MEMBERS OF THE MEDIA ARE NOT LOBBYISTS (USA)

24  states in the United States clearly specify that members of the press are not lobbyists and are exempt of any lobbying regulation and reporting.

1. Alabama

Reporters and editors while pursuing normal reportorial and editorial duties are exempt.

 2. Alaska

 Any newspaper or other periodical of general circulation, book publisher, radio or television station that publishes news items, editorials, or other comments, or paid advertisements, that directly urge or encourage legislative or administrative action.

3. Connecticut

Lobbyist shall not include: A publisher, owner or an employee of the press, radio or television while disseminating news or editorial comment to the general public in the ordinary course of business.

4. District of Columbia

Lobbying shall not include: A communication made through the instrumentality of a newspaper, television, or radio of general circulation or a publication whose primary audience is the organization's membership.

5. Guam

Any newspaper or other regularly published periodical (including any individual who owns, publishes or is employed by any such newspaper periodical), which in the ordinary course of business publishes news items, editorials or other comments, or paid advertisements, which directly or indirectly urge the passage or defeat of legislation, if such newspaper, periodical or individual, engages in no further or other activities in connection with the passage or defeat of such legislation, other than to appear before a committee of the Legislature in support of or in opposition to such legislation.

6. Iowa

Lobbyist does not mean: Representatives of the news media only when engaged in the reporting and dissemination of news and editorials.

7. Kentucky

Lobbying does not include: News, editorial, and advertising statements published in newspapers, journals, or magazines, or broadcast over radio or television. The gathering and furnishing of information and news by bona fide reporters, correspondents, or news bureaus to news media .

8. Maryland

The following activities are exempt from regulation: Actions of a member of the news media, to the extent the actions are in the ordinary course of gathering and disseminating news or making editorial comment to the general public.

9. Michigan

Lobbyist or lobbyist agent does not include: A publisher, owner, or working member of the press, radio, or television while disseminating news or editorial comment to the general public in the ordinary course of business.

10. Minnesota

Lobbyist does not include: A news medium or its employees or agents while engaged in the publishing or broadcasting of news items, editorial comments, or paid advertisements which directly or indirectly urge official action .

11. Missouri

 A "legislative lobbyist" shall not include:  Preparing or publication of an editorial, a newsletter, newspaper, magazine, radio or television broadcast, or similar news medium, whether print or electronic.

12. Nebraska

Principal or lobbyist does not include: Any publisher, owner, or working member of the press, radio, or television while disseminating news or editorial comment to the general public in the ordinary course of business.

13. Nevada

Lobbyist does not include: Employees of a bona fide news medium who meet the definition of “lobbyist” only in the course of their professional duties and who contact members of the Legislature for the sole purpose of carrying out their news gathering function.

14. New Hampshire

The following communications are excluded from regulation and shall not be considered in a determination of where a person is required to register and report as a lobbyist: Communication made by a representative of a media organization if the purpose of the communication is gathering or disseminating news and information to the public. Communication made in a speech, article, publication, or other material that is distributed and made available to the public, or through radio, television, cable television, the Internet, or other medium of mass communication.

15. New Mexico

A publisher, owner or employee of the print media, radio or television, while gathering or disseminating news or editorial comment to the general public in the ordinary course of business.

16. New York

The term "lobbying" shall not include: Newspapers and other periodicals and radio and television stations, and owners and employees thereof, provided that their activities in connection with proposed legislation, rules, regulations or rates, municipal ordinances and resolutions, executive orders, tribal-state compacts, memoranda of understanding or other tribal-state agreements , or procurement contracts by a state agency, municipal agency, local legislative body, the state legislature, or the unified court system, are limited to the publication or broadcast of news items, editorials or other comments, or paid advertisements.

17. North Carolina

Members of a recognized news medium engaged in the gathering and publication of news;

18. Oklahoma

Lobbying shall not mean testimony given before, or submitted in writing to, a committee or subcommittee of the Legislature, nor a speech, article, publication or other material that is widely distributed, published in newspapers, magazines, or similar publications or broadcast on radio or television; provided further, it shall not mean representation of himself or herself.

19. Pennsylvania

The following persons and activities shall be exempt from registration and reporting: An individual who is an employee of an entity engaged in the business of publishing or broadcasting while engaged in the gathering and dissemination of news and comment on the news to the general public in the ordinary course of business.

20. Rhode Island

The following persons shall be exempt: News media executives or their employees or agents, who in the ordinary course of business write, publish, or broadcast news items, editorials, or other comments or paid advertisements which directly or indirectly urge legislative action, if such persons engage in no other lobbying activities in connection with that action.

21. South Carolina

Lobbyist does not include: A person who owns, publishes, or is employed by a radio station, television station, wire service, or other bona fide news medium which in the ordinary course of business disseminates news, editorials, columns, other comments, or other regularly published periodicals if such person represents no other person in lobbying for legislation, covered agency actions, or covered gubernatorial actions. This exception applies to the publication of any periodical which is published and distributed by a membership organization to its subscribers at least twelve times annually and for which an annual subscription charge of at least one dollar fifty cents a subscriber is made.

22. Tennessee

"Lobby" does not mean: An editor or working member of the press, radio or television who, in the ordinary course of business, disseminates news or editorial comment to the general public

23. Utah

Lobbyist does not include: A newspaper, television station or network, radio station or network, periodical of general circulation, or book publisher for the purpose of publishing news items, editorials, other comments, or paid advertisements that directly or indirectly urge legislative or executive action

24. West Virginia

The term lobbyist does not include the following persons, who are exempt from the registration and reporting requirements set forth in this article, unless they engage in activities which would otherwise subject them to the registration and reporting requirements: Persons who engage in news or feature reporting activities and editorial comment as working members of the press, radio or television and persons who publish or disseminate such news, features or editorial comment through a newspaper, book, regularly published periodical, radio station or television station are exempt.