IPDI nonsense: "must protect media from bloggers!"
by kos
Thu Jun 02, 2005 at 02:35:50 PM PDT
The hopelessly naive, astonishingly ill-informed comment starts like this (page six):
Just as national politics was once an insiders' game, newscoverage of national politics and serious political commentary were once the exclusive domain of media elites. Noany more . Bloggers have "democratized' journalism, and a coalition of bloggers has demanded the same wholesale exemption from the federal campaign finance laws that is currently provided to so - called mainstream media.
That exemption allows traditional journalists to fully communicate and coordinate with candidates, online or offline, and then spend, through their corporate employers, unlimited amounts of money publishing whatever news or commentary they please, favorable or unfavorable, fair or unfair, in any distribution channel: TV, radio, newspapers, magazines or the Internet.
The bloggers are correct about the broad scope of this exemption: the news media can interview candidates, get leaked stories from them about their opponents, hold editorial board meetings with them, endorse them and even follow them around all day long if they are so inclined, none of which is subject to regulation by the FEC, regardless of how much money they spend.
On its face, the bloggers' request for rightsequal to those of mainstream media seems reasonable. Their online readership, in a few instances, exceeds those of mid - sized daily newspapers, and their influence and legitimacy continues to grow, in some cases exponentially. Last summer, dozens of bloggers were issued press credentials at the two national party conventions, and several of them have been credentialed by the House and Senate Press Galleries. Recently a blogger was given a day pass to the White House Press Room.
Some bloggers want it both ways, however . They want to preserve their rights as political activists, donors and even fundraisers -- activities regulated by campaign finance laws -- yet at the same time enjoy the broad exemption from the campaign finance laws afforded to traditional journalists . As one blogger speculated, "So basically, I can do whatever I want, spending however much money I want (blogTV that has fatband maximized by megamillions) and just call it a blog?" That is exactly right.
For thirty years the campaign finance laws have made a fundamental distinction between political activists and the news media, in order to protect a free press while at the same time limiting the influence of big money on federal elections. Until recently, the distinction between the news media and rest of us was clear and uncontroversial.
Bloggers blur that distinction. If anyone can publish a blog, and if bloggers are treated as journalists, then we can all become journalists. If millions of "citizen journalists," as bloggers like to call themselves, are given the rights and privileges of the news media, two consequences will follow.
Bloggers blur that distinction.
Make no mistake, this attempt by Ms. Darr is just the latest by academic pinheads to degrade the role of citizens in the media space. They once dominated the industry, and can't stand that literally anyone and EVERYONE is now media. And no, I'm not speculating. She spells it out clearly (page 8):
The ramifications of the bloggers' demand are enormous. The issue before the FEC goes to the heart of the fundamental questions that define a democracy's relationship to a free press: Who should be treated as a journalist, and what special privileges, if any, should they receive?
Because it's not about "media" versus "political activists". It's DC Establishment versus those of us outside of DC. THAT's what blowhards like Darr are trying to protect.
So please offer up examples of political activists inside the media machine (like Roger Ailes, Paul Begala, etc.) so we can blow that asinine argument out of the water.
These campus blogethicists like Carol Darr at IPDI love to pontificate about the harm that bloggers cause their precious profession, even as they fail to understand that bloggers are, in huge part, a response to the failings of their profession. So they pontificate from their ivory towers, oblivious to the excesses and failures of "legitimate" journalists around them.
Update: acbonin, who is writing our response to the FEC, also tackles the issue in this diary.
Here's the information I'd like to effectively respond:
Go to http://opensecrets.org/indivs/index.asp.
Look up either individual members of the media, or by media entity.
Find me every journalist or pundit or editor you can who contributes to federal campaigns already. It took me a minute to find Paul Begala, Bill Press, and ABC President Lloyd Braun.
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