Expensive Speech?
Exactly how much does speech cost?

Last week I asked what I considered a sarcastic question:

Are doctrines of Constitutional Law henceforth to be driven by network ratings?
Now that question is looking less and less sarcastic, more and more serious, and more and more ugly.

Beware of humor, folks; yesterday's jokes have a way of becoming today's law.

As most denizens of the Internet or the blogosphere know, there's no simple way to draw a line between "bloggers" and "journalists." Bloggers are journalists by definition, and many journalists are also bloggers. The difference between any of the top bloggers and, say, Charles Krauthammer is mainly in where they're published, and even there, the line is becoming indistinguishable. Most hard copy journalists are available online, and bloggers routinely "cross over" to "off line" journalism. The Internet is simply a medium.

So I don't think the legal approach is going to take the form of a "let's regulate blogs" approach so much as it would likely consist of a size-based litmus test based on the amount of attention the blog gets.

No one, for example, cares about a college student starting up a Blog for Dean or a Blog for Bush. But let that same student's readership level hit the 10,000 a day mark (chosen arbitrarily -- which is what laws do), and the usual suspects will begin screaming about "fairness."

I think it will come down to bandwidth, which consists of numbers. Something like that has a definable, assignable value, and is capable of metering and regulation, just as much as is money. (To "follow the money" simply "follow the hits.")

Considering that political speech has now been defined as money (and everything -- even sexual speech -- is now political), AND as a "contribution," if that speech draws a certain amount of listeners, then it can literally be said to have a certain value. McCain-Feingold, unfortunately, has already been held constitutional (and I have warned last year that it could be applied to blogs), so the only thing left to do is what the regulatory bastards are already set up to do: DRAW THE LINE. The greater the traffic, the more it's regulated.

So in answer to my question, "Are doctrines of constitutional law to be determined by ratings," the answer seems to be a sickening YES.

I wonder what the founders would say about the price of "free" speech.

ADDITIONAL THOUGHT: I don't think the dynamics of ambition and the human ego will escape the attention of those wielding regulatory power. Many a blogger would, I fear, be more than willing to wear the badge of government regulation. Not as a stigma, but as a badge of honor, of officialdom!

Of (dare I say it?) power!

Why, the regulators could even encourage this mindset in clever promotional mailings....

"As a highly visited blogger, you're a shaper of public opinion!"

"A very powerful position to be in!"

"With power goes responsibility!"

Sigh.

I could almost write such garbage for the bastards.

AND MORE: The above principle is of course called "DIVIDE AND CONQUER." A bit like the tax code.... "I should be so lucky as to be in a higher tax bracket!" etc.

(Doh.)

posted by Eric on 12.10.04 at 10:42 AM





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Comments

Where the hell are we really headed? Jeez....

CTDeLude   ·  December 10, 2004 11:54 AM

What that comes down to is that some scmuck (like me) who nobody reads might be left alone to post all the obscenities he wants, while Glenn Reynolds, who gets a billion hits a day, would be forced to share his blog with somebody he totally despises in order to be "fair" to the other side.

I'm totally against that! Free speech is free speech, no matter how popular or unpopular you are.

Steven, what makes you so sure they'd leave you alone? As one of the most prolific commenters in the blogosphere, they might just place you in a non-free (i.e. more expensive) special regulatory category!

:)

Eric Scheie   ·  December 10, 2004 02:13 PM

If there was one thing that really got me to forever state I'd never vote for McCain again, its the bogus "reform" bill.

I want NO regulations on so-called "political" money... donate whatever you want...just do it TRANSPARENTLY.

Whether I get to shell out $5000 or spend 500 hours working for my candidate is MY constitution rights of free speech and free association.

Darleen   ·  December 10, 2004 09:09 PM

I wonder if they would give subsidies to bloggers who got no hits (like me). Yeah, and there would be special programs that gave homeless people a job to surf these barren blog sites ... yeah, and the money for this would come from a tax on ads on the more popular sites ... YEAH... oh, damn. The LLL mind control rays got me.

mdmhvonpa   ·  December 10, 2004 10:48 PM

Does this mean that I have to start reading "Classical Values" less and less ... so that it'll remain free and unregulated?
Please please please don't be saying that ...

Hooterville Rutabaga   ·  December 11, 2004 11:23 AM
"Many a blogger would, I fear, be more than willing to wear the badge of government regulation. Not as a stigma, but as a badge of honor, of officialdom!" - Eric

Count me out of that demographic, Eric. I doan need no stanking batches.

Hrmm... but if we could all charge Steve Malcom Anderson on a per comment basis, we all get rich! Rich! RICH! ;]p~

Hey! It's something to consider. Comment tolls. Free enterprise at its best. Err.. worst. Err... something. Baby needs a new lamborghini. ;)

Ironbear   ·  December 14, 2004 12:36 PM

Ironbear, now don't you go being a bad influence or giving people ideas. The blogosphere has always been a bastion of freedom, but if ideas like yours were to spread, why the commenters might start a union themselves, and then they'd demand to be paid -- RETROACTIVELY -- for every comment left.

What would we do then?

Eric Scheie   ·  December 16, 2004 08:54 AM


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