Summary

Texas lacks a journalist shield law, i.e. a law which explicitly protects the right of journalists to protect source confidentiality.

Background

This issue was brought to national attention when Houston Author Vanessa Leggett spent 168 days in jail in 2001 and 2002 after she refused to reveal her confidential sources./1/ Thirty-one states have enacted some type of journalist shield law. /2/ Texas had common law journalist protections until the early 90s, when they were struck down by a series of court cases /3/

Political Context

In 2005, S.B. 604/79/, a journalist shield bill by Ellis, came out of committee, but failed to gain the votes needed to pass the senate. H.B. 188(80R) , its companion by Pena, never made it out of the Judiciary Committee.

The Austin American Statemen reports that the Texas County and District Attorneys Association, was responsible for killing the shield legislation in the past, but is open to compromise legislation that contains "a qualified privilege with a judicial balancing test." /3/

The House Judiciary Committee received an interim charge in 2005 to "Study the potential benefits and dangers of enacting a 'journalist shield law' in Texas." The interim report has not yet been released, but a video of the hearing on this topic is available here on Real Audio.

Rep. Pena has filed HB 382 on this topic in the 80th.

Debate

The central tension in this issue is between protection of freedom of speech and law enforcement access to information. As such, in Texas, you find most news media in favor of such a law, and some enforcement agencies against a broad restriction on subpoena powers. Some freedom-of-speech advocates, however, worry an explicit law would limit the interpretation of the implicit protections already in the Texas freedom-of-speech provisions of the Texas constitution.

References

/1/ Karlekar, Karin Deutsch "Set global example: Pass US journalism shield law" The Christian Science Monitor 9/15/2005
/2/ Lee, Douglas "Shield Laws" The first amendment center.
/3/ "The Reporters Privledge" The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
/4/ Lisheron, Mark "Sides moving closer on law to protect press sources" Austin American Statesman 12/6/06

Additional Links

Rep. Penal in A CAPITOL BLOG "HB 382: The Free Flow of Information Act"
CAPITOL ANNEX "HB 382 Would Enact -Sheild Law-"
Associated Press "News media seek shield law to protect Texas journalists" in Houston Chronicle 12/13/2006