Bay City Tribune

The Texas Legislature has made it possible for the state to join 36 other states in providing a reporter's shield law.

HB 670 - providing reporters with a qualified privilege from being compelled in court to reveal their sources and information - now goes to Gov. Rick Perry.

Perry's office has not indicated whether the governor will sign the bill - called the Free Flow of Information Act - that was unanimously approved by both the Texas house and senate.

I hope he will, news organizations - both the broadcast and print media - have fought for a shield law in Texas since the 1970s.

What the proposed law would do is:

Require a judge to decide whether disclosing a reporter's information is essential to a criminal or civil case, could be obtained otherwise and will serve the public interest.

Require journalists to testify at the request of criminal prosecutors, criminal defendants and civil litigants using balancing tests based on existing case law and the U.S. Department of Justice's guidelines for subpoenaing reporters that have been in place for more than 30 years.

Establish that journalists must divulge information when the journalist is an eyewitness to a crime or in instances where someone's life depends on confidential source information.

The law would provide a qualified privilege - rather than an absolute privilege - regarding confidential sources and is the more moderate approach taken by the majority of the 36 states that have Free Flow of Information laws.

Of course, journalists never will be shielded from criticism of how we do our jobs.

But recent complaints that claim the media was hyping or over-playing the swine flu coverage makes me wonder how our critics would handle these developments.

Last week as this huge story was developing, there were those saying this was just another flu, or asking if it was really as widespread as reported.

Some of the criticism, incredibly, was political - aiming to discredit the Obama Administration as overreacting.

Well, it's not just another flu virus - it's a relatively new one that incorporates human, swine and bird influenza viruses - and it doesn't yet have a vaccine.

Swine flu has been confirmed in all 50 states by the Centers of Disease Control, with New York (90 cases), Illinois (82), California (49) and Texas (41) with the most.

Texas now has two confirmed swine flu deaths, both in Cameron County.

Tuesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that 21 countries have officially reported 1,490 cases of influenza A (H1N1) infection.

WHO issued a pandemic alert to be in better position should the worldwide situation worsen.

I'd say that's widespread.

While seasonal flu bugs occur annually, the virus is treated with seasonal vaccines.

"A pandemic is a worldwide epidemic. It is a new virus and one to which the populations will have no immunity," said WHO officials.

I've always bristled at claims of media hype as being unfair - it's our job to report on news as it develops.

How much media hype is there in reporting on a pandemic?

Media critics aside, I know most intelligent people want to know about a global disease.