Posted on 12/09/2004 10:18:50 PM PST by weegee
When I was linking to CBS News for my Stupefy Me report earlier today (directly below), I came across this gem of a story (FR THREAD ON THE CBS ARTICLE: Blogs: New Medium, Old Politics NEW YORK, Dec. 8, 2004). It appears that CBS News not only is striking back at the blogs and bloggers that took out Dan Rather and embarrassed their entire organization, but they are also supporting censorship of us rascally citizens.
Internet blogs are providing a new and unregulated medium for politically motivated attacks. With the same First Amendment protections as newspapers, blogs are increasingly gaining influence.(snip)
…Case precedent on political speech as it pertains to blogs does not exist. But where journalists' careers may be broken on ethics violations, bloggers are writing in the Wild West of cyberspace. There remains no code of ethics, or even an employer, to enforce any standard.
At minimum, the role of blogs in the Daschle-Thune race is a telling harbinger for 2006 and 2008. Some blogs could become new vehicles for the old political dirty tricks.
Like all media, blogs hold the potential for abuse. Experts point out that blogs' unregulated status makes them particularly attractive outlets for political attack.
(snip)
“[The question is] whether blogs are analogous to a sole person campaigning or whether they are very much a media publication, which is essentially akin to an online newspaper,” said Goldberg, who is the legal counsel to the American Society of Newspaper Editors.
(snip)
Beginning next year, the F.E.C. will institute new rules on the restricted uses of the Internet as it relates to political speech.
“I think those questions are going to have to be asked and answered,” said Lillian BeVier, a First Amendment expert at the University of Virginia. “It’s going to be an issue and it should be an issue.”
The whole story is worth a read. It details the impact of blogs on the Daschle-Thune race. Surprisingly, it does not mention the impact of blogs on Dan Rather or our liberal counterparts’ impact on the leaking of exit poll data. There is no word on whether veteran anchors can be used as a vehicles for the old political dirty tricks.
ohhh
I really hope they try to regulate blogs....
This is a perfect time for a "Go ahead, make my day" quote from Cline Eastwood :)
The Legacy Media Strikes Back. Film at 11.
So, they (CBS, et al) can always sue us. That is a form of regulation. Otherwise, we are as free as they are to propagate discussion.
One side of the SD thing is explained here:
http://southdakotapolitics.blogs.com/south_dakota_politics/2004/week50/index.html#a0002942229
I didn't know about or care about this and I don't now. However, if the guy was a consultant he should have had a notice on his blog to that effect. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't. Whatever Duncan B. Black/Hatrios or Oliver Witless do is there own problem.
Good work weegee. Bump for later read.
The world of news reporting has changed.
CBS and the rest of the MSM shmucks are just gonna' have to live with that.
Beginning next year, the F.E.C. will institute new rules on the restricted uses of the Internet as it relates to political speech.
What does this mean?
John Kerry had people from MoveOn.ORG and the Bush parody website working in his campaign.
There was a lot of coordination going on. In the case of the parody site, it actually shut down so that he could devote time to the campaign (and possibly to avoid FEC filing).
What's a blog, what's a PAC, what's an online newspaper/magazine?
YEAH... (best Dean Voice) Bring it On.
The Way too Liberal Supreme Court is pretty much in love with the net, and the bloggers are Exactly the part they are most in love with.
So it looks like CBS is going to have to get used to having 20 million fact checkers looking over thier sholder from now on. 5 years ago they would have gotten away with thier little fraud. No more. And the fact that they tried just hastens their demise.
Yes, bloggers are just opinionated writers at some far off corner of the internet. Funny how so many millions of Americans are able to discern the truth without the help of CBS. Funny how so many Ma and Pa Polyesters are able to wade thru the trash of sex tales and juvinile rantings to focus on about 100 really good writers who can state their case and prove their theorys with tools at hand. Funny how an informal web of such people can bring down a giant.
Oh yes, CBS Please DO float a proposition to Regulate the Bloggers. Please!!!
The Pajamahadeen are here to stay. Ours is an insurgency that can't be uprooted since it has no "centers." Its the first known instance of assymetric info netwarfare in the 21st Century.
Probably a bylaw of CFR. We all knew that it restricted political speech. It is unconstitutional and will have to be tossed out but first it must go to the Supreme Court.
Although I think that even CBS isnt that stupid.
I would bet they back off of this. They know they would get crucified...
Agreed! Sort of like the 9/11 of MSM.
It won't get tossed. But its impossible to enforce it. CFR will collapse of its own weight before then.
Better put some ice on that.
Thanks. It just raises the hair on the back of my neck, that's all...
> So it looks like CBS is going to have to get used to
> having 20 million fact checkers looking over their
> sholder from now on.
From now on?
Free political speech has been flowing on the Internet,
and the ARPAnet before it, for over 20 years. CBS is
just a little slow to notice.
They need to worry less about who will be checking on them,
and more about whether CBS will be around for anyone to
bother checking on.
It means the government will actually require you to wear tinfoil on your head to keep OUT the bloggers. Strange turn of events, eh?
I think it means the beltway doesn't like us talking to eachother so much.
When they talk about regulating blogs, know that Free Republic is on the top of their list.
BTW, wasn't Dan's creative writing test scores due this week?
Dec. 10 or 11, I thought I read.
Well, bleep the Beltway. ;-D
True, but it didn't matter then. Now, with something like 75% of the American Households having some access to the net, and web publishing something a high schoold dropout can master, it can no longer be ignored.
It was easy to ignore 5000 radicals at various colleges. Even if they proved their point and showed the documetation, nobody would listen, and you couldn't get it aired to save your sole. But now we need no one else's concent or approval to get something really wide exposure.
But, be that as it may, the important part of this is not now widespread it is, but how adept the American public is at filtering the sewage from the wine. How well and how quickly the word spreads and the forged documents were found out. One day. One F*ing day!
Of course. Bad news is always released on Fri. afternoon to keep a sharp dip caused by paniced shareholders from sitting all weekend. Thanks.
Separated at birth-- The CBS eye and Gort, the robot from The Day the Earth Stood Still.
"So, they (CBS, et al) can always sue us. That is a form of regulation. Otherwise, we are as free as they are to propagate discussion."
We're also free to discuss their propaganda.
33 posts so far...
Dawg. Let'em try...
Oops, wait, they're gonna try. Dang it.
Awrighty then, let'em try really fast, because at the rate they're going, the Old Media is gonna be the Dead Media in five years.
Good luck in getting blog regulation passed during this administration!
Natch.
Well...
It looks like Claire Wolfe may have to revise on when it's time to "shoot the bastards."
The soulless creeps better keep their damned hands off my sole! And neither my soul, nor my sole, is for sale!
CBS wants a MONOPOLY on this.
That's what I meant to say.
Ha!,Ha!... CBS...The pajama blogger brigade kicked the crap out of you and you don't like it...So you want to censor free speech?...good luck! You hate it that we showed all those way overpaid exec's are not worth a damn. Does it embarass you?...L.O.L.
CBS doesn't want the monopoly. They just want to see that the DNC has a monopoly on it.
Exposing their Zogbyism cost them millions AND the election.
Note to CBS:
In the final analysis, advertising, packaging, and torpedoing the competition aren't going to save your dog food company if the dogs don't like it.
Yeah right. They can almost regulate blogs. Then you will see hundreds of blogs open up in places beyond the US's borders. I live abroad. I can post whatever I want about the US and nobody can stop me. As long as I don't threaten people nor break the laws of the country I'm living in. CBS can do whatever they like, but they will pay a heavier price than just losing old gasbag Rather.
Indeed.......I like thst word....Zogbyism...and now for another zogbyism.....
This is the funniest thing I've read in a long time.
I love it when the opposition admits they got their collective butts whipped by rank amateurs. And I love it when they propose such an untenable solution as to censor a medium so inherently anarchical and uncensorable, as the internet.
As President Bush said: Bring it on!
--Boot Hill
My wife wears 'Saran Wrap' over her head for some strange hair treatment. I have found it is unwise to snicker. I just bite my lips and hope the insane urge to smile passes quickly.
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