Can Metroblogging express political views and not register with the FEC?
The Federal Election Commission has proposed new rules for blogs and group blogs who comment on candidates and politics.
The FEC implemented the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) of 2002 and because congress didn’t specifically say the internet was covered under the act, the FEC didn’t regulate blogs or group blogs.
However, two people in congress, Christopher Shays and Martin Meehan, who didn’t like the situation that blogs weren’t covered under the act, sued in federal court and won.
So now the Federal Elections Communication has proposed new regulations that would place blogs under the campaign reform laws.
There is another proposal by Senator Reid that would amend the BCRA to specifically exempt the internet from the act.
I hope Senator Reid’s proposal becomes law.
Daily Kos has more about all this and links to ways send your comments to the FEC.
If the regulations pass I wonder how it would affect an openly partisan group blog like Blue Oregon.
I don’t like the idea of the Internet being treated any differently than other Free SpeechÆ venue. Anyone should be able to use any medium they choose to say whatever they like about politics, companies or embarrassing stories about me and failed relationships.
The politicians themselves may need rules and controls, but that should never extend to the people at large.
Almost certainly, there will have to be a distinction made between journalism-blogs and activism-blogs and personal-blogs.
The journalism kind – including commentary like BlueOregon – is almost certain to be exempted under the same rules that allow newspapers to endorse candidates without treating that as an in-kind donation. The rule has something to do with the publication being “regular” – i.e. not tied to the election. Even BlueOregon, which doesn’t endorse candidates, would be exempt (much like Brainstorm NW magazine).
Keep in mind that BlueOregon isn’t partisan, it’s ideological. That’s a critical difference under the law.
p.s. The regulations that the FEC is proposing are much more limited in scope – related to disclosing if a blogger has been paid by a campaign (i.e. Thune for Senate in SD and the Dakota Blog Alliance).
There’s been much confusion over this – and I recommend PersonalDemocracy.com for extensive coverage.