It’s not ‘new’.
Lawyers have done this for centuries.......................
I haven’t seen it done a systemic manner like this against legitimate news reporter. Maybe I’m just not up to speed on the tactic. Can you give examples where this type of thing was done before especially in a national political election against national news sources? I can remember John Edwards threatening it in his matter against the Enquirer but never filing anything. With the current iteration, if they file and even if they know they have no chance of winning it still ties people and resources up so it serves the desired purpose.
Which is why we need loser pays in some instances.