A threat to free speech: Ron DeSantis targets journalists, media with new legislation

Could President Richard Nixon have sued Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein for exposing the Watergate scandal? Could Sen. Strom Thurmond have sued the NAACP for criticizing his opposition to civil rights laws as racially discriminatory? Could former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have sued Rush Limbaugh for joking that she once propositioned him in an elevator? 

The questions may seem ridiculous in a country that values a free press and free speech, but a proposed new law in Florida, backed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, seeks to radically change the defamation protections that the Supreme Court afforded journalists – and everyone – in a landmark decision nearly 60 years ago.