Time to Flow with the Free Flow of Information Act

An attempt to protect whistleblowers and journalists is closer than ever to becoming reality after the Texas House voted 146-2 in favor of the Free Flow of Information Act. The bill now goes to the state Senate, where it appears likely to be passed since a similar measure passed there in 2007 but died in the House. Additionally, the main group who opposed the bill, district attorneys, dropped its opposition.

This issue is imperative to exposing wrongdoing in government and in stemming the wave of subpoenas handed out to journalists in criminal and civil cases. Without some type of legal assurance that a whistleblower's identity won't be revealed, many are unwilling to provide the type of confidential information that uncovered, for example, the Texas Youth Commission scandal.

Just last year, for example, in a case in Tyler, either the defense attorney or the district attorney subpoenaed journalists from the newspaper and three different television stations covering the Mineola Swingers' Club trial. They were caught in the middle of a dispute between the defense and prosecution and ended up spending hours testifying on matters that had little or nothing to do with the actual case. Judges now don't have a structure to decide whether to grant subpoenas in these situations or not. This bill will provide that structure.

House Bill 670 does not give journalists absolute protection against testifying or revealing confidential sources. It would be up to a judge to decide whether the information is absolutely necessary to the case, or if it can be obtained elsewhere. Journalists who are eyewitnesses to a crime could be compelled to testify, and the confidentiality of grand jury testimony would still be protected.

This would stop television reporters and journalists from having to spend hours in a courtroom simply to verify a broadcast or a story. And news organizations would have to be compensated for their costs in complying with a subpoena.

I hope the Senate will act quickly and send this bill to the governor.