Lawmakers protecting you by protecting confidential sources

Should Texas reporters be forced to reveal their confidential sources? Before you answer, consider the consequences.

While it may seem like a simple question, the ramifications of your answer are far-reaching and affect us all.

Take for example two of the biggest statewide news stories of the last few years, the widespread physical and sexual abuse scandal within Texas Youth Commission facilities and hundreds of mobile telephones illegally smuggled inside Texas' 'Death Row'. Both stories initially saw the light of day because of anonymous tips provided by confidential sources or “whistle-blowers” to the news media – and because of brave reporters and their news organizations who chose to place the greater public interest over personal and professional risks, without legal protection.

Until recently,Texas did not have a free flow of information act for journalists’ sources. The only recourse journalists have to protect sources is their willingness to resist a subpoena and suffer the consequences. In some cases, those consequences can be jail. In other cases, there can be enormous financial exposure for the media company who employs the journalist. It is a risk journalists in Texas take every day.

A look at the numberes:

• In recent years, one large market TV station with a full-time investigative unit received a subpoena almost once every 6-7 days.
• Large market Texas newspapers typically receive 10-20 subpoenas a year.
• A Dallas TV station received four subpoenas in one day.
• The number of subpoenas served on smaller market Texas newspapers varies,but many report 2-3 subpoenas a year.

If Texas previously had a free flow of information act on the books, one must wonder if a former or current employee of the Peanut Corporation of America's plant in Plainview would have stepped forward to point out the potentially deadly production of peanut products before that plant voluntarily ceased operations Feb. 23 (Nationwide, the company has been linked to a nationwide salmonella outbreak that sickened 600 people and reportedly killed nine others).

We all deserve better and it's encouraging that our legislators have finally taken action.

The Free Flow of Information Act isn’t about protecting the journalist – it’s about protecting the public. Without a law to allow whistleblowers to remain confidential the public will never learn of many scandals and outrageous abuses by government officials and corporate executives.Sources often will provide more information and act with more candor in notifying journalists of very real concerns about consumer safety, governmental abuse, etc., if they can be guaranteed anonymity. Without an assurance of anonymity, many conscientious citizens with evidence of wrongdoing would stay silent. They would rightly fear for their jobs, their reputations – even, in some cases, their safety.

This law benefits the public by increasing the free flow of information, improving protection from governmental abuse, and enhancing the health and welfare of the general public by allowing witnesses or others with knowledge of information of wrongdoing to speak to the public through the media without fear of reprisal.

Protecting the free flow of information ensures that wrongdoers will be exposed – and prosecuted. We're prooud that Texas has become the 37th state to protect those individuals who are brave enough to come forward with information that benefits the public. They deserve it and so do you.