Sunday, November 23, 2008

Washington state regulators: Is blogging lobbying?

AoS HQ had this article from Seattle Times up last night.
Blogger beware? State regulators are wondering whether online political activism amounts to lobbying, which could force Web-based activists to file public reports detailing their finances.

In a collision of 21st century media and 1970s political reforms, the inquiry hints at a showdown over press freedoms for bloggers, whose self-published journals can shift between news reporting, opinion writing, political organizing and campaign fundraising.
Not bloody likely, methinks. How is most blogging significantly different from, say, writing editorial columns or hosting an opinion-oriented radio show? Or for that matter, from writing a letter to the editor of your local paper? None of that is regulated as lobbying activity. As for campaign fundraising, what I've seen on blogs is generally limited to having a link to a candidate's campaign website donations page.

Not gonna happen. That's one idea that's DOA.

3 comments:

Mark said...

I don't think it will happen either... but it's probably not DOA.

This is Washington, state of, we are talking about. Anything can happen.

Eric said...

OK, maybe not DOA, but definitely euthanized at the first protest from a liberal blogger.

Dave C said...

it is one small step to control speech..