Path: news.eternal-september.org!eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail
From: "Adam H. Kerman" <ahk@chinet.com>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
Subject: Re: Prior restraint! Don't report on governor's wife (and future candidate)
Date: Mon, 9 Jun 2025 20:39:50 -0000 (UTC)
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BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:
>On Jun 9, 2025 at 1:18:16 PM PDT, Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

>>In Florida, the governor's wife is subject to a criminal investigation
>>related to the diversion of public monies into a political campaign
>>against a referendum. Now a newspaper is investigating whether her
>>foundation is providing monies to repair hurricane-damaged homes and
>>also on problems with foster families working with the foundation. So
>>the state sent a cease and desist letter to the newspaper; the story has
>>not yet been published.

>>The rest of the Republican party wants little to do with the growing
>>scandals.

>>https://apnews.com/article/orlando-sentinel-florida-desantis-welfare-9636452a8bf8eb230489513db64d86f7

>Well, this isn't exactly true. The AP story claims the Sentinel was told to
>stop reporting on the governor's wife and her foundation. What the letter
>actually did was to tell the Sentinel to stop intimidating foster families
>into making disparaging remarks about the foundation:

>     "The letter claimed that the newspaper's Tallahassee reporter had
>     used threats to coerce foster families into making negative
>     statements about the Hope Florida Foundation when he contacted
>     them about the welfare nonprofit behind the signature initiative
>     of Casey DeSantis, Florida's first lady.

>Whether the Sentinel's reporters did what the Dept. of Children and
>Families accused them of doing is yet to be established, but regardless,
>the government did NOT order them to stop reporting the story. It
>ordered them to stop trying to illegally coerce people into making false
>statements. There is no 1st Amendment violation here.

The state told the newspaper to stop reporting the story in the way they
were reporting the story by contacting witnesses. I'm trying to figure
out how a reporter contacting a witness for information is an illegal
threat. Since the child welfare bureau is not a law enforcement agency,
then a police complaint should have been filed if the reporter truly had
done something illegal.

In any event, if the governor weren't pissed off, then the paper is
doing it wrong.