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AUSTIN, Texas Texas needs a shield law to protect journalists and encourage whistle-blowers to come forward with information the public needs to know, news media representatives told a legislative committee Wednesday.

"We virtually have no protection at all right now, and the general public is being harmed," said media attorney Laura Lee Prather, testifying for statewide newspaper and broadcast associations.

Under a proposal the news groups call the "Free Flow of Information Act," government agencies generally could not force a journalist to disclose legally obtained information from a confidential or non-confidential source.

"It creates a safe haven for whistle-blowers to come forward and talk to journalists so that the public can find out about government corruption," Prather said. Thirty-two states and the District of Columbia have a shield law, she said.

Prosecutors said they worried such a law would compromise the secrecy of Texas grand juries and hinder criminal investigations in other ways.

Journalists who witness a crime would be excluded from the protection, Prather said.

Exceptions also would be made in criminal cases if all other avenues for gathering the information have been exhausted, if there is reasonable evidence a crime occurred and if the information is material to the case.

Rep. Aaron Pena, an Edinburg Democrat, has filed a bill with those provisions.

The Texas House Judiciary Committee is studying a possible shield law before the 2007 legislative session convenes in January. News industry groups fell short in previous efforts to pass one in Texas.

Wichita County District Attorney Barry Macha said his opposition to a shield law centers on grand juries, where testimony must be kept secret by law. "It would destroy the grand jury process in our state," said Macha, who with other prosecutors also opposed a shield law in the 2005 Legislature.

It is illegal to leak grand jury testimony. However, if someone does and the journalist is shielded from revealing the source, there would be no way to find out who violated the law, Macha said.

Brad Streit, general manager of KLTV in the Tyler-Longview area, said subpoenas from law enforcement for the television station's video can be cumbersome. "The more frequent and the greater the distraction, the greater the impact" on his newsroom, he said.