Skip to main content

FEC Hears Bloggers' Bid to Share Media Exemption

This is a serious concern. The Washington Post is reporting on the FEC hearings on the issue of media exemptions, but it doesn't seem they have extended this to independent bloggers.

I do believe that bloggers need to provide for some sort of self-regulation, and we need to protect ourselves from profiteering bloggers that would take money from a corporation or PAC. The ones that will ultimately suffer are the little guys--the independent blogger. The 2006 and 2008 election are going to be paramount, and without the accountability that the blogs provide, it would be a mess and a disaster!

I personally do not take any money from anyone for my blogging. If that changes in the future, I will post it here and let my readers know.
The FEC appears to have settled on about half a dozen issues, the most contentious of which is known as the "media exemption." It refers to provisions that exempt the news media from campaign finance laws, including a nearly 100-year-old law barring corporate contributions to political candidates.

That exemption allows journalists working for corporations such as The Washington Post, Fox News and WTOP to go about their daily business without having to worry about running afoul of the law. Those protections, designed to protect the freedom of the press, allow newspapers, for example, to endorse political candidates without having those writings be considered contributions to the campaigns.

The FEC is now considering whether rules should apply to publications on the Internet. It announced earlier this year that it is inclined to formally extend the exemption to the Web sites of traditional news operations, along with such sites as Slate, Salon and the Drudge Report that exist only online. The panel did not take a position on granting the protection to bloggers, some of whom have incorporated for liability purposes. Instead, the agency asked the public for comments on the issue and held two days of hearings, much of which focused on the exemption question.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Al Cardenas Comments on Univision Democrat Forum

Al Cardenas is Chairman of Romney for President's Hispanic Steering Committee. I got the following email from the campaign. Boston, MA – Al Cardenas, the Chairman of Romney for President's National Hispanic Steering Committee, issued the following statement regarding tonight's Democrat presidential forum on Univision: "Tonight's Univision forum demonstrated once again the consequences that a President Clinton, President Obama or President Edwards would have on the Hispanic community.  Whether it's tax increases for families and the two million Hispanic business owners, socialist-style health care, coddling dictators, opposing free trade with our allies or putting family values last, the Democrat presidential candidates made clear how out of sync their policies are with the best interests of the Hispanic community. Mitt Romney has put in the effort to reach out to this vital bloc, and, after watching tonight's debate

Harry Potter Mania -- Discussion

There is a great discussion going on at WorldMagBlog on the whole Harry Potter mania. Nothing to do with Latinos, I suppose, but I thought I would ad my two cents. A reader commented: I think its interesting how much people want to be in a group that is all connected by some common thread. It says a lot about our desire for homogeny, not always along racial, sexual or religious lines, but also simply based on what we do in our spare time. The interesting thing about Harry Potter fans vs. Star Trek fans is that a vast majority of them are kids who have grown up with the books, or the parents of said kids. I wonder if what sort of effects this will have on them as they get older (and whether or not they will remain HP fans). We live in an obsessive culture. Posted by David B. at July 22, 2005 07:54 AM This is an interesting phenomenon. I would think it is indicative of our society, more than anything else. I tend to agree with the idea that it shows a desire or need for communi

Communism: Good Money for the "El Viejo"

I guess Fidel Castro is doing ok . Forbes lists Castro as one of the richest in the world, right up there with the Queen of England. I bet he didn't like the attention. It was hard to figure it out, but it seems they managed to throw some numbers together. In the past, we have relied on a percentage of Cuba's gross domestic product to estimate Fidel Castro's fortune. This year we have used more traditional valuation methods, comparing state-owned assets Castro is assumed to control with comparable publicly traded companies. A reasonable discount was then applied to compensate for the obvious disclosure issues.