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Money, Transparency and Policy Since Citizens United v. FEC
The Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission U.S. Supreme Court ruling changed modern politics. It made an unmistakeable effect on the ability for secretive and unaccountable groups and organizations to push their interests, as well as opened the floodgates for unlimited spending and helped spur the creation of super PACs. Check out below the milestones of the money and politics landscape since the Court’s ruling in January 2010.
The timeline covers four categories: Courts (major court rulings and cases), Disclose (legislation around greater disclosure of political contributions and spending), Super PACs (trend and news for independent expenditure only committees) and FEC (decisions made by the Federal Election Commission).
Excellent interactive timeline from Sunlight Foundation
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“There is a hall-of-mirrors quality to what he is doing that is hilarious and very effective,” said Mark Feldstein, a professor of journalism who is about to begin teaching at the University of Maryland.
“He is taking advantage of loopholes to set up an organization that is not a legitimate political action committee, if there is such a thing, to make the point that the current system is a form of legalized bribery. Try making that point as a member of the mainstream media and holding on to your objectivity.”
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The Myth of the Unbiased Journalist
This issue of Keith Olbermann being suspended from MSNBC for political donations is well, dumb. In our 21st century society rules such as the one that got him suspended are archaic. It reminds me of NPR’s ban on its employees from attending the Rally to Restore Sanity.
Journalists are supposed to be neutral, yes. I do understand the concept of journalistic integrity, but in almost no instance is an individual whose life and career concerns covering politics in this country going to be politically neutral. There’s a difference between attempting to be subjective in a professional capacity and having an individual opinion.
I think it’s more disingenuous to try and hide journalists’s personal opinions under the guise of neutrality, because if one knows where they stand as an individual, the informed reader or viewer can take that into account instead of just assuming they’re some sort of mythical 100% subjective human being. The best of the best can probably pull off subjectivity pretty well, but for the average Joe Journalist, their biases are going to leak in whether they intend them to or not.
Exactly. I’m no huge fan of Olbermann, but this myth that journalists are unemotional robots, devoid of opinions, feelings, and bias is laughable. Better to know exactly who someone is rather than the outdated, disingenuous idea that someone writing an article or performing a broadcast is a blank slate with zero baggage.
In this case, would MSNBC have been less harsh on Keith if he had disclosed it beforehand? I would hope so. If the problem here is simply disclosure, then I agree with the move. It’s a bit silly though, since anyone with half a brain realizes Keith leans way to the left, and not forward as MSNBC’s new motto would imply.
(Source: minusmanhattan)
