Barker’s View: Bills limiting press freedom are anti-American

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Barker’s View: Bills limiting press freedom are anti-American
Mark Barker

Here we go again…

Ahead of the 2024 state legislative session, Pensacola lawmaker Rep. Alex Andrade announced he is preparing to reintroduce a “pared down” version of last year’s anti-American assault on 60 years of Supreme Court protections that allow citizens to speak their mind on the machinations of those elected officials who control our lives and livelihoods here in the “Sunshine State.”

During the 2023 session, following pushback from First Amendment advocates, journalists, talk radio pundits from both sides of the political spectrum, and freedom-loving taxpayers everywhere, Andrade’s bill — which would have made it easier for politicians to sue citizens and media outlets for “defamation,” prevented defendants in these lawsuits from recovering legal fees, and established a legal presumption that “anonymous sources” in media reports are false — died a natural death.

If Rep. Andrade’s frightening legislation becomes law, it won’t just apply to The New York Times, CNN, Fox News, or MSNBC.

Rather, it will have a chilling effect on every reporter, blogger, community group, Facebooker, or citizen who wants their voice heard by subjecting them to the financial and emotional devastation of a vengeful lawsuit brought by some thin-skinned politician with a God complex.

Does that sound like “good governance” to you?

Look, having spent the bulk of my adult life in municipal government — I’ve grown some hard bark through the years — I can give as good as I get. On occasion, I’ll receive word that someone who stood for election to high office or holds a lucrative senior appointment in the cloistered halls of power, was personally offended by my thoughts on an issue.

Good.

That means they still have the human emotion of shame — something that is quickly erased from the psyche of most politicians as hubris, megalomania, and an overwhelming sense of infallibility replace healthy feelings of doubt.

Those powerful policymakers who “get it” understand the importance of using criticism to their advantage — accepting the slings-and-arrows of their constituents as a barometer of community sentiment — while remaining open to crucial public input, discourse, and dissent.

Unfortunately, rather than open lines of communication and improve transparency, some hypersensitive Florida legislators continue to propose asinine laws weakening our right to free expression by prohibiting citizens from “Speaking ill of the King,” suppressing public dialogue and encouraging petty politicians to silence critics and activists by suing them whenever someone calls out their autocratic assholery for what it is.

How patently un-American.

How terribly frightening…

— Barker writes a blog, usually about local government, at barkersview.org. A retired police chief, Barker says he lives as a semi-recluse in an arrogantly shabby home in coastal Central Florida, with his wife and two dogs. This is excerpted from a Dec. 15 post on his blog, lightly edited (he swears a lot) and reprinted with his permission.

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