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AdjraHamilton Nolan
1/28/16 9:46am
requiring people to register with the government in exchange for the right to talk to the free press
a public relations consultant who contacts a media outlet in an attempt to get it to advance the client’s message in an editorial

These two things are not the same.
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  benjaminalloverAdjra
  1/28/16 9:55am
  I tend to agree, and the distinction is that they are a paid consultant rather than a private citizen. I don’t really understand how this would violate free speech any more than having to register as a lobbyist violates it.
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  FuckingOffatWorkAdjra
  1/28/16 9:56am
  How are they not the same?
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Low Information BoaterHamilton Nolan
1/28/16 9:39am
Unconstitutional proposal is unconstitutional.
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  TheCoolerking101Low Information Boater
  1/28/16 9:50am
  Why is it unconstituional? As I read this article, if you are being paid by a company to try to convince media outlets to write something favorable about the company paying you, the state wants you to be a registered lobbyist. So If Monsanto hires John Scumbag to convince local reporters to write favorable articles about Monsanto, John Scumbag would have to be registered as a lobbyist. Who cares? What’s the problem here?
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  NicoTheCoolerking101
  1/28/16 9:55am
  Except what purpose does it serve? Is it a means of regulating them or providing transparency, or is it just so the state can collect fees from them? I live in NYS, and 90% of the sh*t we do is for the sake of billing people.
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KnowerOfEarthquakesHamilton Nolan
1/28/16 9:37am
So if I talk to you about some scientific discovery a lab’s made does that mean I’d have to register as a lobbyist? That’s...kind of hilarious.
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  RobNYCKnowerOfEarthquakes
  1/28/16 10:30am
  Were you paid to talk about it to push a favorable view?
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  Grim3RobNYC
  1/28/16 1:24pm
  I don’t work in NY, but for other states I have worked in, being “paid” covers getting a salary from your employer, whether you work for a lobbyist firm for paid clients, or you are a museum staff member talking about science funding to a legislator. I would imagine the same sort of rules would apply if PR gets folded in.
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zombiepandaHamilton Nolan
1/28/16 12:03pm
I’m a registered lobbyist in NY. I work for a public affairs firm that provides a combination of government, media, and community relations services. We do straight lobbying (mostly budget and land use stuff), but we also do media and “grassroots” (like that word actually means anything anymore) campaigns. Like I said, I’m registered, as are most of my colleagues, and our firm is especially anal about our reporting. We all do some press outreach, but our official media person isn’t registered. I’ve read the proposed rule through a couple time. It’s this graph that gives me pause:

Input into the content of a grassroots communication means participation in forming the message. The determining factor is shaping the content of the communication. It involves more than mere proofreading, but at the same time does not require full decision-making authority, i.e., a client having the “final say” in a work product does not exempt the role played by the consultant in creating the message. If a consultant’s participation in a grassroots campaign constitutes control over delivery and input into content, the activity becomes reportable lobbying for the consultant and may require registration and reporting.

For me, this raises a lot of practical questions. Does this cover all media pitches you make concerning the campaign? For example, if you wrote a press release about a rally your client is holding and blast it out to your press list (which can be 1000's of targets), do you have to report every person you’ve sent it to? If a reporter calls you for background on your client, must you report it? And what about social media? That seems like a glaring loophole.

But bigger picture, this is a total fake out. Going after advocates isn’t going to do a damn thing to address the kind of corruption that was committed by Silver and Skel-holes.
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  mrs.chaiseloungezombiepanda
  1/28/16 4:25pm
  Another problem is that the rule also suggests that government officials and privately-held news outlets have the same accountability to citizens - yet, for now at least, media is not under government jurisdiction and the public doesn’t vote for editorial boards.
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DennyCraneHamilton Nolan
1/28/16 10:22am
This is a distraction. The ethics problem in New York state isn’t with the lobbyists; it’s with the politicians.
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The Vagina is a Self-Cleaning OvenHamilton Nolan
1/28/16 9:41am
So basically Gawker would have to register as a lobbyist.

Fage yogurt, Amazon, you’re all shills.
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  123AwesomeThe Vagina is a Self-Cleaning Oven
  1/28/16 9:59am
  Gawker’s “Commerce Team” (gotta love that moniker) are just shills, but the rest of the authors are simply showcasing their own opinions, not being paid by companies to do so.
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  DrunkyMcStumblesThe Vagina is a Self-Cleaning Oven
  1/28/16 11:04am
  No, this law would apply to journalists
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jlpubarchHamilton Nolan
1/28/16 11:07am
So every museum, botanical garden, theater, zoo, etc. with a PR staff would have to register those people with the State so that those people could call the Times and be like: “Hey, we have this new exhibit we’re putting up, would you like to come see it and write an article in the weekend Arts section?”

Sounds like ridiculous over-regulation.
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Sid and FinancyHamilton Nolan
1/28/16 9:50am
This is not bad as a half-measure, but I call upon the Minister of Public Enlightenment to pass an Editors’ Law as well.
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Kenhe LoginHamilton Nolan
1/28/16 10:40am
Albany’s ethics

Jumbo shrimp

Military Intelligence

Family Vacation
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LemurLadHamilton Nolan
1/28/16 9:43am
Once I’ve received my retainer, I will be happy to tell you how my client feels about this.
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