By Bryan Kirk Published February 20, 2005 SEGUIN — Legislation modeled after a 1999 North Carolina statute that protects journalists from revealing the identities of confidential sources in court cases could become law in Texas this year. House Bill 188, filed by Aaron Pena (D-Edinberg) in December, gives journalists qualified privilege to keep confidential the identities of their sources, unless the source information is relevant to the proceeding or can’t be obtained from alternate sources. Pena, a practicing attorney before being elected to the legislature, said the concept of a shield law for Texas journalists came to him after seeing a story on a cable news channel showing videotape of a politician taking a bribe. The reporter in the story was compelled to reveal his source, but had refused. “The commentator said something to the effect, ‘the reporter may pay a larger penalty than the politician,’” Pena recalled. “I thought, surely we have a shield law in Texas.”

The news story spurred Pena to research state shield laws for journalists around the country.

Pena said he was shocked to learn that Texas was among 19 states that have not enacted a shield law.

Legislative attempts to enact shield laws in Texas go back to 1989, when the first attempt was made but quashed after disputes between print and broadcast media organizations.

Subsequent attempts were made in 1991 and 1993 by state lawmakers, but like 1989, those bills were killed.

However, with journalists involved in high-profile cases in New York, Rhode Island and California, news outlets in Texas, especially print media, are beginning to have second thoughts about the need for a shield law.

Members of a joint legislative committee comprised of print and broadcast media professionals met in Austin last week to discuss HB 188.

Michael Schneider, director of programs for the Texas Association of Broadcasters, said broadcasters in general are supportive of shield law legislation, but Pena’s bill is less far reaching than those in other states.

“It’s better than the protection we currently have, which is none,” Schneider said. “There is a long-held belief in the journalism community that the First Amendment provides all the protection you need.”

Donnis Baggett, editor and publisher of the Bryan/College Station Eagle, described print media’s position on a proposed shield law as an evolving one.

Baggett said the position of print media has traditionally supported the notion that First Amendment protections were sufficient.

However, as recently as the mid-1990s Baggett said journalists have seen those so-called protections eroded, and the recent court decisions involving journalists have caused the pendulum to swing towards support for a shield law.

“It has had a very sobering effect on this line of thinking,” Baggett said. “The courts have increasingly held that journalists do not enjoy any sort of privilege, that we do not have the right to withhold information or identities or anything of that nature. The First Amendment does not extend that protection to us.”

Baggett, who attended the joint legislative committee meeting in Austin, said while support for the proposed shield law has increased, it’s too early to tell if print media will shift its support to favor HB 188.

“The climate has changed to the point that it’s fair to say that newspaper focuses in Texas are more open to the idea now than they probably ever have been,” Baggett said. “The question is whether there is enough of that feeling for us to go out and actively campaign for it. I’m not prepared to say whether we will or not.”