State Senator Corey Simon, R-Tallahassee, believes his new legislation will hold journalists responsible if they report inaccurate information.
His bill, (SB 752), approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, would remove the so-called "fair report privilege" that journalists have, but Simon says some are abusing.
“I think our media should be held to a standard," said Simon.
This privilege, protects reporters from being sued for libel as long as they report on things fairly and accurately.
Under SB 752, media outlets could face lawsuits if they refuse to take down online stories that contain incorrect information about a person.
Tallahassee attorney Barry Richard asked Simon to file the legislation because of a situation that happened seven years ago.
“The media receives a privilege none of us have,” Richard argued. “How does that make sense?"
He told the Senate panel on Wednesday that a media company failed to pull a story they had done about a Miami man who was falsely accused of a crime.
Richard, who was the man’s lawyer at the time, said that he asked the stations to remove the story from their websites to protect the man’s image—all but one outlet honored the request.
“Why should know they be able to keep it up forever knowing that its false," Richard argued. "It just makes no sense. It can destroy people’s lives.”
If the measure becomes law, news outlets would be required to pull these kinds of stories from the internet within days of knowing any information is false, outdated, or uses a person’s name or likeness without their permission. This would also apply to social media bloggers.
But opponents say the measure is unconstitutional.
Sen. Tina Polsky, D-Boca Raton, opposes the idea, saying Simon’s bill misuses defamation. And she points out journalists are reporting the information that’s known at the time.
“If you’re only removing the original article, it still lives on. How does that help the individual?" Polsky asked Simon.
“The story ended up a different way than how the [news outlets] originally presented it, and now they are being told they must take it down. It doesn’t take away the fact that it happened. That’s what news is.”
Simon’s measure did pass its first committee, 8-2.
The bill, as it’s currently written, would not bring any punishment onto a reporter, but it does leave the door open for a person to sue the reporter and their news agency for making false statements.
