Waco Tribune: "Sources Need Protection"

Editorial: Sources need protection


Tuesday, February 20, 2007

There are good reasons why courts recognize that communications are protected between doctors and patients, lawyers and clients, clerics and penitents and among spouses.

No one is above the law, but nothing precludes the law from applying common-sense legal exceptions when they benefit society.

Such is the case of laws that provide qualified protection to journalists who have promised to maintain the confidentiality of their sources.

Texas needs a law to protect journalists when prosecutors and civil litigants attempt to force them to reveal their sources.

Already, 32 states and the District of Columbia have passed qualified privilege laws for journalists.

Texas lawmakers this session should pass the bipartisan Free Flow of Information Act that will be introduced in both the House and Senate.

This Texas legislation takes its name from similar bipartisan legislation carrying the same title now pending in Congress. That bill would offer the same qualified protection to journalists in federal matters.

It is the public that benefits from the free flow of information between journalists and their sources when news stories reveal fraud, corruption and abuses in the government or private sector. In many cases these stories could not be developed for the public without information provided by sources who would not talk to reporters without promises of confidentiality.

The proposed Texas law is similar to current Justice Department guidelines that do not provide absolute privilege to journalists protecting their confidential sources, but instead requires that the those who seek a journalist’s confidential sources demonstrate that the need for the information is real and not available from other sources.

Also, the proposed Texas law does not protect journalists who witness a crime. In those cases, reporters can be required to testify.

In a minority opinion in a 1972 U.S. Supreme Court case, Branzburg v. Hayes, Justice Potter Stewart wrote that the majority opinion “invites authorities to undermine the historic independence of the press by attempting to annex the journalistic profession as an investigative arm of government.”

In that case, a reporter had witnessed a drug crime. While the majority opinion ruled against the reporter’s absolute privilege, it did acknowledge that reporters have important First Amendment rights.

The Texas Free Flow of Information Act will be sponsored in the Senate by Sens. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, and Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, and in the House by Reps. Corbin Van Arsdale, R-Houston, and Aaron Pena, D-Edinburg.

In the interest of the free flow of information to the public, Texas lawmakers should pass this legislation.


As this editorial wisely notes there are now a number of us working on this legislation. On the House side, my good friend Corbin Van Arsdale is working with me on the legislation. On the Senate side, Sen. Duncun now joins Sen. Ellis in carrying the legislation. Look for a new draft to come out soon.

The Houston Chronicle has more.