Fox Baltimore Affiliate’s Website Posts Links To Same-Sex Marriage And Gas Tax Petitions On Front Page

Washington Blade, an LGBT newspaper in the DC metro area, is calling out WBFF, a Baltimore Fox affiliate, for promoting a petition to hold a statewide referendum on gay marriage on the front page of its website, under the “Hot Topics” banner. The petition is in response to the Maryland state legislature passing a gay marriage bill in both houses, which Governor Martin O’Malley is going to sign into law this week.

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Kevin Naff, a writer for the Blade noticed the links on Thursday, and wrote a column criticizing them for it, as well as providing the contact information for WBFF. He mentioned in his column that he reached out to someone at WBFF, who told him it was posted by “corporate” as opposed to news staffers.

What’s more, in a video report on the WBFF website, a screen capture of the referendum petition’s website is used as b-roll. The Blade reported on this on Friday,

followed later in the day by ThinkProgress, and the link to the petition is still there as of today, meaning the link has been promoted on the WBFF banner since at least two to three days ago.

But the referendum petition isn’t the only one bring promoted by the WBFF website. On the same “Hot Topics” banner, WBFF also posts a link to a petition organized by the Maryland chapter of Americans for Prosperity to oppose the gas tax proposed by Governor O’Malley. A video report filed by WBFF on Thursday features local residents who oppose the gas tax and are actively gathering signatures to oppose it, but no one who favors it.

Here’s a screengrab of the site, with both links at the top of the page, as of this morning.

WBFF has been reached for comment.