ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Governors have a long history of squabbling with the news media in Maryland — complaining about stories that they thought were unfair or inaccurate, filing protests with editors about allegedly biased coverage and, at times, refusing to talk to offending reporters.

But none of Robert Ehrlich's recent predecessors went as far as the current Republican governor when he issued a written edict that no one in the administrative branch of state government can talk to two writers for The (Baltimore) Sun.

Ehrlich's action, which he vigorously defends, has resulted in a lawsuit filed by The Sun. It alleges he is violating the newspaper's First Amendment rights.

So far, Ehrlich is sticking by his decision to prohibit state employees in the executive branch from talking to columnist Michael Olesker or David Nitkin, chief of The Sun's State House bureau.

The governor has made mostly vague allegations against Nitkin and Olesker, complaining of what he said were made-up stories, made-up quotes and biased reporting, but offering few specific examples.

Meanwhile, Ehrlich has agreed to meet with editors of The Sun, the newspaper reported on Dec. 10.

The governor and members of his communications staff will meet Dec. 17 in Annapolis with editor Timothy Franklin, publisher Denise Palmer, a Sun attorney and other editors, Franklin said.

Disputes between public officials and reporters are commonplace.

From Marvin Mandel through Harry Hughes, William Donald Schaefer and Parris Glendening, Ehrlich's Democratic predecessors periodically complained about coverage by the media that they believed was unfair, biased against them and even inaccurate.

None of the recent governors endured more negative press coverage than Mandel, who went through a messy divorce in which his wife refused to leave the governor's mansion, and who later was indicted on federal racketeering and mail fraud counts, convicted and sent to jail.

The stories played on newspaper front pages and led television newscasts for weeks, but Frank DiFilippo, who was Mandel's press secretary, said that "through all the trials and tribulations ... we nonetheless continued to have weekly news conferences."

"There were times when he would be upset by a story or with a reporter," DiFilippo said. "Either he decided not to do anything, or I could calm him down or a couple of people on his staff could calm him down."

"I worked for a governor who thoroughly enjoyed the banter with the press and the weekly repartee of the press conferences," DiFilippo said.

Norm Silverstein, now the president of WXXI Public Broadcasting Council in Rochester, N.Y., was assistant press secretary for Harry Hughes during the 1980s.

"I don't think you can be governor and not be upset occasionally at your news coverage," Silverstein said. "But it never affected our relationship with any newspapers or broadcasters or individual reporters."

"Was he always pleased with the coverage? Of course not. Did we consider not meeting with the press? Of course not. It was never discussed," Silverstein said.

The governor who had the most contentious relationship with the press was probably Schaefer, who seemed to pay little attention to positive stories about his administration but obsessed over coverage that was critical of him or his aides.

Schaefer complained often and loudly, calling reporters demeaning names. He once walked up to a reporter at a news conference, leaned over and said softly, "I hate your guts."

Schaefer would sometimes get so angry he would refuse temporarily to talk to individual reporters. On at least one occasion, he issued an order that no one in his administration was to talk to any reporter. But the order was not put in writing, reporters worked around it to get information and it faded away.

Ehrlich, while defending his actions on radio talk shows, said the "only arrow in my quiver" to deal with reporters he thinks are treating him unfairly is to cut off their access to government.

Previous gubernatorial press aides say, however, that's not the only weapon a governor has.

"There are other ways to deal with reporters. You cut them off. You talk about the weather when they ask a question. You leak information to their rivals, things like that," DiFilippo said.

Silverstein said Hughes would sometimes invite a reporter or two to come up at the end of the day for a drink and an off-the-record chat to get to know them better. He also might invite a reporter to fly with him to some public occasion, such as dedicating a plant.

"The governor used these opportunities to really break down the barriers and get to know reporters," he said.

Shortly after Glendening was elected, he was hit with a barrage of negative stories about his tenure as Prince George's County executive. But he kept talking to reporters and would sometimes drop by the press room at the end of the day for informal conversations.

"He had issues with reporters, but we were able to get out some good stories," said Mike Morrill, Glendening's communications director during his second term.

"Gov. Glendening, when he felt a reporter was being unfair, would sometimes not speak to that reporter, but he never issued a ban on other people not speaking to the reporter," Morrill said.

Paul Schurick, Ehrlich's communications director, said the action against Nitkin and Olesker was the result of what he thought was three years of negative coverage of his campaign for governor and his first two years in office.

"The governor's decision to do this was not made lightly," he said.

Silverstein said if he were on Ehrlich's staff, "I'd be advising him just the opposite, that you need to work with the paper. If you feel you are not being covered accurately, you have to go in and make your case."

Morrill said governors and their press aides have every right to complain about coverage, to take those complaints to reporters and then up the chain of command to editors if need be.

But governors can't expect to control the news media, Morrill said. "That only works if you are in a communist dictatorship."

"The whole point of the American system is that the press is to be a watchdog and, in many ways, an adversary of public officials to keep public officials on their toes. If all the reporters wrote was love stories to public officials, we wouldn't have the democracy that we do," he said.