It’s no secret that relations between politicians and the press are particularly strained these days. It comes with the territory – the press and the powerful are supposed to have an adversarial relationship. The result, usually, is accountability – a definite public good.
But public good is not what will result if a bill introduced in the Florida Senate gets any traction. Quite the opposite. Republican Sen. Jason Brodeur‘s bill would violate basic First Amendment rights, punish small, independent reporters and protect the powerful, all at the same time. The bill would require bloggers who write about the state’s top officials – the governor, lieutenant governor, cabinet officials and, yes, state legislators to register with the state within five days of publishing such a piece.
And it gets worse. Additional posts, which is something any good blogger following a story will write, triggers additional reporting to the state:
…the blogger would…be required to submit monthly reports on the 10th of each month with the appropriate state office. They would not have to submit a report on months when no content is published.
For blog posts that “concern an elected member of the legislature” or “an officer of the executive branch,” monthly reports must disclose the amount of compensation received for the coverage, rounded to the nearest $10 value.
If compensation is paid for a series of posts or for a specific amount of time, the blogger would be required to disclose the total amount to be received, upon publication of the first post in said series or timeframe.
There are fines for refusing to do any of this, of course, which makes the entire thing even more obnoxious. Even former House Speaker Newt Gingrich felt compelled to call out the craziness:
The idea that bloggers criticizing a politician should register with the government is insane. it is an embarrassment that it is a Republican state legislator in Florida who introduced a bill to that effect. He should withdraw it immediately.
Yes, Sen. Brodeur should withdraw this bill. But if not, here’s all the license/registration/permission I need to write about him or any other Florida pol.
And in case the good Senator doesn’t understand that the Bill of Rights applies to the states, here’s the Florida version of the same right to a free and unfettered press.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.