RSSDailyKos and Other Blogs Qualify as 'Media,' Exempt from Finance Laws
By Scott M. Fulton, III | Published September 5, 2007, 4:36 PM
Responding to a complaint filed by a blogger for politically conservative Web sites, the US Federal Election Commission yesterday declared that DailyKos, a politically liberal site, operates as a news and commentary provider. As such - in effect, as a member of the "media" - DailyKos is exempt from campaign finance laws that restrict the amounts of money individuals and organizations may contribute.
BlogCritics writer John C. Bambenek alleged in July that DailyKos openly solicited money for what it characterized as good causes, in exchange for which the site would promote the donor through advertising. Rather than simply sell ads like a normal media site, Bambenek claimed, DailyKos was soliciting contributions, with advertising granted to contributors as a token of its appreciation.
"It is my belief that this organization operates as a political committee under section 43 l(4) both for making expenditures and having contributions in excess of $1,000," wrote Bambenek in his July complaint. He then cited evidence taken from the Web site stating its clear and overt purpose was to promote the election of Democrats to federal and state offices.
"I am aware of the no small amount of controversy involved with the suggestion of making bloggers accountable to the FEC," continued Bambenek. "However, I do not believe the particular method that this political committee uses is relevant. The law is rather neutral in respect to how the contributions or expenditures are used. What is important is that it is done with the express, overt and primary intent to influence elections to federal office. According to Kos Media's own assertion, that is precisely what they do. If they do that by stump speeches, radio ads, print or blogging is irrelevant. They say they exist to get Democrats elected and therefore fall under the purview of the FEC."
Clearly having stepped in it, so to speak, his initial repercussions were to have been awarded the title of "Wanker of the Year" by DailyKos. As one of the site's publishers, Adam B., responded, "If Bambenek persists in this quest and refuses to withdraw his complaint, I will vigorously defend this site, and pursue any legal means available to recover from Bambenek the costs of defending against something which seeks to stifle the speech of every member of the site. This aggression will not stand."
As it turned out, Adam B. didn't have to go that far. In its legal analysis yesterday, the Commission wrote, "Kos Media qualifies as a media entity in its function of operating DailyKos. DailyKos is available to the general public and is the online equivalent of a newspaper, magazine, or other periodical publication as described in the Act and Commission regulations."
Like any traditional publication, the FEC found, DailyKos has principal editors and contributing editors. While it may have chosen a cause for itself, there are no clear and direct ties to any political party or candidate. "By creating and distributing the DailyKos, containing news stones with links to 'breaking news,' original political commentary and calls to actions akin to editorials, Kos Media is acting within its legitimate press function that qualifies it as a press entity," the FEC continued.
It goes on: "While the complaint asserts that DailyKos advocates for the election of Democrats for federal office, the Commission has repeatedly stated that an entity that would otherwise qualify for the media exemption does not lose its eligibility because it features news or commentary lacking objectivity or expressly advocates in its editorials the election or defeat of a federal candidate."
In short, the presence of bias does not indicate the absence of media.
The news comes as a defeat for a man who makes another part of his living looking for loopholes that others may attempt to exploit. If that name John Bambenek seemed familiar to you, then you've been reading BetaNews: It's the same University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign researcher who posed serious questions last month about the security integrity of Skype, following a service outage that affected all its users worldwide for a 48-hour period.
After the FEC's decision, the question remains: Did Bambenek find an exploitable loophole in the election system? As he asked on one of his own blogs in July, "Can a political committee avoid campaign regulations by simply organizing in the form of a blog? Surely not."
DailyKos is now officially media now, eh?
Welcome to the US news media, Stalin. To say DailyKos is "liberal" is demeaning to all liberals (and I despise liberalism). I honestly think Karl Marx is less "liberal" than those guys are.
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I guess it's ok for the money to start flowing to the Kos as long as fine sites like Townhall.com get the same dispensation.
The cult of liberalism already has such fine Media figures as Keith Olbermann and Katie Couric. One would think the cult of Bush hatred would be pleased with there widening propaganda machine.
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Doesn't conservative media dominate on the radio? And I'm sorry, but Rush Limbuagh and Ann Coulter are lunatics. They say just as many inflamatory remarks as any liberal organization like the DailyKos. But you see Ann Coulter on Fox all the time even though she uses gay slurs and other seriously offensive language.
Also, I think anyone should be offended by what Bush has done to this country and our image across the globe. It isn't just liberals that are fed up with an endless war that has been so badly bungled that we may never recover.
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Look for a bunch of Chinese "blog" web sites to spring up to funnel more Chinese arms dealer money into the Clinton campaign and the Democrat party.
The first ones:
blog.NormanHsu.com.cn
blog.JohnHuang.com.cn
blogs.ChineseArmsDealersForHillary.com
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The problem is Bambanek's classification of the DailyKos as a political committee. It is a blog which posts stories and news, and writes commentaries that happen to be bias towards democrats. They are not working as a registered entity of the democratic party or any particular candidate, so I think that characterization is innaccurate.
All of the media Rupert Murdoch runs will eventually endorse a candidate, so that would make them a political committee by Bambanek's own standard wouldn't it?
Of course, he is just whining because the DailyKos is probably more popular than his blog, and that it is a liberal site. It's just like Bill O'Reilly constantly whining about the DailyKos because it is popular.
They should be focused on the fact that the horse the party backed in the last presidential election is a complete buffoon and has cost the US dearly with his misguided policies. Heck, even the Vice President said years ago that it would be a bad idea to invade Iraq and depose its dictator. Too bad no one replayed that for him before we went to war.
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" It's just like Bill O'Reilly constantly whining about the DailyKos because it is popular."
Actually I looked at the stats, they're rigged. Most hits are from robots and repeat visitors, and 98% of them only view the home page for an average of 2.07 seconds. That was as of a couple months ago anyway--I sent 'Bill' the full report for fun. It cracked me up anyway.
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That's a good point — just as a newspaper is not charged with making a campaign contribution by editorializing on behalf of a candidate, neither should a blog. Repubs essentially wanted to "tax" bloggers for criticizing them and supporting their opponents. Good 'Amurikans' those conservatives! Traditional media moguls like Rube Murdoch goes bonkers that he cannot control voters with his ubiquitous faux media.
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DailyKos should be excempt because it does not represent the official liberal views IMHO--if they are indicative of the Democrat's stance on issues, look for voter proposition 666 coming soon...
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