Florida lawmakers have introduced legislation, with vocal support from Gov. Ron DeSantis, to make it easier for public figures to sue detractors for defamation. DeSantis, likely eyeing the presidential primaries, frames the proposal as an effort to fight back against misinformation from large left-leaning media conglomerates. But disciplined conservatives thinking beyond 2024 should understand that expanding defamation liability would silence important voices across the political spectrum. It would cause the most harm not to mainstream media outlets that can afford lawyers but to independent news outlets and opinionated individuals, including conservatives, who cannot. Threats to press freedom around the world are at an all-time high. Sign up to stay up to date and take action to protect journalists and whistleblowers everywhere. Thanks for signing up for our newsletter. You are not yet subscribed! Please check your email for a message asking you to confirm your subscription. Here’s why conservatives should oppose every provision of the Florida legislation, including both the House version and the slightly scaled back, but still highly dangerous, Senate version. DeSantis casts the mainstream media as wilfully misleading the public, but victims of intentional defamation are, and always have been, free to sue. The protections DeSantis opposes only apply to accidental defamation, and only when the victim is a public figure. Those who investigate the powerful are sure to make mistakes on occasion. It’s inevitable, especially when government officials do everything they can to limit access to official records and obscure the truth. Without some breathing room for errors, people would be so scared of being sued for criticizing deep-pocketed elites that they would censor themselves into silence. That’s why, in the 1964 case New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, the Supreme Court unanimously endorsed the “actual malice” standard requiring public figures to prove their detractors not only erred but either knew their statements were false or recklessly disregarded the truth. In other words, intentional errors remain actionable, but honest mistakes are not. The actual malice defense helps conservative media as much as anyone. Fox News is relying on the actual malice standard in court right now. It’s not the first time. Donald Trump Jr. and Rudy Giuliani used it to defeat defamation claims by Trump impeachment whistleblower Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman. Conservative commentators have cited the actual malice standard in response to alleged litigation threats by Hunter Biden over reporting on his laptop. It also protects independent and alternative outlets, bloggers, political and religious radio hosts, YouTubers, pro-life activists and many others whose perspectives conservatives value. And its reach extends beyond partisan politics. For example, it’s the only thing stopping Brett Favre from weaponizing the courts to silence discussion of welfare fraud allegations against him. Both versions of the bill penalize journalists for relying on the kinds of anonymous sources that have brought down presidents in this country. Journalists would love to quote their sources by name, but those with the most newsworthy information to share often have the most to lose by sharing it. And they have reason to be concerned — Democratic administrations, like Republican ones, have often overreached to learn the sources of damaging stories. Right-leaning journalists rely as heavily on confidential sources as anyone. And conservative originalists might note that the Federalist Papers were written under a pseudonym. Anonymous sourcing is merely a symptom of a lack of transparency. Conservatives bothered by anonymous sourcing should urge their government to make more records public and speak openly with the press so that journalists don’t need to rely on back channels. They should also insist on strong whistleblower protections and media relations policies that empower government employees to speak in their own names without fearing retribution. The House bill’s provision that defamation plaintiffs could recover their attorney’s fees is an abdication of conservative principles. The party of tort reform should not be legislating gifts to plaintiffs’ lawyers. In fact, Florida’s legislature is considering a tort reform bill intended to end a “cottage industry of litigation” while simultaneously seeking to become a destination for libel tourism. There is no basis to single out defamation as an exception to the centuries-old "American rule" that litigants pay their own costs (as opposed to the “English rule,” favored by DeSantis, that the loser pays).