Florida governor Ron DeSantis’ anti-media legal agenda didn’t even make it through his state’s Republican-led legislature. The New York Times reported Wednesday that barring “late changes or a special session,” two bills targeting press protections and drafted at DeSantis’ urging won’t face a full floor vote during this year’s legislative session, which officially ends Friday. The legislation would, among other measures, “narrow the definition of who qualifies as a public figure, automatically presume that statements by anonymous sources are false and define certain types of speech as libelous,” according to the Times.
DeSantis—who has yet to announce a 2024 presidential run but is widely expected to declare—has consistently attacked the press and shirked traditional media throughout his time in office. He took his media-bashing to a new level in February when, during a roundtable discussion, he floated the idea of legislation that could make it easier for people to sue news organizations for defamation. “There needs to be an ability for people to defend themselves not through government regulation or restriction, but through being able to seek private right of action,” DeSantis said at the time. But the Times reports that while DeSantis is “typically known for having his finger on the pulse of the right,” he “appears to have misjudged the issue,” given that pushback to the legislation came not only from free-speech advocates and news organizations but the kind of conservative outlets that DeSantis favors.
Places like The Gateway Pundit, a right-wing site, argued in an editorial that the “misguided” legislation would put conservative media publications in jeopardy: “SHOOTING ITSELF IN THE FOOT,” the headline blared. Javier Manjarres, publisher of the conservative site The Floridian Press, likewise warned that DeSantis “could be on the verge of causing himself a historic and irreparable self-inflicted political wound” if he signs into law the legislation targeting media protections. “I understand the perceived intentions of this bill; however, this bill will slice both ways. And conservative and religious media will feel the deepest cut!” And James Schwartzel, the owner of a Fox radio station which features prominent conservative hosts, warned eight members of the Florida House back in March that the passage of the bill “creates too much liability for our business to continue.” He added in an email: “We will change our conservative programming, and announcers will quit.”
The bills were part of a broader attempt to revisit The New York Times Company v. Sullivan, a landmark Supreme Court decision that made it harder for public figures to win libel cases against publishers. Dominion Voting Systems’ billion-dollar defamation suit against Fox would have tested that precedent, had it not settled at the last minute. “The quiet demise of the closely watched Florida legislation, which would have been challenged in court, appears to have blocked another [test],” the Times’ Ken Bensinger reports.
DeSantis’ failed proposals are just the latest in a string of half-baked offensives, seemingly designed to generate controversy, that may be doing so at the cost of his own party. The Florida governor’s war with Disney, for one, has faced backlash from several potential GOP presidential hopefuls, such as New Hampshire governor Chris Sununu. “Look, this has gone from kind of going after a headline to something that has devolved into an issue, and it convolutes the entire Republican message,” Sununu said on a recent CNN appearance. “It’s not good for Governor DeSantis” and “I don’t think it’s good for the Republican party.”
