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Sunday, April 03, 2005To: Supervisor Maxwell Board of Supervisors San Francisco, CA cc: Readers of the TurkeyBlog Supervisor Maxwell, Though I do not now live in San Francisco, I have considered moving there. I was therefore distressed to read about legislation before the board affecting a hobby near and dear to my heart: blogging. I appreciate the board's desire to insure a level playing field for political competition. However, blogs are not the same as a two minute break between segments of the Simpsons. People come to blogs for one of two purposes. Some log on for the latest news from commentators whose judgment they trust. These are opinion journalists. To regulate them would be tantamount to requesting that the editorial staff of the Chronicle register if they intended to publish an endorsement. The other visitors to a political blog are usually either fellow bloggers or people who leave comments. These people view blogs both as news sources (free-lance journalism) and as places for public dialog. In this sense, the web of blogs form a sort of internet-wide café where people of similar (or sometimes widely differing) views can get together to hash out what's going on in the world. To regulate blogs involved in such conversations would be tantamount to handing out paperwork to those who discuss the newspaper with tablemates in a bar or at a sidewalk café. The blog, in short, is not the same thing as a candidate's press release. It is a place where people go to see what other people think is interesting or important and, where possible, to kick in their two cents worth. To regulate blogs is to make San Francisco's campaign finance jurisdiction superior to both freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. One hopes that the wearing away of some pretty big First Amendment freedoms was not your intent, but it is the logical consequence of your proposed ordinance. You might want to rethink this one. Geoffrey Barto
posted by gbarto at 10:33 PM |
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