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Title: Blogs test campaign freedoms
Source:
Cincinnnati Enquirer
URL Source: http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs. ... AID=/20051003/NEWS01/510030352
Published: Oct 3, 2005
Author: Malia Rulon
Post Date: 2005-10-03 18:45:47 by Zipporah
Keywords: campaign, freedoms, Blogs
Views: 31
Comments: 4
Serious debate mixes with gossip, name-calling WASHINGTON - If people like their Cincinnati politics polite, they shouldn't go near the Web. In the recent 2nd Congressional District election and now the Cincinnati mayor's race, bloggers - authors of Web logs - have posted pictures of candidates' family members, set up mocking Web sites bearing candidates' names and compared candidates to Adolf Hitler. Some have even written that candidates are gay or suggested that their campaign staff have engaged in kinky sex. As blogs become a more prominent player in politics, the federal government is considering whether to step in and regulate - for the first time - online political speech. The Federal Elections Commission is under a court order to write rules that would extend campaign finance laws to the Web. The rules would deal primarily with campaign money spent on Internet advertising, but regulators have expressed concerns about whether campaigns can coordinate with blogs, whether online posts should be protected as media communications - even whether the online content should be regulated. "On the broadest level, the question to be decided in the months ahead is whether the online political speech of every American will remain free," FEC Vice Chairman Michael E. Toner said last week. So what about Cincinnati, and its blogs full of gossip? Local bloggers and candidates agree content should not be regulated, but there are limits, they say. Jason Haap, an English teacher at a Cincinnati high school who writes the blog DeanofCincinnati .com, said he has standards for the material he posts, but he sometimes struggles with the question of whether to remove offensive comments made on his blog by other people. "Is the fact that people are talking about something news?" said Haap, who has endorsed Cincinnati mayoral candidate Mark Mallory. "Part of me feels that if you ignore the craziness that people are saying that it almost feeds it because people think that something is hidden from them." Nate Livingston of Cincinnati's Black Blog, which also supports Mallory, said in an e-mail: "The best way to serve voters is by telling them the unfiltered truth and letting them decide if facts are relevant to their decisions." He has started a political action committee - Unite Cincinnati - to campaign on behalf of Mallory, but his PAC has been responsible for setting up a mock Web site that attacks Mallory opponent David Pepper and compares him to Hitler. "Everything is fair game as long as it is based on the truth," Livingston said. "We won't let niceties stop us from doing our job to educate voters." Mallory, a Democrat, said blogs, like talk show hosts, have a responsibility to limit offensive comments. "In the absence of any other regulations, be it federal, state or local, we would hope that blog moderators would self-regulate," Mallory said. "If we get to a point that that is not happening well enough, the feds may step in." Pepper, also a Democrat, said most blogs have contributed to the political debate, but others have crossed the line between acceptable political speech and garbage. "Politics is a contact sport, that's fine, but there is a line," he said. "Having a comparison made of myself and Hitler crosses that line." Used by campaigns Joe Braun, campaign manager for Republican U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt of Miami Township in Clermont County, who narrowly beat Democrat Paul Hackett in the 2nd District race, said blogs also are being used by campaigns to spread attacks. "Blogs sometimes communicate messages that the campaigns don't want to bring up in the mainstream press," Braun said, adding that online messages should be held to the same standards of accuracy as print media. Tim Tagaris, who writes for Democratic U.S. Rep. Sherrod Brown's blog http://GrowOhio.org and, separately, for http://SwingStateProject.com, said most bloggers take great care to document what they write with links and evidence. "If someone is just putting out complete trash on a daily basis, no one is going to read that site," Tagaris said, adding that reporting about scandals is by no means something that is only done online. It's not only going on in Cincinnati, said Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, who writes his own blog on the center's Web site. In the end, though, the responsibility for regulating that information should rest with readers, who must decide what to believe and what to ignore, Sabato said. "People need to remember that bloggers have no editors. There is no one there forcing them to check the facts," he said. "It may be titillating, but it may not be true." Chris Baker, a Dayton computer consultant who writes the Democratic-leaning http://blog.oh02.com, which closely followed the 2nd District race, said off-color gossip takes away from the political debate that he's worked hard to encourage on his site. "It's embarrassing to the region that we are talking about people's sex lives when we've got much more pressing issues," he said. "I hope people will realize that it's ineffective because you're not going to be able to regulate this away." Follow the money FEC Commissioner Scott E. Thomas said he expects his agency to finish writing rules for regulating online political speech by the end of the year. Its focus, he said, would be on the more than $25 million that was spent on online activities in the last election. "The Internet is a wonderful tool for political activity," Thomas said. However, it's increased use by candidates "suggest a need to be cautious about attempts to 'exempt' all Internet activity from federal campaign finance laws." The FEC must develop rules for online political speech in accordance with a case pending at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Several lawmakers, meanwhile, are considering legislation that would pre-empt the court's action and guarantee that online political speech remains free of government regulation.
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#1. To: Zipporah (#0)
Regulating online political speech is BULLSHIT!! Who the hell do they think they are? The Reverand OWK of LF!?!?!?!?!
I want to know how online political speech is any different than what someone does at work or with friends? other than of course online its anonymous and of course you have no clue if you're 'talking' to a professional poster OR if that poster is MANY people using one ID. If they want to regulate something maybe THAT is what they need to do.. go after the political groups that pay people to post online.. I guess OWK is loving life right now..
I guess the best this to do to fight this is to run your own site.
Well IMO there will be restrictions but exactly what and how will remain to be seen..
"What is this JEWS thing. You sound like a Nazi." -- Mekons4 posted on 2005-06-02 23:41:48 ET
#2. To: NOLAJBS (#1)
Regulating online political speech is BULLSHIT!! Who the hell do they think they are? The Reverand OWK of LF!?!?!?!?!
#3. To: Zipporah (#2)
"What is this JEWS thing. You sound like a Nazi." -- Mekons4 posted on 2005-06-02 23:41:48 ET
#4. To: NOLAJBS (#3)
I guess the best this to do to fight this is to run your own site.
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