The Indiana Publisher

Live learning: New opportunities to sharpen your skills. Page 2 Search fee support? Explanation of HSPA's support of controversial fee. Page 4 Hey, can they do that? Steve Key an- swers your legal ques- tions. Page 3 Annual Calendar: All HSPA annual events are sched- uled. Page 2 INSIDE Publisher The Indiana Volume 82, Issue 4 • April 13, 2017 Published on second Thursday monthly L egislative language that would improve student press rights is on life-support after H.B. 1130 died on the Senate floor without out a vote last Thursday (April 6). Senators received calls from school superinten- dents, school boards and principals in the days following the second reading amendment by Sen. Brandt Hershman (R-Buck Creek) that restored the bill more closely to the language that passed out of the House 88-4 and unanimously out of the House Education Committee. The tipping point though came when state Superintendent Jennifer McCormick made it known that the Department of Education opposed the bill, according to Steve Key, execu- tive director and general counsel for the Hoosier State Press Association. "I think the vote would have been close, but that revelation put the outcome into jeopardy," he said. With an uncertain vote, bill sponsor Sen. Hershman decided not to call for a vote. The result is that H.B. 1130 is dead, but the language that passed out of the House remains eligible for consideration as an amendment to an education bill in a conference committee report. Rep. Ed Clere, R-New Albany, earlier this week was exploring that possibility, but acknowledged it would be an uphill fight. Legislators are hesi- tant to accept language from what is perceived to be a controversial bill because it might harm their bill's chances for passage. Both Clere and Hershman expressed surprise Thursday over the decision by DOE to oppose the bill on the last day for passage in the Senate. Key and Diana Hadley, executive director for the Indiana High School Press Association, met with McCormick Monday morning to see what could be done moving forward. McCormick and chief of staff, Lee Ann Kwiatkowski, said they would share with Clere what parts of Hershman's amendment moved the DOE to inter- cede, but gave no specifics to Key and Hadley. Key said the most necessary part of Hershman's amendment was the removal of lan- guage that would have allowed school officials to censor student content if it strayed from "commu- nity standards." "This was language superintendents and prin- cipals sought because they knew it would gut the intent of the bill," Key said. The intent is to remove student journalists at the high school and collegiate level from the influence of the U.S. Supreme Court's Hazelwood ruling and return those students to the high court's earlier Tinker case. "Tinker is no blank check for students to write whatever they want, but it also prevents school administrators from censoring a story merely because it might be critical of a school board deci- sion, a principal's policy or put the school or district in a less than positive light," Key said. Senate Education and Career Development Committee chairman Sen. Dennis Kruse, R-Auburn, amended H.B. 1130 in committee to meet several concerns raised by school official's lobbying representatives. Without the amend- ment, Sen. Kruse may have not allowed the bill to get a committee vote. All the controversy surrounding the bill centers on the Tinker standard being applied at the high school level. A representative of all of the public universities testified in favor of H.B. 1130 at both its House and Senate committee hearings. Other bills of interest The Hoosier State Press Association (HSPA) is still working on amendments to the budget bill and the Marion County judicial selection process bill. The budget bill (H.B. 1001) contains a new con- cept, a secret Request for Information (RFI) pro- cess that government units could use prior to the issuance of a Request for Proposal (RFP), or to seek ideas on best ways to utilize a public build- ing through a public-private agreement. HSPA has not been able to ascertain who is pushing for this concept. It hopes key legislators will consider a change in the current language when the budget bill enters the conference com- mittee stage. HSPA's concern is the level of secrecy opens the door to manipulation of the RFP process that would unfairly favor one interested party over its competition. It also keeps the public Student press bill waylaid See Waylaid, Page 2 W ith my iPad fully charged, and my favorite tunes on my headphones, I was headed back home from a great weekend on the west coast; courtesy of Southwest Airlines. I had plenty of things to keep my atten- tion for the next several hours, including the in- flight magazine from the airline. Normally, the magazine doesn't get my atten- tion but this is a long flight. I picked up the March issue that featured Valerie June on the cover. I was impressed with how good the product is. Other airlines have excellent magazines too, but I'm partial to Southwest as an airline and thus I see their magazine more than most. The forecast for magazine advertising revenue, like all non digital products, is tough. In the case of in-flight magazines, they have a somewhat guaranteed distribution number. But, they also suffer from digital disruption like computers, iPads and video games that keep us occupied. Airline magazines are also doing some good stuff, including four things that others producing magazines on the ground can learn from and profit: (1) Group pages abound in my publication on this flight. Who has the Capture attention like airlines' magazines Pete Van Baalen See Airlines, Page 3 By Pete Van Baalen Fort Wayne Newspapers Lobbyist Bill Chapman, and Indiana High School Press Association Executive Director Diana Hadley. (Photo by Ruth Whitmer) Students from across Indiana wait to testify in support of a bill that would limit student press censorship. (Photo by Ruth Whitmer) T he Hoosier State Press Association released a new jobs board on Thursday. The advanced interface gives member newspapers the ability to publish job posts on demand, review resumes, and receive new applications, all in one place. Full-time employees and interns can post resumes and review new jobs as well. Go to www.hspa.com/jobs to create an account. Direct questions about the job board to Jamar Cobb-Dennard at news@hspa.com. New HSPA jobs board

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