Summary
Some political observers see a perfect storm brewing in campaign finance and communication. The much-discussed Citizens United decision, among other Supreme Court cases, that lifted federal regulations prohibiting corporations from spending unlimited amounts of money in candidate campaigns, came right as political advertising started to move away from traditional media channels to the Internet, where regulation is nearly impossible. And there has been an explosion in campaign communication on the Internet—political operatives keen to find new ways to reach potential voters and contributors. This year, the uniquely American big money campaigns are colliding with technology, spurring more innovation (this campaign season alone, both parties have raised a combined total of more than $1.2 billion). Yet little research about this quickly changing media landscape has been done.
“We think of the campaign finance problem as specific to TV, but that’s really a time-bound and technology-specific phenomenon. As we move to the Internet, the audience isn’t captive—it’s mobile and always connected,” says Nathaniel Persily, JD ’98, James B. McClatchy Professor of Law, who teaches Campaign Finance Reform, a policy practicum that has stretched across three quarters and is planned to continue through the 2016 presidential campaign.
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One key conclusion from the students’ research, says Persily, is that the new regulators of campaign finance will not be government entities, but rather the platforms themselves. The challenge, he explains, is the ubiquitous nature of the new media. “It’s very difficult to even think about how you would craft a regulatory regime that the government could enforce that would go after political advertising online,” he says. “It’s not one thing: It’s text messages, it’s embedded advertisements in video games, it’s organizing someone’s newsfeed on Facebook, it’s tweets and YouTube videos.”
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“We’ve seen some tectonic changes in the campaign finance system this time, where some of the candidates with large financial backing ended up losing very early. Others, like Bernie Sanders, were able to get tens of millions of dollars in small contributions. And some—specifically Donald Trump—didn’t have to spend a whole lot of money but received an enormous amount of free media attention that was able to be leveraged into a victory on the Republican side,” says Persily.
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“Our campaign finance laws and the political science of campaign finance haven’t really taken account of the changing media landscape and of the new strategies that politicians and groups are adopting,” says Persily. “It’s important that policymakers have the best information out there, if they’re going to be crafting policies to respond to changing trends.”
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