Florida Bills Make It Easier to Sue Journalists for Defamation

The Florida Legislature is moving bills designed to achieve accountability in the media, weakening legal protections for journalists writing about public figures and making it easier for plaintiffs to sue.

Florida Senate Bill 1220 and its counterpart (House Bill 991) make it easier for journalists to be sued for defamation, reducing the plaintiff's burden of proof from "actual malice" to negligence or with a lack of reasonability or care, Florida Politics reported.

The legal standard of "actual malice" was made U.S. Supreme Court precedent in the famed 1964 ruling of New York Times v. Sullivan.

The effort had been urged by Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis, who held a roundtable discussion last month called "Legacy media defamation practices," The Washington Post reported.

DeSantis called out some media outlets as "leading purveyors of disinformation in our entire society," and said, "there needs to be an ability for people to defend themselves."

DeSantis and his campaign aides have grown frustrated over the years with partisan attacks from the media and the governor vowed to "stand up for the little guy against these massive media conglomerates."

While Republicans in the Florida Legislature are pushing forward with bills backing DeSantis' agenda, some First Amendment advocates and conservatives are issuing warnings, according to the Post.

First Amendment Foundation's Bobby Block called the effort "a death knell for American traditions of free speech," the Post reported.

And conservative talk station owner James Schwartzel called it the "the death of conservative talk throughout the state of Florida" in a letter to lawmakers, Florida's Voice reported.

"The devastation will be severe and swift," Schwartzel wrote. "Republicans will lose one of their most prominent platforms to reach their base forever."

Other opponents note passing the bill would make Florida a destination for filing defamation lawsuits against journalists.

But, state Rep. Alex Andrade, R-Pensacola, the bill's author, told the Post that truthful reporting and satire would remain protected, but current law makes it "nearly impossible to bring a defamation claim."

Proving "actual malice" is difficult under current law as set by the Times v. Sullivan.

"What this bill will provide are opportunities to people who have been rightfully harmed by a false statement that hurt their reputation to seek justice, and not have to spend egregiously enormous amounts of money to seek justice to prove they were defamed with actual malice," according to Andrade at a recent committee hearing.

DeSantis has been a leader in pushing back against woke mainstream media journalism that seeks to tarnish Republicans, and his spokesman Jeremy Redfern called it "encouraging to see the legislature taking up the important topic of media accountability and joining the conversation that the governor began."

DeSantis will have the final say on what passes and, Redfern added to the Post, "will consider the merits of each bill that reaches his desk in final form and make a decision at that time."

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