Florida Republicans have introduced two bills to make it much easier to sue journalists for defamation, angering many First Amendment advocates and publishers across the state. But they have also raised concerns within conservative journalist groups.
If they make it to Governor Ron DeSantis’ desk, they could fundamentally change the way the media reports on public figures in a state where laws make it easy to report people’s private and professional lives.
According to Florida media, the bills lower the standard for defamation cases, restrict protections for journalists’ use of anonymous sources, and limit the circumstances in which news outlets can recover attorneys’ fees if they countersue for legal attacks.
DeSantis, who prides himself on being an adversary of the mainstream press, hosted a panel discussion in February that featured, among others, Nicholas Sandmanwho sued a number of mainstream outlets over their coverage of a meeting of his in 2019. Sandmann settled his claims with three points, but a federal judge threw out five others.
“It’s encouraging to see the legislature pick up on the important issue of media responsibility and join the conversation that the governor started,” Jeremy Redfern, DeSantis’ deputy press secretary, said. huffpost. “We are following this legislation through the legislative process.”
But if DeSantis and his Republican allies envision these bills as a glorious war against the so-called liberal media, they may be in for a nasty surprise: Right-wing media publishers are increasingly concerned that the new legislation will also hurt their own outlets. .
The Florida Standard, a conservative website, has made a name for itself thanks to scoops from the governor’s office. But false claims like those of a “pharmaceutical executive saying that COVID-19 injections are a government biological warfare operation against the population itself” are also being amplified, a view CEO and editor-in-chief Will Witt said. which I personally do not share.
Witt, a PragerU video personality who moved to Florida from Los Angeles, stood by earlier statements suggesting that the racist “great replacement” conspiracy theory is real and that parents who take their children to gay pride parades, where “people commit sexual acts in the street”, should be charged with abuse. Now, Witt said, he is concerned about exposure to libel, should the legislation pass.
“The way you are structuring hurts everyone,” he said. “It really is more of a First Amendment issue than a ‘hold the media accountable’ issue.”
Reflecting on past stories covered by his site, Witt acknowledged: “We could say, editorially, that we don’t want to publish some of this stuff now because of what’s happening with this legislation.”
Brendon Leslie, founder of Florida’s Voice, a self-proclaimed “patriotic” news network with a mission to “destroy fake news,” told the huffpost that the proposals “will disproportionately affect small ones,” inundating companies without legal teams with frivolous lawsuits.
“This is basically intimidating a journalist into agreeing to divulge their source,” he said of language in one of the state House bills, which would create the assumption that anonymous sources are false.
