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On Saturday, The Gateway Pundit, a far right news site, published an editorial opposing the House bill, stating that if it “is passed, there is no doubt that conservative media outlets will suffer.” Even the founder of Florida’s Voice, one of Mr. We will change our conservative programming, and announcers will quit,” Mr. “The bill creates too much liability for our business to continue. DeSantis’s communications director, calling for the officials to “KILL” the House version of the bill. Radel’s show airs, sent an email to eight members of the Florida House, Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, and Mr. Last month, James Schwartzel, the president of Sun Broadcasting, which owns the Fox affiliate where Mr. “Why make them more vulnerable to the multitude of left-wing plaintiffs’ lawyers?” “There are precious few conservative news outlets as it is,” he wrote, without making specific reference to the Florida legislation. Trump, wrote an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal last weekend attacking attempts to curtail press freedoms.

Barr, the former attorney general under President Donald J. On March 23, Representative Cory Mills, a freshman Republican from Florida, sent a letter to the leaders of both houses of Florida’s Legislature calling the proposals “unpatriotic” and warning that the bills would “stifle all media voices - whether liberal, conservative or neutral - that your constituents have come to trust and rely on.” The sponsor of the companion bill in the Senate, Jason Brodeur, did not respond to a request for comment.Ī wide range of voices have chimed in. The primary impetus for the legislation, he said, was to target the Sullivan standard. Representative Alex Andrade said he sponsored the House bill to “bring back some reasonableness in the relationship” between the press and the public. Redfern said only that it was “encouraging to see the Legislature taking up the important topic of media accountability and joining the conversation that the governor began earlier this year.” DeSantis, Jeremy Redfern, did not respond to questions about the rising pushback from the right. DeSantis said during a round-table event on defamation he hosted in February.Ī spokesman for Mr. “At the end of the day, it’s our view in Florida that we want to be standing up for the little guy against some of these massive media conglomerates.” Mr. He has cast mainstream reporters as hostile and suggested the news media has abused its protection afforded in the First Amendment. DeSantis has relied heavily on conservative media, slipping well-timed scoops to outlets such as Breitbart News and The Epoch Times and frequently appearing on prime-time shows on Fox News. The legislation would also eliminate several protections for journalists in Florida, narrow the definition of a public figure, and establish the presumption that any statement from an anonymous source, including whistle-blowers, is automatically deemed false. Sullivan - which protects publishers of all sorts from defamation suits unless an error is found to be willful or the result of reckless disregard for the truth. The legislation being considered in Tallahassee seeks to challenge the longstanding Supreme Court precedent known as New York Times v. Such litigation could put stations like his out of business, he added, “and here is who’s going to pay the biggest price politically: Ron DeSantis.”

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Radel argued that the two proposed bills could prompt a torrent of costly libel suits against conservative websites and talk and news stations such as the one that broadcasts his program, a Fox News affiliate in Fort Myers. allies did not take into account how the bills would affect right-wing reporters and commentators, not just the mainstream outlets that have become punching bags for Republican politicians. They are warning that the governor and his G.O.P.

DeSantis have in recent weeks begun raising alarm. While public opposition has largely come from left-leaning and nonpartisan free-speech groups, forces traditionally aligned with Mr. The proposals are packaged in two bills moving through the Republican-controlled Legislature. DeSantis’s urging as he inches toward a presidential bid, takes aim at several protections in state and federal law, including the decades-old Supreme Court precedent that makes it difficult for public figures to win libel lawsuits. But legislation that would sharply curb press freedom in Florida is creating a rare rift between the governor and the media that have helped propel his rise. Ron DeSantis has long courted right-wing news outlets, while dismissing mainstream reporters as biased and untrustworthy.