The surprising reason there are so many eccentric "Florida Man" headlines

Photo byEmiliano VittoriosionUnsplash

Everyone living in Florida is familiar with the "Florida Man" trope. Hundreds if not thousands of news headlines exist where a local man is caught doing something completely eccentric and often illegal.

WFLA even has a list of the best Florida Man headlines of 2022 that includes "Florida man drives stolen truck to Space Force Base to warn of battle between aliens, dragons: report," among others.

The bizarre nature of these headlines has made Florida Man famous across the country, with many believing as a result that the state is home to people too unconventional to live anywhere else.

But the Miami New Times pointed out that the frequency of Florida Man stories is actually a result of something Florida should be proud of: its government open record policy, formally known as the Government in the Sunshine Act.

Since 1909, Florida has had a proud tradition that all government business is public business and therefore should be available to the public. That means all records, including photos and videos, produced by a public agency are easily accessible. Public officials are also required to open all of their meetings — even unofficial ones — to the public.

How does this explain Florida Man headlines?

It's this radical commitment to transparency that makes the Florida Man (and Woman) stories so common. Media in Florida find it much easier than in most other states to access public arrest records, records of 911 calls, and mug shots. Therefore they're able to cover these eccentric stories in a timely fashion.

This video chronicles how much easier it is for Florida's reporters to gain access to police records than it is for reporters in most other states. Florida's reporters get arrest reports almost immediately while in other places, media typically have to file requests for these files, which police can routinely deny even if there is a right of access. Some states can withhold information if it's considered part of a criminal investigation.

So the real truth is that "Florida Man" stories almost certainly happen in every state, but the media in those states don't get hold of the stories as easily, so they're reported much less frequently.

Given that we hear about Florida Man much more frequently than Massachusetts Man or Missouri Man, it's logical that people believe more bizarre things happen in the Sunshine State.

Florida voters have fiercely guarded their public record laws, which allow access to important municipal and state business far beyond arrest records. In doing so, residents have unwittingly supported the Florida Man meme.

In the meantime, some pushback has begun about the gleeful coverage of strange arrest reports. Critics point out that it's making fun of some of the more severally mentally ill or addicted residents of the state. Indeed, the creator of the Florida Man Twitter account has stopped posting, saying he never intended to be mean-spirited.

For Florida residents tired of reading Florida Man news stories, remember that these stories are likely happening everywhere, it's just far more complicated for reporters to get access to the records.