Florida newspaper receives cease and desist letter from state agency

The Orlando Sentinel received a cease and desist order from a Florida state agency on June 6, 2025, over journalist Jeffrey Schweers’ reporting on a welfare assistance program overseen by first lady Casey DeSantis.

The program, Hope Florida, is the subject of a Florida House of Representatives investigation involving funding irregularities, according to the Sentinel.

The state’s Department of Children and Families posted the order on social platform X, alleging a reporter for the Sentinel tried to threaten or coerce foster families into criticizing the foundation.

“Reporter Jeff Schweers has been contacting Florida foster families and both falsely and with malicious intent asserting that the families are implicated in fraudulent activity by accepting financial assistance from Hope Florida Foundation,” the letter stated.

The social media message was reposted by Gov. Ron DeSantis on his official X account with the comment, “Bottom feeders gonna bottom feed…”

Sentinel Executive Editor Roger Simmons defended the paper in a statement shared with the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, writing, “We stand by our stories and reject the state’s attempt to chill free speech and encroach on our First Amendment right to report on an important issue.”

A Sentinel editorial about the incident said that the DeSantis administration has been hostile toward the press but called the letter “a new low” and said it was the first time it had heard of the state government trying to shut down reporting for a story.

“Schweers is a reporter, and he is doing what all of our reporters do — he’s looking for facts. But at no point did Schweers attempt any of the deeds ascribed to him in the letter, and he certainly hasn’t harassed or threatened any of Florida’s foster families,” the editorial wrote.

First Amendment attorney Larry Walters told the Tallahassee Democrat that the letter “appears to be designed to instill a chilling effect on the reporter’s investigation.”

PEN America also weighed in on the incident. “This is a textbook case of prior restraint: an unconstitutional attempt by the state of Florida to stop news reporting before a story is published,” said its journalism program director, Tim Richardson.

It isn’t the first time the DeSantis administration has been accused of violating press freedoms. In October, state officials sent cease and desist letters to local TV stations threatening to criminally prosecute them over the airing of an abortion rights ad.