Journalists, FOI advocates urge passage of third party allegation law

2015-03-03T04:37:39-06:00

AUSTIN - Advocates for watchdog reporting testified Monday in favor of a Senate bill that provides limited protections for news accounts about potential wrongdoing that are based on third party allegations. Senate Bill 627 would codify what has been part of common law since 1990, said Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, as she introduced her bill before the Senate State Affairs Committee, which she chairs. Laura Prather, a First Amendment attorney and co-chair of the FOI Foundation of Texas legislative committee, testified that libel law is currently unsettled in this area because of a recent Texas Supreme Court ruling. News reporters covering [...]