Here are some of the most important stories we’re following from the U.S. and around the world. If you enjoy reading this newsletter, please forward it to friends and family. If someone has forwarded you this newsletter, please subscribe here.

Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) Executive Director Trevor Timm wrote an op-ed for the Guardian about the persistent efforts by Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida legislators to weaken First Amendment freedoms for journalists, bloggers and everyone else. 

This includes a proposal, endorsed by DeSantis, to scale back the Supreme Court’s “actual malice” standard to protect against liability for honest mistakes while discussing public figures, as well as an absurd bill that would require paid bloggers to register with the state. 

Trevor noted that, while the blogger bill is “so chilling that it would make Vladimir Putin proud,” it’s likely a mere “sideshow” (DeSantis has since distanced himself from the bill). The actual malice proposal has a far greater chance at becoming law, and if it does, it may lead to copycat legislation, particularly in other Republican-controlled states. 

We wrote on our blog about the numerous reasons why conservatives should oppose the bill, which would harm conservative journalists as much as, if not more than, establishment media. It’s anyone’s guess whether the legislation would survive a Supreme Court challenge but it would wreak havoc on journalism in Florida in the meantime. 

FPF opposes law that could criminalize reporting on immigration 

FPF and a group of press freedom organizations filed a brief (PDF) urging the Supreme Court to affirm an appellate decision striking down a law broadly prohibiting “encouraging” or “inducing” unlawful immigration. 

The law’s language is vague and ambiguous enough to criminalize reporting and opinion writing from across the political spectrum. It could enable prosecution of editorialists calling for more permissive immigration policies, on the one hand, and investigative journalists exposing lapses in border security, on the other. 

Abuse of the law to retaliate against journalists is not just hypothetical — it’s already happening. The brief, written by Prof. Penny Venetis, Director of the International Human Rights Clinic at Rutgers Law School, and her students, explains that the government has cited the law to monitor and interrogate journalists reporting on the 2018 “caravan” of migrants to the U.S. 

The case could also have implications for journalism outside the immigration context. The Supreme Court has never before allowed truthful reporting on matters of public concern to be punished. And, with the government already attempting to criminalize newsgathering through the prosecution of Julian Assange, it’s not hard to imagine arguments that reporters “induce” sources to break the law by leaking documents.  

Twitter investigations bring disturbing attacks on journalists

News broke this week that the FTC demanded Twitter identify journalists to whom it granted access to company records as part of its investigation into Twitter’s privacy practices. 

We explained to Common Dreams that, regardless of what one thinks about Elon Musk, Twitter, or the journalists involved, “the FTC should not have to violate the privacy of journalists to protect the privacy of Twitter users.” We noted that demands to identify journalists often lead to further surveillance of journalists and their sources. Then the very next day, at a hearing on the "Twitter Files," a representative tried to pressure Matt Taibbi to confirm whether Musk was his source.

Relatedly, we were disturbed by representatives questioning, during the same hearings, whether journalists should accept documents from sources with political agendas. Purity tests for sources would have killed investigative reporting that helped shape U.S. history. Elected officials should stay out of journalistic ethics and keep their self-serving judgments about who qualifies as a journalist to themselves. 

These incidents add to the long list of examples of why conservatives, and all Americans, should support the PRESS Act, which would prohibit the government from spying on journalists outside national security emergencies.

What we’re reading

New Digital Security Digest newsletter

FPF has a new weekly newsletter on digital security and journalism! It’ll be a short update on digital security news, what you can do about it, and other news from our team. Subscribe here.