Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code

§ 22.024 — LIMITED DISCLOSURE GENERALLY

CP § 22.024Title 2. TRIAL, JUDGMENT, AND APPEAL · Part B. TRIAL MATTERS · Ch. 22. WITNESSES · Art. C. JOURNALIST'S QUALIFIED TESTIMONIAL PRIVILEGE IN CIVIL PROCEEDINGS

Statute text

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After notice and an opportunity to be heard, a court may compel a journalist, a journalist's employer, or a person with an independent contract with a journalist to testify regarding or to produce or disclose any information, document, or item or the source of any information, document, or item obtained while acting as a journalist, if the person seeking the information, document, or item or the source of any information, document, or item makes a clear and specific showing that:

(1)all reasonable efforts have been exhausted to obtain the information from alternative sources;

(2)the subpoena is not overbroad, unreasonable, or oppressive and, when appropriate, will be limited to the verification of published information and the surrounding circumstances relating to the accuracy of the published information;

(3)reasonable and timely notice was given of the demand for the information, document, or item;

(4)in this instance, the interest of the party subpoenaing the information outweighs the public interest in gathering and dissemination of news, including the concerns of the journalist;

(5)the subpoena or compulsory process is not being used to obtain peripheral, nonessential, or speculative information; and

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Legislative history

Added by Acts 2009, 81st Leg., R.S., Ch. 29 (H.B. 670), Sec. 1, eff. May 13, 2009.