The Federal Election Commission has made its ruling:
WASHINGTON – The Federal Election Commission announced today that it has unanimously resolved two complaints alleging that Internet blog activity is subject to Commission regulation, finding that the activity is exempt from regulation under the media or volunteer exemption.
Like, I was utterly afraid I might somehow be breaking the law because I commented on news and media personalities - you know, politicians, and other people who make the news - because when I exercise my freedom of speech it’s important to know whether I’m doing so under the guise of media or not. Resolution is good.
What News and Media Organizations Are Saying
About The FEC Ruling
Do you care what TechCrunch has to say about the ruling? I don’t either, but I did find it interesting that the first ruling involved one of my favorite blogs - The Daily Kos. Here’s TechCrunch:
The first case was a complaint against the well known left wing blog The Daily Kos. Conservative blogger John C.A. Bambenek claimed that the site should comply with campaign finance laws because it charges a fee to place advertising on its website and it provides “a gift of free advertising and candidate media services” by posting blog entries that support candidates. The FEC determined that the website falls “squarely” within the media exemption and is therefore not subject to federal regulation under the Act; ipso facto: under US law blogs are formally recognized as media organizations.
Gee, thanks FEC. You see, that’s why we need kings and their devoted subjects. Because otherwise we would all be at the whims of conservative news and media idiots like John C.A. Bambanek. Imagine this: A conservative guy gets miffed that a popular liberal guy makes negative comments about the conservative guy’s favorite conservative politicians. So the conservative guy files a complaint against the liberal guy for making comments about news and media personalities in an attempt to force the liberal guy to dole out money for the candidates the liberal guy supports. Nevermind that the liberal guy is simply engaging in op-ed writing through a blog - a recognized medium of communication.
NEWS AND MEDIA NOTE: For the purpose of this stupid exercise, pejorative terms like “liberal” and “conservative” are interchangeable.
Now let’s introduce a voice of reason from another one of my favorite blogs - I mean news and media newcomer:
(Source) On the other hand, it’s also a good sign that people so glaringly out of touch with modern culture to think that these rulings are necessary decided in favor of including blogs in the category. After all, they didn’t officially consider the Internet a medium until March 2006.
Thanks Jordan. I’m so glad we have bureaucrats telling us things we already know so that we can be sure we’re never wrong.
So what does Kos have to say about it? More “hate speech.” Bill O’Reilly should have a heyday with this one:
The guy clearly has too much time on his hands and is too stupid to read simple regulations, listen to informed advice, or comprehend unanimous regulatory decisions on the matter. He’s epically stupid. But he should provide for some continued comedy over the next couple of months.
