![]() “I don’t know how the FEC would treat Courier because the ‘media exemption’ is the third rail of campaign finance,” Fischer said. As a result, Courier raises new digital-age questions about what is and is not a news organization - questions that political ad regulators are unlikely to answer, according to election experts, leaving this murky space open for “abuse,” said Brendan Fischer, the federal reform director at the Campaign Legal Center. “Since they represent everything Democrats claim to oppose in politics, this should be an easy call.”Ĭourier’s operations differ from the NRCC in that it is a for-profit newsroom, and election law doesn’t regulate the press due to its First Amendment protections. “We look forward to Democrats denouncing these dark money fake news groups meddling in our elections,” said Bob Salera, a spokesperson for the National Republican Campaign Committee, who said the party no longer operates such sites. ![]() At the time, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee blasted the Republicans for “deception.” Asked if they approved of Courier’s 2020 tactics boosting their members, the DCCC did not respond to repeated requests for comment. In 2014, the Republican Party’s congressional campaign arm set up “news” sites that criticized Democrats and bought ads on Google to promote the pieces. “More quality reporting with integrity - even if it has a partisan bent and as long as that bent is disclosed - anything to combat the spread of misinformation is important,” said Nicco Mele, the former director Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, who is supportive of Courier.īut while some Democratic operatives concede the premise that their party needs to be more competitive online, they believe Courier and Acronym’s tactics are unethical but also ineffective given the high cost.Ĭourier is not the first to experiment with versions of this model, but it is likely the most robust attempt so far. They also point to the long history of explicitly partisan news outlets in the U.S. With public-facing editorial standards similar to other media organizations, Courier is an answer to the deluge of false partisan content consumers face, they argue. Courier, they say, is where news is heading in the Wild West of social media, where partisan stories often thrive and the old business model is failing. But this activity - creating an unregulated advertising stream promoting Democratic officeholders, more akin to a PAC than a newsroom - diverges from other partisan news outlets that are proliferating online as local newspapers struggle.Īnd in setting up the enterprise, Acronym - a sprawling digital organization whose programs include millions of dollars in traditional political advertising and voter engagement efforts, with financing from some of the deepest pockets in progressive politics, such as liberal billionaires Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn, and Laurene Powell Jobs, the majority owner of The Atlantic - has stirred outrage and provoked debate about the ethics of such political tactics and the future of the press.īackers believe they are simply ahead of the curve. ![]() The $1.4 million in Facebook ads is likely just a fraction of the money behind the Courier project, which includes a newsroom of at least 25 people and eight separate websites with content often focused on local issues in presidential swing states. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Subscribe on Google Podcasts
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