Trump-loving Newsmax turns on Florida Republicans over 'dangerous' bills

Newsmax, a far-right cable network that is all in for former President Donald Trump and helped him promote election conspiracy theories, is sounding the alarm to condemn a pair of bills advanced by Republicans in the Florida legislature that are intended to make it easier to sue outlets like The New York Times and The Washington Post, reported The Daily Beast.

“Newsmax strongly opposes both bills and any proposed law that makes it easy to sue media companies,” Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy, a personal friend of Trump and a native of South Florida, told The Beast's Corbin Bolies. “Free speech and a free press are the most fundamental of our constitutional rights and must be zealously safeguarded.”

At issue are a pair of bills, House Bill 757 and Senate Bill 1780, that would broaden the definition of "defamation" to include any false claim that relies on an anonymous source. This means that news outlets could be sued over any statement that turns out to be inaccurate if they didn't disclose the source who gave them the information — which would be a huge break from longstanding Supreme Court precedent that prohibits suing journalists unless they print a false claim with "actual malice." Trump has repeatedly attacked news stories that reveal negative information about him by complaining how often they rely on anonymous sources, which is often necessary to prevent whistleblowers and other vulnerable people from facing retaliation.

ALSO READ: How Speaker Mike Johnson’s dream of bipartisan decency died in his hands

Newsmax is not alone among Republican-leaning reporters and commentators in condemning the proposed bills. Javier Manjarres, who runs the right-wing outlet The Floridian, has called the bills "sh*t," and complained, “If you started divulging your anonymous sources, then where are we at in society when it comes to journalism?” Meanwhile, other Trump allies in Florida like Rep. Byron Donalds have also criticized the proposal.

The issue many of them bring up is that this proposal would actually open up right-wing outlets — which according to some studies share fake news more prolifically than centrist or left-wing outlets — to lawsuits as well, and could actually drive a ton of them out of business. “While certain Republicans may think that they're going to be suing and taking on The New York Times and The Washington Post, here's the breaking news: liberal trial lawyers are going to have a field day with center-right media in the state of Florida,” former GOP congressman and talk radio host Trey Radel recently told Fox News. "Signing this into law will destroy conservative media in this state."

This would not be the first time Republican legislation would have unintended consequences. In recent weeks, the Florida GOP has discussed altering their landmark legislation to allow citizen book ban requests after some school libraries across the state have been paralyzed by an avalanche of challenges.