Florida Politics
By Jesse Scheckner
3/22/23
Support fell along party lines, with Democrats dissenting.
Republican lawmakers sidestepped decades of constitutional precedent and a wave of public opposition Tuesday to advance legislation aimed at weakening legal protections for journalists writing about public figures.
Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee voted along party lines for the measure (SB 1220), one of several bills Gov. Ron DeSantis has prioritized this year targeting long-held First Amendment safeguards.
The expansive bill and its House analogue (HB 991) would make it much easier to successfully sue journalists and media outlets for defamation by lowering legal thresholds established in the 1964 U.S. Supreme Court ruling New York Times v. Sullivan.
It would reduce a plaintiff’s burden of proof in a lawsuit from having to show “actual malice” in news reports citing unnamed sources to only proving a journalist acted negligently, with a lack of reasonability or care.
The bill would also revise the state’s laws against SLAPPs (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) that protect against meritless legal action meant to harass or silence reporters and outlets.
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