Regulating Political Blogs: Overview
The regulation of political blogs has become a significant topic of discussion in the context of the evolving landscape of internet communication. Political blogs, which gained prominence in the early 2000s, serve as platforms for a diverse range of opinions and information, often rivaling traditional media sources like newspapers and television. The rise of these blogs reflects a historical shift akin to the impact of the printing press, enabling broader access to information and facilitating public discourse. However, this accessibility has raised concerns about misinformation and the influence of wealthy entities on political narratives.
Legislative attempts, such as the Online Freedom of Speech Act introduced in 2005, sought to protect blogs from campaign finance regulations, emphasizing the importance of freedom of expression. While some argue that unregulated political blogs empower ordinary citizens, others caution against potential abuses that could undermine democratic processes. In a notable ruling in 2007, the U.S. Federal Elections Commission classified political blogs as media, exempting them from certain campaign finance restrictions. This ongoing debate highlights the complex relationship between free speech, regulation, and the role of digital platforms in modern democracy.
Regulating Political Blogs: Overview
Introduction
The internet and its myriad venues for communication, such as e-mail, websites, and blogs, are having a profound effect on the way that information is shared today. One could compare the effects of these new technologies on society to those of Johannes Gutenberg’s moveable-type printing press in the fifteenth century. The internet, like the printing press, is a historical milestone that has had the profound effect of making information widely available to a mass audience. Increased access to information threatens the established authorities by removing boundaries, thus making widespread communications easier and more widely available to a broader range of people. While the invention of the printing press made books available to the masses, internet communication further removed societal barriers to those seeking access to information.
One area of internet communication that has garnered particular attention is blogging in general and political blogs in particular, which have come to rival television and especially print news sources, such as newspapers and magazines, as many people’s main source of news. Print media represents a costly and labor-intensive distribution model when compared to online publishing. The internet can distribute the same article that is printed in the newspaper in a matter of minutes, without the added expenses of typesetting, printing, and delivery.
Understanding the Discussion
Blog: Derived from “web log”; a continually updated website consisting of individual entries, typically presented in reverse chronological order.
Blogosphere: The totality of blogs on the internet, as well as the people who read and write them.
Hyperlinks: Codes embedded in web pages that enable users to jump to another local or remote web page by clicking the text or picture associated with the code.
Online Freedom of Speech Act: H.R. 1606, introduced in 2005 to prohibit new regulations that sought to regulate internet communication. The bill was not passed.
History
The most significant impact of Gutenberg’s printing press was that it made production of books much cheaper than before, when texts had to be either copied by hand or printed by carving each page into a new block of wood. Literacy levels increased as more people had access to books. As new ideas spread, it was much more difficult to exert control over the information that people had access to. Authorities, namely church and government, had much less control and influence as access to information increased.
Political authorities soon sought to control this distribution of knowledge, but not necessarily by shutting down the printing presses. Secular authorities recognized that printing could play an important role in persuading the public; the goal instead was to control what was printed. Three centuries later, the United States’ founding fathers realized the danger that government control of free speech could present. Thus, the First Amendment to the Constitution was adopted, guaranteeing freedom of speech, religion, and the press.
Today, widespread internet access makes it possible for virtually anyone to publish and disseminate their opinions to the world. Would-be internet publishers do not even need to own a computer or pay for internet access; public libraries, supported by tax dollars, provide internet access to rich and poor alike.
Starting in the early 2000s, weblogs, or blogs, became increasingly popular as a method of self-publishing. Blogs are easy and inexpensive, or sometimes even free, to set up, and they offer a flexible venue for millions to post news, information, and opinions. Because of this, blogs can vary widely in style, presentation, and level of credibility.
Regulating Political Blogs Today
Political blogs also come in many varieties. Some provide fact checking or serve as watchdogs on certain issues or candidates, while others provide heated and often-controversial commentary, analysis, or opinion. Political blogs are relatively new in the political arena, but they have quickly become associated with “buzz”—a term that is associated with commentary that can alter social behavior or perceptions.
It is generally acknowledge that blogs became a force in the political arena shortly before the 2004 presidential election. The influence of political blogs grew steadily, and by the 2006 midterm congressional elections, their influence was considered significant. For some observers, the emergence of an unregulated medium such as the political blog raised an alarm. The influence of wealthy contributors or corporations on political campaigns was a highly charged issue, with many believing that elections were being sold to the highest bidder. The rising influence of blogs raised concerns among those watching the rise of internet advertising. Wealthy contributors were already purchasing significant amounts of air time in traditional media markets, and the blogosphere seemed like the next obvious point of infiltration.
The Online Freedom of Speech Act, introduced in the House of Representatives in 2005, signaled the importance that blogs were exerting in the political arena. H.R. 1606 was introduced in response to the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, also known as the McCain-Feingold Act, which was passed in an effort to limit the amount of “soft” money that could be used to finance political campaigns. The other issue brought to light by passage of McCain-Feingold was that of the rise of “issue ads,” which were categorized as “electioneering communications”—which is where political blogs were called into question. The proposed act would have excluded internet communication from the “public communication” McCain-Feingold was intended to regulate.
H.R. 1606 did not pass. The vote in the House was largely along party lines, with Republicans favoring the act and Democrats opposing it. Opponents of the bill feared it would enable wealthy individuals and special-interest groups to circumvent campaign-finance regulations by making unlimited contributions in the form of online advertisements.
In general, those who support exempting blogs from campaign regulations argue that the internet is a new way for people to exercise their freedom of speech and should not be inhibited by laws designed to apply to traditional media. The right to express political opinions through blogs has been credited with “leveling the playing field” by allowing ordinary citizens, not just the rich and powerful, to contribute to political dialogue. One sponsor of H.R. 1606, Representative Mark Kennedy (R-MN), expressed his disappointment at the bill’s failure to pass, arguing that it was intended to protect free speech. On the other side of the debate, Representative Marty Meehan (D-MA) argued that campaign-finance regulations fall into the same category as child-pornography laws and consumer-safety regulations—important laws that should not be ignored simply because the internet is involved.
One aspect of the debate over political blogs was settled in legal terms in 2007. That year, the US Federal Elections Commission (FEC) determined that in regards to electoral law, political blogs and their authors were characterized as media just like traditional news outlets. This meant bloggers would not be subject to campaign finance restrictions.
Co-Author
Carolyn Sprague holds a master’s degree in library science from Simmons College, Boston, Massachusetts. For more than ten years, she has worked in numerous library/information settings within the academic, corporate, and consulting worlds, with an emphasis on intellectual property and emerging technologies. Her operational experience as a manager at a global high-tech firm and her work as a web-content researcher have afforded her insights into today’s fast-changing business climate and the ways that both companies and individuals access and utilize information.
These essays and any opinions, information, or representations contained therein are the creation of the particular author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of EBSCO Information Services.
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