Posted on 05/07/2014 3:58:31 PM PDT by Red Steel
Government officials, reacting to the growing voice of conservative news outlets, especially on the internet, are angling to curtail the media's exemption from federal election laws governing political organizations, a potentially chilling intervention that the chairman of the Federal Election Commission is vowing to fight.
“I think that there are impulses in the government every day to second guess and look into the editorial decisions of conservative publishers,” warned Federal Election Commission Chairman Lee E. Goodman in an interview.
“The right has begun to break the left’s media monopoly, particularly through new media outlets like the internet, and I sense that some on the left are starting to rethink the breadth of the media exemption and internet communications,” he added.
Noting the success of sites like the Drudge Report, Goodman said that protecting conservative media, especially those on the internet, “matters to me because I see the future going to the democratization of media largely through the internet. They can compete with the big boys now, and I have seen storm clouds that the second you start to regulate them, there is at least the possibility or indeed proclivity for selective enforcement, so we need to keep the media free and the internet free.”
All media has long benefited from an exemption from FEC rules, thereby allowing outlets to pick favorites in elections and promote them without any limits or disclosure requirements like political action committees.
But Goodman cited several examples where the FEC has considered regulating conservative media, including Sean Hannity's radio show and Citizens United's movie division. Those efforts to lift the media exemption died in split votes at the politically evenly divided board, often with Democrats seeking regulation.
Liberals over the years have also pushed for a change in the Federal Communications Commission's "fairness doctrine" to cut of conservative voices, and retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens has delighted Democrats recently with a proposed Constitutional amendment that some say could force the media to stop endorsing candidates or promoting issues.
“The picking and choosing has started to occur,” said Goodman. “There are some in this building that think we can actually regulate” media, added Goodman, a Republican whose chairmanship lasts through December. And if that occurs, he said, “then I am concerned about disparate treatment of conservative media.”
He added, “Truth be told, I want conservative media to have the same exemption as all other media.”
You're not going to win this OBot.
2A guarantees 1A. Just sayin.
Exactly. After you regulate the 90% of the media you own so that they can't be all Democrat sucking, all the time, and your scheme has proven itself over 10 years or so, THEN we can worry about regulating the 10% minority voices.
I find it terrifying that the devil never sleeps, that they are relentless in their efforts to control the people.
I wouldn’t break out my 2A “rights” over the two mentioned in the title.. But the two in the title could easily “win” by sighting NPR alone. When the FCC ignores that, THEN start capping FCC people.
If they press it, I think this is another Bunkerville scenario. Some things are worth dying for.
In 2002, Repubs won the House and Senate, and Bush was in the White House. What memorable stuff was accomplished 2003-2004? The Repubs WILL NOT use their advantage to push conservative legislation.
Lordy, the RATS are desperate. GOOD!!!!
ping
So they basically admit that mainstream media belongs to the dems, and respond with regulation to regain their unfair advantage???
The fed isn’t fixable... time for the states to end it.
whew.. good thing we didn’t elect Romney.. we really dodged a bullet there...
Because putting an 0botter in the news rooms didn’t pan out, now this.
I had to do a doubletake earlier when I read that article...
...I simply could’t believe the FEC chair was defending the right to political speech. (I thought it was satire, save for the source)
-——...I simply could’t believe the FEC chair was defending the right to political speech.———
I was surprised myself.....
I’m sure he will be out of a job real soon and have a IRS audit to boot.....for breaking lockstep with the administration....
If Obama’s fascists have their way we could be listening to Hannity and Rush broadcasting from beyond the Obama curtain on short wave radio.
If you wanna walk like Putin,
you have to be like Putin.
Yep, the ego maniacs cant be reformed.
That Republican chairman Goodman is the only thing keeping the FEC from regulating the conservative media.
notice the democrats on the FEC want regulation. so when Goodman goes awat in December they will start regulating. and many on here say there is no difference between the parties. read the article again to see
He just collects stories from the web that are interesting, and have in most cases (but not ALL) a conservative "angle".
And he'll publish things that the MSM wants hidden, like the Lewinsky scandal.
Newsweek had that one on their desk, and refused to run with it. I'm sure until they could figure out how to give a liberal spin on it.
But Drudge ran it before the MSM could pre-screen what was said.
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