Guys. You guys. Did you hear about the proposed Florida bill that would make paid bloggers who cover the governor, his office, and/or the Florida state legislature to register? Sounds insane, right? Sounds like it would be a pretty egregious violation of the First Amendment, right?
It would.
Sen. Jason Brodeur’s bill, titled “Information Dissemination,” would also require bloggers to disclose who’s paying them for their posts about certain elected officials and how much.
“If a blogger posts to a blog about an elected state officer and receives, or will receive, compensation for that post, the blogger must register” with the appropriate office within five days of the post, the legislation says.
…
DeSantis’ office did not respond to a request for comment late Thursday for his position on the bill.
Ron Kuby, a First Amendment lawyer in New York, said the law would not survive a court challenge if it is passed.
“It’s hard to imagine a proposal that would be more violative of the First Amendment,” Kuby said. “We don’t register journalists. People who write cannot be forced to register.”
Does … does Ron DeSantis’ office have to respond, though? Has he given any indication that he supports this bill or that he had anything to do with it being introduced?
Nowhere in NBC News’ article is any evidence whatsoever presented to suggest that DeSantis has anything to do with the bill other than that he’s the governor right now. DeSantis’ name doesn’t appear once in Brodeur’s bill, which presumably means that should the bill become law, it would apply to bloggers covering any governor, and any governor’s office, and any Florida state legislature.
But NBC News is making it sound like the bill is meant to help DeSantis specifically. The fact that they chose to accompany their post with a photo of DeSantis feeds into that deception as well.
And it’s working like a charm on all the right people:
“Ron DeSantis belongs on the Mount Rushmore of homicidal fascist dictators because of a bill he has nothing do with” is certainly a take. Exactly the take NBC News wanted readers to come away with.
The plan all along was to suck people into the headline.
It sure feels like misinformation, doesn’t it?
NBC News has their narrative, and they’re stickin’ to it.
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