan Yorke. Calling the talk radio ban wrongheaded, Yorke pointed out how it would deprive his listeners of explication on important policy issues with such state officials as Education Commissioner Deborah Gist and DOT director Michael Lewis.

For better or worse, talk radio is part of the broader media landscape in Rhode Island; it might not be influential in determining elections, but people do listen, including a good number in politics. And pols like David Cicilline, who won’t go on most WPRO programs, are the exception, rather than the rule.

Even President Obama rethought his “boycott” of Fox News.

Chafee’s self-imposed talk-radio ban probably pleases those who view talk radio as a conservative echo chamber.

But the governor might have avoided some unwelcome attention by adopting an approach more like that of former governor Lincoln Almond – who quietly steered clear of talk radio once campaigns were over.