[EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was updated after it was first posted to include comments from Gov. Perdue’s office.]

RALEIGH — A showdown between UNC-TV and state Sen. Fletcher Hartsell, R-Cabarrus, has the legislative and executive branches of state government at a standoff and the editorial independence of the state-run public television network at risk.

The state’s efforts to take over Alcoa’s hydroelectric dams in central North Carolina precipitated the showdown, with Hartsell on Thursday ordering UNC-TV General Manager Tom Howe and legislative reporter Eszter Vajda to provide a copy of “all footage (including all interviews, B-roll and camera masters) in your possession regarding the Alcoa Corporation’s activities in Stanly County.”

The Senate Judiciary II Committee, which Hartsell chairs, also drafted subpoenas to Howe and Vajda, ordering them to appear at the committee’s Tuesday 9 a.m. meeting. The subpoenas had not been served as of 1:45 p.m. today, according to the General Assembly Research Division staffer who is assigned to Hartsell’s committee.

In an interview Friday morning, UNC-TV spokesman Steve Volstad said the broadcaster was continuing to mull its legal options.

A spokesman for Gov. Bev Perdue said that the governor “trusted that any information deemed to be a public record would be turned over” by UNC-TV.

As part of state government, UNC-TV’s officers (including Howe) can be compelled to provide information to any legislative committee, though that subpoena power is used rarely and almost always in ethics probes — most recently during the investigation of former state Rep. Thomas Wright, who was convicted of fraud and obstruction of justice in 2008 and is now in state prison.

Moreover, N.C. General Statute 120-19 says “all officers, agents, agencies and departments of the state [can be] required to give to any committee of either house of the General Assembly … all information and all data within their possession, or ascertainable from their records.”

This poses a dilemma for the broadcasters. North Carolina Press Association attorney John Bussian told the Raleigh News and Observer that, as a media organization, UNC-TV could “simply say no” to the demand for information and would be protected by the state’s press shield law. That statute provides “a qualified privilege against disclosure in any legal proceeding of any confidential or nonconfidential information, document, or item obtained or prepared while acting as a journalist.”

Journalists cannot be compelled to disclose any of their interviews, notes, or identify their sources unless a court demands it. And any “order to compel any testimony or production as to which the qualified privilege has been asserted shall be issued only after notice to the journalist and a hearing and shall include clear and specific findings as to the showing made by the person seeking the testimony or production.”

In an interview with Greensboro News & Record legislative reporter Mark Binker, Hartsell appeared to be unaware of the provisions of the press shield law. “We have subpoenaed not just testimony but documents, which we’re entitled to do and as far as I know there’s no privilege in North Carolina as yet,” Hartsell said, in a post published on Binker’s blog. “We’re simply trying to get information the public needs.”

Still, as state employees, UNC-TV staffers are also required to comply with requests for information from lawmakers. Which could place those journalists at risk of future document raids from the legislature. Hartsell acknowledged to Binker that his request raises issues about the independence of public broadcasting, which could be seen, Binker wrote, as “agents of the government.”

Not every public radio or TV station in North Carolina is part of state government. WTVI in Charlotte is an independent PBS affiliate operated by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public Broadcasting Authority. It’s the only public TV station in the state that is not part of UNC-TV.

In neighboring Georgia, none of the public TV or radio stations is controlled by state government; instead, all are part of Georgia Public Broadcasting, an independent nonprofit organization with its own board of trustees that — like UNC-TV — receives a combination of membership support, corporate and foundation underwriting, and direct subsidies from taxpayers.

As the battle with the General Assembly over unaired broadcast materials intensifies, UNC-TV officials may consider giving a fresh look to obtaining similar independence.

Rick Henderson is managing editor of Carolina Journal.