Bloggers Debate Code of Conduct for Political Sites

CHARLOTTESVILLE

Should Virginia's political bloggers adhere to a code of ethical conduct?

That question was posed at a first-of-its-kind conference last weekend hosted by the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership at the University of Virginia.

Using a computer with Internet access and some simple Web-based software, anyone can create a blog, which allows commentary from the well-informed as well as from people who have little to add to public discussions.

(Full disclosure: I have a political blog of my own: http://blogs.washingtonpost.com/racetorichmond .)

On Saturday, more than 50 of the state's bloggers -- on the right and the left, the young and the old -- spent a day meeting each other and debating whether there is a need for a common moral compass for this new form of political communication.

The conclusion among many of them was that there is not.

Several said they view their blogs as extensions of their very personal voices. No one, they insisted, has any business telling them what they should say or how they should say it.

Those who held that view expressed exasperation at the idea that government would try to regulate blogs. "Have you ever heard of 'Congress shall make no law?' " one asked, referring to the first few words of the First Amendment and the constitutional protection of freedom of speech.

The prospect of regulation prompted a different response from some of the bloggers assembled at the Doubletree Hotel in Charlottesville.

Chris Piper , an official with the Virginia State Board of Elections, told the group that several lawmakers have approached his office with concerns about blogs. They alleged that the blogs were being used by their political opponents to spread lies and misleading information and were not meeting the state's rules on reporting expenditures made on behalf of candidates.