Bloggers Score A Victory At The FEC
Posted on November 18, 2005
The FEC Thursday released a decision in the case of one particular website called FiredUp.com. The FEC concluded:
The Commission concludes that the costs Fired Up incurs in covering or carrying news stories, commentary, or editorials on its websites are encompassed by the press exception, and therefore do not constitute “expenditures” or “contributions” under the Act and Commission regulations.
Press Exemption:
The Act and Commission regulations define the terms “contribution” and “expenditure” to include any gift of money or “anything of value” for the purpose of influencing a Federal election. See 2 U.S.C. 431(8)(A) and (9)(A); 11 CFR 100.52(a) and 100.111(a). However, there is an exception for “any cost incurred in covering or carrying a news story, commentary, or editorial by any broadcasting station (including a cable television operator, programmer or producer), newspaper, magazine, or other periodical publication . . . unless the facility is owned or controlled by any political party, political committee, or candidate[.]” 11 CFR 100.73, 100.132; see also 2 U.S.C. 431(9)(B)(i). This exclusion is known as the “press exception.”
The Commission ruled that because Fired Up! Is not owned by a political party, political committee, or candidate, derives it’s funding for expenditures through the sale of t-shirts, bumper stickers, buttons, and advertising, that the general public has subscription free access to the content of the site, this qualifies it for the Press Exemption.
The Commission notes that an entity otherwise eligible for the press exception would not lose its eligibility merely because of a lack of objectivity in a news story, commentary, or editorial, even if the news story, commentary, or editorial expressly advocates the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate for Federal office.
This is a victory for every political blogger in the nation. The majority of bloggers are hosted by free services. And obviously not owned by any political campaign. And those of us who own our own sites incur the expenses of hosting the domain and website on our own. Some off set these expenses through the sale of t-shirts, buttons, bumper stickers, and/or blog ads.
We all are expressing an opinion on political issues as a means to 1) inform our readers to the current political issues, 2) to express our point of view on current political issues, and 3) to share that point of view with anyone who willingly visits our blogs.
We all provide our opinion free from influences of out-side sources. We do so to inform our readers of newsworthy topics, opinions based on the writer’s point of view, and invite rebuttal through the use of comments.
Our use of blogs as our soapbox of choice is no different from actually climbing on a box in the middle of the public park for the purpose of educating others to our point of view. What we do is no different than that of some “legitimate” periodicals such as The New Republic, The New Yorker, Newsweek, or any other opinion based magazine.
Whether you agree with our points of view or not, we should have the right to express our points of view without hindrance under the protections of the 1st Amendment. And this decision by the FEC reinforces that truth.
Whether you are Conservative or Liberal, the recent discussions about limiting our ability to do so by exploiting Campaign Finance Reform Laws has the blogosphere united on this one issue. None of us wanted to see anyone’s speech being limited by a Committee under an order by 1 federal judge.
We do agree, that those who receive payment from political campaigns, owned by political campaigns, or owned by candidates themselves, should be regulated under the Campaign Finance Reform laws just as their print advertising is.
We see this decision by the FEC as a victory for all of us independent thinkers in the nation both Conservative and Liberal. This decision guarantees the free exchange of ideas which is the greatest promise of the internet.
Blogger’s 1st Amendment Pledge
If the FEC makes rules that limit my First Amendment right to express my opinion on core political issues, I will not obey those rules.
Note: I deleted a comment on this thread, because Bush’s poll numbers, and people’s opinions on how much Bush sucks, have absolutely nothing to do with the topic of this post. I will start deleting any off topic crap like this. Jay
» Filed Under 1st Amendment, News
Trackback URL
Comments
One Response to “Bloggers Score A Victory At The FEC”
-
Affiliations
The Giants
-
Advertise
Donate
Our Store
Click the design to visit our store and help Stop the ACLU!
Stop the ACLU blogburst
-
More blogs about the ACLU
Syndicate Me
This is the news I wanted to hear….about time that someoen realized that blogs are yet another bit of our freedom of speech…..no different than the pamphleteers of our countries early days…..