Don't let press freedom die in the 'Sunshine State,' or anywhere else

Amid his culture war campaign against “woke” liberals, critical race theory, and other bugaboos of the political right, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has taken his ongoing culture war to an old, reliable political enemy, the media.

- Clarence Page

With a defamation bill working its way through the state’s legislature-- DeSantis is trying to put some legal teeth in his pitch.

As he is expected to challenge Donald Trump and others for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, the governor is backing a bill in his state’s Republican-dominated legislature to make it much easier for public figures to sue news outlets for defamation — and win.

He gave the world a preview last month with a contrived “roundtable discussion” in a mock television studio live-streamed on social media under the topic “Legacy media defamation practices.” His guests were plaintiffs and lawyers who had sued major media companies, including Fox News and The Washington Post.

DeSantis called major media companies “probably the leading purveyors of disinformation in our entire society,” adding, “There needs to be an ability for people to defend themselves.”

Of course, that ability already exists. But that’s not good enough for DeSantis.