EXCLUSIVE: Brodeur says media is ‘wrong’ in reporting of paid blogger bill

Published Mar. 3, 2023, 5:13 p.m. ET | Updated Mar. 4, 2023

Florida Sen. Jason Brodeur.
Florida Sen. Jason Brodeur.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (FLV) – Sen. Jason Brodeur, R-Lake Mary, told Florida’s Voice that the “media” is mischaracterizing his “Information Dissemination” law that would require some paid bloggers to register with the Florida government.

NBC reported that the law would “require bloggers who write about the governor and legislators to register with the state,” but Brodeur said coverage like that doesn’t give enough context.

“It is for only for bloggers who are paid compensated to influence or advocate on state elections,” Brodeur said. “And this is really to get at an electioneering thing.”

“What we have out there today is a system by which somebody can pay someone to write a story, publish it online and then use that in a mail piece as a site source when they’re making claims about an opponent,” he said. “We want voters to be able to know you can still do it [but that they] have a right to know when somebody is being paid to advocate like a lobbyist.”

“If you are being paid to advocate a position, the public should be able to know who’s paying you and, and make a decision for themselves. So, that’s all we’re trying to clean up – it’s really an electioneering issue.”

Brodeur further emphasized that the law is not meant to crack down on freedom of the press, but to promote “transparency.”

The senator said “those who advocate in government” should be “available and accessible to the public.”

Brodeur was also asked about defamation legislation.

“[The bill] lowers the standard from actual malice down to negligence,” he said, referring to the judicial standard required to prove one was defamed in court.

“We have a right to free speech and it comes with the duty that you’ve got to listen to the other guy because they got a right to free speech too. And in publishing, you have the right to publish, but you have a duty to try and get that right as well as you can,” he said.

“And what that means is that somebody publishing has to knowingly publish a false statement in order for the public figure who’s been harmed to collect damages, proving that they knew that it was actually false before they published, it has turned out over the years to be an impossible standard.”

Brodeur concluded that the defamation legislation could encourage more people to run for office without fear of being defamed, and not being able to prove it in a court of law.

“And so one of the other things I hope this bill does is that by giving somebody a remedy for when they have been wronged, it encourages more good people to run for office,” he said.

Watch the full interview below:

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