FEC Re-affirms Blogs are Equal to Traditional Media

Last week, the Federal Election Commission reaffirmed that online media outlets can advocate on behalf of particular candidates without falling subject to campaign finance restrictions. This is a critical ruling for bloggers because it maintains that blog sites should be treated in a similar fashion as the "mainstream" traditional media outlets.

As reported by Wendy Davis on MediaPost Publications, the ruling came in the wake of a complaint made by a Hillary Clinton supporter who alleged that a pro-Barack Obama blog was actually 'a direct arm' of the Obama campaign, and therefore subject to campaign finance restrictions.

As Davis goes on to explain,

"The complaint was brought last October by Clinton supporter Kirk Tofte, who alleged that the blog Iowa True Blue, operated by former Iowa Democratic Party chairman Gordon Fischer, had coordinated with Obama's campaign. Tofte alleged that Fischer endorsed Obama in September, after which he began posting critical items about Clinton."

The FEC rejected Tofte's claim and maintained that even had [Fischer] done so, it would not have triggered campaign finance restrictions stating, "Any coordination would have been permissible ... because the activity was specifically exempted from the definition of 'public communication.'"

This ruling is in line with a previous ruling made in September of 2007 wherein an FEC complaint was lodged against Kos Media, LLC. (the blog Daily Kos). There, the FEC ruled in favor of Daily Kos, rejecting the idea that the site operates as a 'political committee' and was subject to campaign finance restrictions.

Both the Kos and True Blue rulings uphold the March of 2006 declaration wherein the FEC stated that online media publications were also exempt, unless they were owned by a candidate, party, or committee.

But to give a greater perspective, these rulings only go to bolster the idea that blog sites are just another form of media. Although traditional outlets (such as newspapers, magazines, and network and cable news) have been exempt from campaign finance restrictions since 1974, the FEC's position regarding online media had been untested until these more recent cases. These precedents have maintained an equality between blog sites and major news sources.