The Indiana Publisher

September 2019 Page 11 ment officials hate public notices either because of the work involved for them to submit the text to the newspaper, collect the tear sheet and process a payment to the newspaper or because the public notices are effective in drawing the attention of the public to a matter of concern," said Steve Key, executive director and general counsel of HSPA. He recalls the quote given then-publisher Bill Masterson by a Lake County school superinten- dent – "The only thing that happens when we print a public notice is that people come to our meetings and give us crap about what we're doing." Over the last 20 legislative sessions, HSPA has fought 84 bills trying to eliminate all or some publication requirements for public notices, Key said. Emerging from the summit will be recommendations for publishers to implement that will help more legislators understand the value of public notices and the four vital elements to effective public notice – dissemination by an independent source, ability to archive, ability to verify, and accessibility for the public. All who participated agreed that more outreach was needed between local newspaper executives and legislators and that it needed to start now, not 24 hours before a crucial committee hearing on an anti-public notice bill. Bev Joyce, HSPA board vice-president and group publisher for cnhi, said Indiana publishers must consistently work to develop relationships and not wait until we have a legislative crisis to call a legislator. She also said customer service for the placement of public notices must become a priority for newspapers. Publishers will be asked to review how their staffs treat public notices. News staffs will also be asked to get involved in the education process. Public notices are a source of stories that are under utilized by editors, Key said. He also noted that even when a story is written based on a public notice, the story rarely mentions the public notice as the origin for the story. The opportunity to educate the public on the necessity of public notices is lost in that situation. "The time has ended for newspapers to take public notices for granted," Key said Summit Continued from Page 1 Robyn McCloskey of CNHI records ideas generated by the discussion groups during the publishers summit Friday, Sept. 13 Patrick Lanman from the Vevay Media Group gives participants questions that need to be addressed about public notices at the publishers summit. Beverly Joyce of CNHI and Brenda McLane of Home- town Media Group discuss strategies for educating legislators on the importance of public notices. Tara Mondloch of Gannett shares thoughts with other newspaper leaders on how to promote the importance of public notices. HSPA Executive Director Steve Key checks in on discussion groups at the publishers summit at the Nest Event Center.

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