Florida lawmakers are slogging ahead with legislation that’ll keep lawyers rich — and the public uninformed.
On Wednesday, the Sunshine State’s House Judiciary Committee greenlighted a measure making it easier to sue news outlets for defamation.
The bill goes to the House floor; comparable legislation is wending through the state Senate.
Pray lawmakers come to their senses and protect the public’s right to get news — by nixing this anti-democratic lunacy.
The bill could actually shut down much of today’s news reporting — including from non-lefty outlets like The Post.
It would create a “presumption” of malice in reporting based on anonymous sources, and give people acquitted of crimes the right to sue to have reports about their arrests withdrawn.
Proponents have also pushed to relax laws that force losing plaintiffs to pay defendants’ legal costs, which would open the door to runaway frivolous lawsuits.
Conservatives backing the bill think it’ll give people greater recourse to sue liberal outlets that spew lies, but it’s also a license for lefties to target conservative voices.
And for sue-for-profit sharks of no particular ideology to engage in legal blackmail across the spectrum.
Often not to quash a false story, but merely one that’s inconvenient to someone with cash to burn — like, say, George Soros.
Fact is, the mere risk of litigation would chill all newsgathering: Even when reporting is 1,000% solid, you’d risk a biased court or jury (and, yes, Florida has left-leaning hotspots, too) deciding otherwise, maybe just because the person suing seems sympathetic and the out-of-town media outlet “can afford it.”
Some media companies will shut down Florida operations altogether: The market wouldn’t be worth the risks.
Think about it: What outlet would report on, say, Biden family corruption if it feared a costly lawsuit — even one it’s likely to win?
The Post stood up to Facebook censorship over our now-widely believed speculation in early 2020 that COVID originated at a Wuhan lab, and to multiple social-media squelching of our reporting off Hunter Biden’s laptop.
But Florida’s proposed laws would give the censors powerful new tools to try shutting us up.
Then there are cases like the Central Park Five: Under Florida’s legislation, media outlets might’ve been forced to take down all reports about them — erased from the historical record — when the defendants’ guilty verdicts were overturned.
Meanwhile, lawyers would make a fortune filing suits, especially if they and their clients don’t risk having to pay defendants’ legal bills if the case fails.
No wonder a Christian broadcasting group warns about a “cottage industry of well-funded trial lawyers” silencing “voices their funders disagree with.”
“Christian radio and television stations” lacking legal defense funds “will be left to decide between” avoiding topics “or facing litigation that could result in a station’s bankruptcy,” predicts National Religious Broadcasters’ Michael Farris.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression similarly cites “grave dangers” to First Amendment rights.
Yes, liberal media lie and distort.
But Florida’s “cure” here is far worse than the disease.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
