FEC Rules Bloggers Are Journalists

Dotnaught writes "The Federal Election Commission today issued an advisory opinion that finds the Fired Up network of blogs qualifies for the 'press exemption' to federal campaign finance laws. The press exemption, as defined by Congress, is meant to assure 'the unfettered right of the newspapers, TV networks, and other media to cover and comment on political campaigns.' The full ruling is available at the FEC site. A noteworthy passage: '...an entity otherwise eligible for the press exception would not lose its eligibility merely because of a lack of objectivity...'"

Comments

Amendment I

[Woldry]

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

Freedom of speech applies to political speech. Campaign finance laws are blatantly unconstitutional. This ruling is offensive because it implies that only established and recognized "press" entities qualify -- and the government, whose interest is markedly not neutral, gets to decide who is and isn't "press".

Re:Duh!

[Fallingcow]

Years ago, there were tons of small independent papers publishing all over the country, most of which had a bias toward labor or business or any number of other things. The bias of each was pretty much out in the open.

These mostly got bought up or run out of business, until now when only a relatively small number of much larger papers and media companies run everything.

The bloggers are kind of like a return to that old model for print media in the U.S., I think, except way harder to buy out or run out of business, since most of them aren't even really in business. Biased indie papers are nothing new, and blogging is just the latest version of it. It was media then, it's media now.

Re:Duh!

[tooba]

There's a good reason why minority rights and dissent are so important in our country: its because the majority doesn't always know what's right.

That being said; the fact is, unbalanced or not, FOX has the right to broadcast whatever message suits their purposes. It certainly isn't the government's job to dictate how politics are covered. Not that profit motive or the free market will dictate a plan of action that guarantees intelligent broadcasting or commendable journalism. Hell, in a counrty where Britney Spears and reality TV can dominate the airwaves, popular opinion and commercial support aren't worth all that much in the intellectual domain.

The media cannot be counted on to provide us with an intelligent view of the world. That is on our own shoulders. Liberal, conservative... it doesn't matter. They have all got their morons and those that have a clue. Just learn to watch with doubt- all that takes is an ability to smell bullshit when its presented to you. Then, maybe, the media could really be held accountable.

Tooba

Re:Always the geek. Running the numbers...

[7Prime]

I'm a Liberal, and I read the Post daily. I think, however, that the news media probably, as a whole, tends to have a leaning (I wouldn't go as far to say bias), toward the left simply because (and this is not meant to gauge conservative few points) the idea of empassionately assessing multipul viewpoints tends to be a process championed more by progressive ways of thinking. But the heart of it, I think the Post, whether left or right, practices GOOD journalism. The job of a journalist is to be a voice of communication for the people as a whole, so theoretically, a very good news source could position itself in such a way, that everyone thinks it's on their side. I'm pretty surprised, and actually a bit glad, to see conservatives think that the Post reflects more their views, because I think it reflects mine. Of course, that's not the point of journalism, but it feels that, at some level, they've earned the trust of a lot of people on both sides, which is very important.

My number one news source, however, is the News Hour. I don't watch network TV news: CNN is filth, CBS, NBC, and ABC are fluff (even if everyone says they're left leaning, I don't care, they lost THIS liberal), and FOX is made up of a bunch of neoconservative lobbiests—seriously, half of their stuff is made up of former conservative political advisors... Yes, I'm looking at you, Bill Kristol! The News Hour, and the other PBS news shows (Washington Week, Now, and Charlie Rose) feel like the only TV news that doesn't talk to me like I'm in 6th grade, and doesn't try to compress complicated events into 1 minute soundbytes. And when I watch news, I don't need to be entertained. I'm honestly excited and interested in learning about events at hand. Tell it to me straight. PBS is the only one that really does this anymore, the rest is just entertainment.