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Fla. bill that would make it easier to sue media advances
Tampa Bay Times
By Lawrence Mower
February 22, 2024
TALLAHASSEE — A group of Christian broadcasters called it “deeply flawed.”
Conservative Florida radio host and former U.S. Rep. Trey Radel said it would “destroy conservative media.”
The New York Post’s editorial board called it “utterly mad” and “insanely overreaching.”
Florida Republican-sponsored legislation that was originally intended to make it easier to sue mainstream news outlets for defamation has sparked an intense backlash from conservatives, who fear it will be turned against them.
HB 757 and SB 1780 would change the state’s defamation laws and challenge federal court rulings on free speech.
Publishers who cite an anonymous source who provides wrong information could be exposed to greater liability in a defamation lawsuit. The legislation would also create a new, speedier venue for allowing defamation cases to proceed or be tossed out.
On Wednesday, a House committee approved HB 757 on a 14-7 vote, sending it to the floor for a full vote. Lawmakers asked no questions and said nothing during debate.
Minutes later, Stephen Miller, who was a senior adviser to President Donald Trump, took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to say that conservative influencers, podcasters and alternative media “are going to get WRECKED” if the bill passes.
“If you want to go after corporate media then pass a law narrowly tailored at them,” Miller wrote.
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Commentary | Orange parent: Book bans don’t protect education, they hinder it
Orlando Sentinel
by Stephana Ferrell
February 20, 2024
There’s a bit of irony in Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz purposefully mischaracterizing a book like Marilyn Reynolds “Shut Up!” as “sexually graphic” to scare a person into silence. The abuser in “Shut Up!” accuses his victim’s older brother (a witness to the abuse) of watching pornography, resulting in expulsion from the house, so he could have full, unprotected access to his victim.
Yes, I am the parent — sorry, “activist” — that Commissioner Diaz was referring to when he shared his uninformed opinion of the book “Shut Up!” at the “book ban hoax” press conference last week in Orange County. Both of my children attend OCPS schools. I volunteer my time tracking censorship across the state for the nonprofit Florida Freedom to Read Project. Am I an “activist?” A “mama bear?” I prefer public-school parent, exercising the right to protect my children’s education, including pushing back when books are banned.
And yes, I mean banned. If this book was simply being removed to make room for others, a media specialist would be able to reorder it when a student expressed interest in reading it. That cannot happen with “Shut Up!” in Orange County. It also can’t happen with “The Bluest Eye,” “Sold” or “The Perks of Being a Wallflower.” These are all books that address sexual assault in direct, descriptive language. These books are not pornography. They are not obscene. And, they are not expressly forbidden under the current language of the law.
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Newsmax Trashes Florida GOP Bills Targeting the ‘Liberal Media’
The Daily Beast
By Corbin Bolies
February 21, 2024
Newsmax has joined the legions of conservative media outlets and figures who have trashed a pair of Florida GOP bills that ostensibly aim to curb so-called “liberal media” by loosening the definition of defamation.
“Newsmax strongly opposes both bills and any proposed law that makes it easy to sue media companies,” Chris Ruddy, Newsmax’s CEO, said in a statement to The Daily Beast. “Free speech and a free press are the most fundamental of our constitutional rights and must be zealously safeguarded.” (Newsmax maintains a headquarters in Boca Raton, Florida, and Ruddy is a West Palm Beach native and a friend of former President Donald Trump.)
The bills—House Bill 757 and its Florida Senate companion, SB 1780—would lower the threshold for defamation in Florida, allowing public officials to sue journalists and media outlets if an anonymous source says something the official believes to be false. The bills passed out of a Florida House committee on Wednesday in a 14-7 vote, and it is next headed to a Florida House vote.
Whatever the right-wing legislative effort’s intentions, these conservative critics say, it would be an affront to the First Amendment and would ultimately harm right-of-center media.
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Florida defamation bill heads to House floor despite conservative opposition
Orlando Sentinel
By Steven Lemongello
February 21, 2024
Despite growing pressure from conservatives, the Florida House is poised to take up a bill that would make it easier for public officials to win defamation lawsuits against traditional and online news organizations.
The House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday approved the measure (HB 757), its last stop before the floor. A similar measure also is moving in the Senate.
Stephen Miller, an ultraconservative former Trump White House adviser, wrote Wednesday on social media that the bill would “mean conservative influencers, podcasters and alternative media companies based in Florida are going to get WRECKED solely because they are conservative. And I mean WRECKED. Reject this law before it’s too late.”
Miller was the latest conservative voice to oppose the bill, sponsored by state Rep. Alex Andrade, R-Pensacola.
U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Naples, the group Americans for Prosperity, the National Religious Broadcasters Association, and the New York Post editorial board have also gone on record against it.
“Stephen Miller’s comments today, I think he’s exactly right,” said Bobby Block, executive director of Florida’s First Amendment Foundation, which also opposes the measure. “He’s giving voice to what a lot of conservatives are afraid of. But how that might impact the fate of the legislation is just unclear.”
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Stephen Miller, longtime Trump adviser, comes out hard against Florida defamation bill
Tallahassee Democrat
By Doug Soule
February 21, 2024
Longtime Donald Trump adviser Stephen Miller came out swinging Wednesday against Florida legislation that would, among other things, make it easier to launch and win defamation lawsuits.
And he wound up not being alone.
"If Florida passes the proposed law to lower the standard for defamation expect leftist’ plaintiffs lawyers to spend the next generation bankrupting every prominent conservative based in Florida," Miller wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
"If you want to go after corporate media then pass a law narrowly tailored at them," he continued. "This law will mean conservative influencers, podcasters and alternative media companies based in Florida are going to get WRECKED solely because they are conservative."
The post came shortly after the House version of the legislation (HB 757) passed its third and final committee on Wednesday morning, setting it up for final approval before the full chamber. The Senate version (SB 1780) has one committee to go.
Gov. Ron DeSantis voiced support for changes to defamation law last year, but such legislation didn't make it through the 2023 session. That legislation, like this year's, faced immense backlash from conservative media officials. His office didn't respond to a media request about the current measure.
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