Did DeSantis violate First Amendment with Fox News-only bill signing? [View all]
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis not only broke from decades of precedent on Thursday when he blocked all news outlets except Fox News from covering the signing of a voting bill into law. He also may have violated the U.S. Constitution.
That’s the opinion of First Amendment experts who told the Tampa Bay Times it is illegal for DeSantis to hand-pick which media can cover a public proceeding.
“The law leaves no question as to the impropriety of banning certain media while allowing only friendly media,” said Pamela Marsh, executive director of the First Amendment Foundation, an organization that advocates for open government and represents news organizations, including the Tampa Bay Times and the Miami Herald. “That is viewpoint and content discrimination.”
Decades of precedent in federal courts have affirmed that elected officials cannot block certain news outlets from reporting on public events just because they don’t like the coverage.
Read more: https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2021/05/07/did-desantis-violate-first-amendment-with-fox-news-only-bill-signing/
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