You’re watching the NBC6 South Florida News streaming channel, which plays local South Florida news 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can find the “NBC6 South Florida News” streaming channel on your phone or computer, and on Peacock, Samsung, Roku, Xumo or on our app, so you can watch our local news on your schedule.
A state Senate panel on Tuesday approved a proposal that would change the state’s defamation laws, with an opponent saying it would lead to newspapers and television stations “airbrushing history.”
The bill (SB 752), sponsored by Sen. Corey Simon, R-Tallahassee, seeks to require newspapers and broadcast stations to remove false and defamatory articles and broadcasts from their websites after receiving notice that the stories aren’t true.
Watch NBC6 free wherever you are
WATCH HEREThe proposal centers on what is known as the “fair reporting privilege” that protects media outlets from being sued for defamation when they publish accurate accounts of information or data contained in official documents or statements.
“The bill simply provides that if a newspaper or television station places a story on the internet and later learns that it’s untrue because of a court decision or because it received information that would convince a reasonable person that the report was untrue, it would remove it from the internet or lose its privileges,” Simon told the Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee.
Get local news you need to know to start your day with NBC 6's News Headlines newsletter.
SIGN UP
The proposal is rooted in coverage of a Miami man who was arrested after being accused of molesting a child at a pool party. Prosecutors later dropped charges against the man, who was awarded damages by a jury after filing a defamation lawsuit against relatives of the child.
But critics argued Tuesday that Simon’s plan is too vague. Bobby Block, executive director of the First Amendment Foundation, told senators that the bill undermines the media.
“Just because someone is acquitted doesn't mean the original story about their arrest was false. This bill is a weaponized censorship dressed up as accountability,” Block said.
Local
Simon’s bill would remove the protection against defamation lawsuits if media outlets have been notified that a statement published on the internet has been found in a judicial proceeding to be false or if they receive “notice of facts that would cause a reasonable person to conclude that such a statement was false” and they fail to remove the story “from any website” the outlet controls.
The bill “calls for airbrushing history,” attorney James Lake, an opponent, told the committee.
“Although framed as an attack on falsehood, the bill would in fact punish truth,” he said.
The bill, approved Tuesday in a 6-3 vote, would need to clear the Rules Committee before it could go to the full Senate.
