DeSantis-Backed Bills Limiting Press Freedom Shelved Amid Conservative Backlash
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Legislation backed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) to strip media outlets and journalists of press protection was shelved on Wednesday and will not be brought before the Republican-dominated state legislature for a vote this year.
The legislation, a pair of bills introduced in February, sought to water down the laws that protect media outlets from defamation lawsuits so that private citizens could more easily file libel suits against journalists.
DeSantis defended the laws during a press conference in late March. A reporter asked the Republican about “concerns that the defamation bills you support, governor, would chill free speech, particularly for social media, bloggers, and people at public meetings, and encourage frivolous lawsuits. So how would your administration keep that from happening?”
DeSantis defended the bills as offering fair paths for redress if “somebody is defamed” and added “that if they’re using anonymous sources, then that can be a presumption that that was done with malice, because if not, then there’s no way you could ever have a defamation action.”
Critics of the bills argued that the measures would shift “the burden from the plaintiff to the defendant since the plaintiff does not need to affirmatively show that the claim is false.” The non-profit organization, The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, added, “As such, it contradicts well–established Supreme Court precedent.”
The group, which provides free legal services to journalists in need, argued the bills would “also make it easier to sue for defamation when challenging statements by confidential or unknown sources. The House bill creates a presumption of falsity for statements by “anonymous” sources (presumably confidential as well as unknown).”
While many on the left condemned the bill, conservative media outlets also cried foul.
The New York Times noted Wednesday that “the legislation faced a wave of resistance from [DeSantis’s] allies, including right-wing media outlets, Christian organizations, and business groups. They argued that the legislation would harm all news media, including conservative outlets, and lead to an increase in frivolous and costly lawsuits.”
Victoria Mohebpour, an aide to the GOP state senator who sponsored the bill told the Times that while “the governor clearly expressed interest in this type of legislation,” the bill inevitably failed as “philosophically some people didn’t agree with it.”
Proving intended “actual malice” has been a standard in defamation cases regarding public figures dating back to Supreme Court’s 1964 New York Times v. Sullivan ruling, which states a defamatory claim must not only be proven to be false but that it was known to be false or made with a “reckless disregard for the truth.” The Florida bills sought to lower that threshold and link the use of anonymous sources with the intent of “actual malice” into law.
Of course, any such change would affect media outlets across the political spectrum. Mediaite’s editor-in-chief Aidan McLaughlin pointed out in early February – given the various legal challenges recently faced by Fox News, Newsmax, and OAN – “The irony of DeSantis’s criticism of US free speech protections is that conservative outlets he favors would be the first to face severe consequences if the actual malice standard was overturned.”
