FEC Declares Bloggers Are Journalists.

[salvorhardin]

Slashdot is reporting that the Federal Election Commision has issued an advisory opinion that the Fired Up! network of blogs qualify for the ‘press exemption’ under federal campaign finance laws...

The decision could lead to far reaching consequences because it has the effect of recognizing bloggers as journalists. ...

While this would open the doors for bloggers to have access that has traditionally been afforded only to the main stream media, it is not without a down side.

More here: http://www.neuralgourmet.com/node/466

Hope this isn't duping someone else's thread. I'd hope to post this earlier but got delayed.

[hunter]

1. This may get really, really interesting.

The FEC draft is here, and it asks for public comment:

http://www.fec.gov/aos/2005/aor2005-16draft.pdf

Personally, I wouldn't stick my bloggin' neck out just yet, but I will be watching this.

[salvorhardin]

2. In a way...

I see this as potentially restoring the U.S. media landscape to pre-Reagan repeal of fairness doctrine days but in practice I'm afraid it won't pan out that way. While the blogosphere (how I hate that word) is very good at reinforcing partisan memes, it's not so good at sifting credible content from bullshit. You're right though. This could get really interesting.

[Mind_your_head]

3. Why can't we just restore the Fairness Doctrine?

Please, please, please.....it's 'the easy road to where MOST ALL OF US want to be ~ money be d*mned!!!!~

[kevinbgoode]

5. Repukes hate the Fairness Doctrine

it has something to do with the word "fairness".

[Mind_your_head]

9. The repubs (repukes if you will) will eventually get the same 'fairness'

back in return...the universe seems to work that way.

Fairness....at the end of it's rope ;-)

[salvorhardin]

7. I agree!

However I would take the Fairness doctrine in conjunction with this FEC ruling.

[rumpel]

4. The underlying issue is Gannon and getting the WH off the hook for

security lapses. Why now, is it getting fitzi hot?

[salvorhardin]

6. Actually, the underlying issue in this case

is the Fired Up! blog network founded by former Democratic Senator for Missouri Jean Carnahan.

[rumpel]

10. Yes, however Gannons "media" were campaigning for * and spreading lies.

This will legitimize them and their organization as journalists, also.

[salvorhardin]

11. Right. As I stated in the linked blog post...

With today’s FEC’s ruling, it will not be long before every campaign sets up blogs that are supposedly independent from the campaign but will serve primarily to echo campaign talking points and launch attacks on opponents.

[BuyingThyme]

8. What this reflects:

Bloggers are replacing the CM. Bloggers are mainstream and CM are extremists.

[vickitulsa]

12. Right! And even if there are some strident voices out there

blogging, there are also plenty of level-headed folks pointing out news and expressing their views in thoughtful, cogent, and often very interesting ways. Sometimes they are persuasive as hell, many times they make us laugh or cry or just think more sensibly ... and all in (usually) more "downhome" lingo than we get from those in the CM.

I LOVE IT! Never has so much literary power been available to so many, and I think it balances out an important equation very nicely. Not since I discovered that smelly mimeograph machine in 1964 have I been so excited about the potential to spread information and writings of all kinds! :bounce:

Search engines have made it all work, and the potential is truly unlimited. OJT at its finest!

And IMO democracy as well.

[salvorhardin]

15. I'm right with you vikitulsa

This excites me too. I would like to see more actual journalism done, especially at the local level, though. But... I think that will happen. It used to be de rigeur for a local newspaper to send a reporter to every city hall or school board meeting. In the past decade it's become almost impossible to get a reporter to show up to cover these things and as such there is a greater potential for corruption or even just plain old acting against the wishes and needs of the people. However, this is an area where bloggers could really pick up the slack. And if someone doesn't like the reporting being done by the local busybody who shows up at all of these meetings to push their own personal agenda then that someone is free to start attending and reporting theirself.

[vickitulsa]

16. Excellent points, salvor.

And in describing them, IMO you highlight that most modern and promising of "twists" on journalism this new form represents: the DIALOGUE between those interested enough to reply to the bloggers' postings, thus becoming INVOLVED.

What a tremendous development! Just as the world's population passes six billion and most of us were feeling so ... drowned out or swallowed up or just plain small, we find we DO have a Voice. Each of us, yes! We have voices with the potential to be as "loud" as anyone's!

Thus the Dialogue holds such promise. :)

Yes, sometimes flame wars ensue and a discussion deteriorates and ceases to be anything more than an avenue for venting -- which isn't all bad in itself. But in my own experience I am seeing that happening less often as the blogging/comments format seems to be maturing in a good direction, toward more coherent and productive discussions that offer both readers and participants much of value.

And then there's the side-by-side presence of "the rest of the Internet(s)" available for researching the veracity of claims made by bloggers and those who respond to them. How cool is THAT? I was so surprised eight years ago when I became "wired" at home and had no difficulty at all moving smoothly from my traditional "library research" mode to ferreting out information on the Net.

I realized even then that I was just one of so many who could see the potential immediately, awaiting only the inevitable development of search engines to enhance an individual's abilities almost beyond imagining. And how fast did THAT happen?! Little wonder that Google has done so well financially, when you think about it.

But I stray ... so easy to do when examining the immense possibilities of the Internet -- and that global perspective is also essential to understanding the true promise of Blog Journalism. More specifically in this regard, however, is the arrival -- just in time -- of an alternative to the mainstream media's "enslavement" by mega-corporations. Our traditional Fourth Estate is plundered by powerful special interests and essentially LOST to us ... but then lo and behold, like a marvelous new vaccine, Blog Journalism appears on the World Wide Web, and mankind might be saved after all!

Haha, so my science-fiction-drenched youth influences my speech, but isn't it true all the same? Am I indulging in hyperbole? ... or merely stating the obvious....

Ahh, I'm so sorry to go on about it like this in front of everyone, but I've decided to post this anyway and risk the embarrassment. :) And it sure is nice to render up a positive "rant" at least.

I truly believe Blog Journalism is already taking one of its rightful places: INFORMING THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA AND KEEPING THEM HONEST JUST WHEN THEY WERE CEASING TO BE. The way I see it, they must either regain their integrity and reform in pretty short order, or else they will be REPLACED by Blog Journalism!

And I think they are realizing this, albeit somewhat belatedly. Thus, as I've heard more than one MSM reporter comment in the last few weeks, the people ARE "out there ahead of the reporting" when it comes to our attitude about the war in Iraq, and that's about as TELLING as anything can be....


Edited to acknowledge, upon rereading this entire sub-thread, BuyingThyme's concise initial expression of my central theme. All I really did was elaborate and expand, I guess; but instead of deleting, I'll let the exegesis stand FWIW. ;)

[salvorhardin]

20. Just a little hyperbole :-)

That's OK though. If you've ever sat in a room with a bunch of Web 2.0 proponents, you get used to hyperbole. Yeah, there's a lot going on right now and the search engines are a big part of it. RSS is helping the information to find the people rather than the way it's always been with the people needing to seek out and hunt down the information. Open source is finally starting to pay off big. It's easy to get lost in the hyperbole. But we've got to remember that new technologies create new problems too, not just solve old ones.

[texpatriot2004]

18. Well somebody sure as hell needs to replace the Corporate

media if our Democracy is to be salvaged. It reminds me of Gore's speech on TV and the lack of a public forum that allows discussion and interaction. Gore said the Internet was good for our Democracy. Gore was right, it is.

[Nothing Without Hope]

13. Recommended & kicked. n/t

[beam me up scottie]

14. Recommended.

:kick:

[SteppingRazor]

17. My prediction is that bloggers will get all of the bad...

and none of the good.

I don't think this opens the door for bloggers in the White House press room, or bloggers having access anywhere that the average citizen doesn't

But it will mean that bloggers will get the same restrictions as journalists. I think you'll see you first libel suits against blogs long before you see a blogger gaining high-level access.

[ananda]

19. Yeah, I too..

.. am wondering if being labeled as journalists will subject bloggers to media control tactics and just make them another propaganda tool for the rw.

[salvorhardin]

21. The libel suits started a few years ago

Here's just one example: http://www.gavinsblog.com/mt/archives/000906.html

Also, people are being cautioned to be careful about what they post to their blog because a future employer may see it (Google searches are becoming part and parcel of the hiring decision making process).

This is one of the downsides... we're moving into a world where everything goes onto our permanent record. If you google my real life name you'll find some pretty stupid things I said on usenet a few years back. This is something we're all going to have to learn to live with. Increasingly if you say something in public (and the web counts), it will be with you forever. It's going to take learning to be more tolerant of people's past opinions and beliefs as well as learning to think about what we say.

I'd like to think that would lead to richer civil discourse, but I'm no fool.