That San Francisco Proposal to Regulate Political Blogs

UPDATED

Chris Nolan is on the case, and attending the Board of Supervisors meeting. A stand-alone journalist is doing what the big media should be doing -- covering the story.

Update: Here's her report from the scene.

Also: The National Journal, a Washington-based publication read by government and political folks, is on the larger story -- politicans wondering how to regulate bloggers' political speech. The Journal's Technology Daily has a piece on the San Francisco situation today, but I can't link to the subscribers-only story.

Comments

[Jack Krupansky]

Hmmm... "A stand-alone journalist is doing what the big media should be doing -- covering the story." Geez, if we have any hope that people will take grassroots journalism seriously, it's only if we can clearly demonstrate that "big media" has its limits and that GJ is not just catching crumbs and filling gaps or "lobbying" for partisan causes, but covering stories the way they need to be covered, and not just to meet a deadline, to fill some space, attract some advertisers, or pursue some partisan agenda.

To be truly successful, grassroots journalism has to be seen as both a force and a force for "good", rather than simply yet another "media tool" to be manipulated by cynical "operators". And that's why this SF "regulation" issue has come up: because GJ hasn't gained enough of a critical mass to overwhelm the stereotype of blogging as a "political front".

-- Jack Krupansky

[Jon Garfunkel]

Huh? Jack, If you were to actually read what Chris Nolan has been reporting, the whole thing has been blown out of proportion, another case of blogger paranoia.

[The One True b!X]

If you were to actually read what Chris Nolan has been reporting, the whole thing has been blown out of proportion, another case of blogger paranoia.

Which she was indicating even before the hearing on the ordinance.

And, actually, I'm still perplexed as to how anyone reading the original ordinance itself could have construed it as affecting anyone other than, potentially, blogger paid by candidates to blog about those candidates (a perfectly legitimate concern in the realm of campaign finance disclosure).

[Not a Yank]

I still have a problem with San Francisco to wit:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.