Florida lawmakers continued their attack on the First Amendment this week with a bill that would require “bloggers” to register with the state if they plan to write about Florida’s governor, administration officials or members of the state legislature.
Florida Senate Bill 1316, submitted by GOP state Senator Jason Brodeur, comes as Brodeur and others have also introduced separate rules to make it easier to sue the news media for alleged defamation. A few weeks ago, Governor Ron DeSantis (R) lamented how difficult it is to prosecute journalists in the United States.
DeSantis and his conservative allies have stepped up their attacks on the press this year ahead of the governor’s bid for the White House.
While both pieces of legislation are sure to prompt legal challenges, the anti-blogger bill is particularly unclear.
The bill defines “blog” as “a website or web page that hosts bloggers and is frequently updated with their opinions, comments or business content.” It excludes “websites of newspapers or similar publications” but fails to provide more guidance than that.
“If a blogger posts to a blog about an elected state official and receives, or will receive, compensation for the post, the blogger must register with the appropriate office … within five days,” the bill said.
Writing about the state executive branch requires registration with the Florida Ethics Commission, while writing about the state legislative branch requires registration with the Florida Office of Legislative Services. Writers must also disclose how much they paid for their services and who paid them.
Failure to do so will lead to fines.
Ron Kuby, a First Amendment lawyer in New York, told NBC News that the bill clearly violates the Constitution.
“We don’t register journalists,” Kuby told the outlet.
Journalists in the United States enjoy the strong protection of free speech provided to them by the US Constitution and cemented by the US Supreme Court, which set a high bar for defamation against public figures in the landmark 1964 case New York Times v. Sullivan. The plaintiff must show the defendant acted in bad faith, meaning that he knew what the alleged falsehood was or acted with complete disregard for the truth.
Florida lawmakers aim to reduce those protections with two bills: Florida House Bill 991, introduced by Rep.
Brodeur’s version watered down some of the language contained in Andrade’s version, the Orlando Sentinel reported. But the outlet said Brodeur’s bill would still be a game-changer for journalism in Florida.
Both aimed to use anonymous sources, which are typically used when a source has information they believe the public needs to hear but fear personal or professional retaliation for that name. However, both will automatically declare information provided by anonymous sources false, and journalists will find it harder to protect the source’s identity.
Bobby Block, executive director of the Florida First Amendment Foundation, told the Orlando Sentinel that both versions are “terrifying.”
Block said in a Feb. 27 blog post on the foundation’s website, responding to the House version of the defamation bill: “Throughout history, tyrants on the left and right as well as powerful Robber Barons have often moved to crush the press in order to control messaging.”