Topeka ? Kansas news organizations are backing a reporter “shield law” that could be introduced next week in the Legislature.

The law would strengthen protections journalists have to keep their sources and unpublished information secret from police, prosecutors and the courts.

“I think the public wants the assurance their news is coming from an independent news source and not from an arm of law enforcement,” said Jeff Burkhead, executive director of the Kansas Press Assn.

The legislation was discussed Friday during a seminar on media ethics and court access at the Kansas Supreme Court. More than three dozen reporters and attorneys attended.

Harriet Lange, executive director of the Kansas Association of Broadcasters, said the House Federal and State Affairs Committee had voted to introduce the shield law, perhaps as soon as Monday.

Federal court rulings have held that journalists don’t have to reveal confidential or unpublished information unless a judge determines the information is critical to a case and that there’s no other way of obtaining it.

“Our experience is judges agree with the standard but generally find that the (journalist) is the only source,” said Mike Merriam, a media attorney from Topeka.

Burkhead said newspaper and broadcaster interest in the law was prompted in part by a 2000 court order for a Wichita Eagle reporter to release his notes from a jailhouse interview with a suspect in a homicide.

Also Friday, Kansas Chief Justice Kay McFarland bemoaned budget problems that might force her to furlough court employees across the state for three days before the end of the fiscal year June 30. McFarland is seeking a $500,000 supplemental appropriation from the Legislature to stave off that action.

“Normally, at this stage, we’re working on next year’s budget,” she said. “but we’re still dealing with how to keep the doors open.”

Staff writer Joel Mathis can be reached at 832-7126.