The Indiana Publisher

Page 11 December 2020 attacked, imprisoned and mur- dered around the world," former U.S. Representative David Dreier, chairman of the FJM Foundation and former chairman of Tribune Publishing, said. "No matter the circumstances of their deaths, these journalists and their sacri- fices deserve to be remembered by a free society that values a free press" The FJM Foundation operates under the auspices of the National Press Club Journalism Institute, which is the nonprofit educa- tional affiliate of the National Press Club. It was launched in 2018 with significant funding from the Annenberg Foundation and the Michael and Jacky Ferro Foundation. Upon the legislation being signed into law, the FJM Foundation will lead a multi-year process to raise funds to design, develop, construct and maintain the memorial in compliance with the Commemorative Works Act of 1986, which established detailed standards and procedures for new memorials on federal land. No taxpayer funds are authorized for the project, and the legislation pre- cludes the building of the memorial on what is known as the "Reserve," the area of the Mall in Washington, D.C., where new commemorative works are prohibited. Other organizations sup- porting the Fallen Journalists Memorial Act include the National Newspaper Association, News Media Alliance, National Association of Broadcasters, Military Reporters and Editors Association, National Federation of Press Women, Committee to Protect Journalists, Freedom Forum, News Leaders Association, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, and the Radio Television Digital News Association. Bill Continued from Page 4 The following questions were submitted by The Herald Republican (Angola), The Times of Northwest Indiana (Munster), Shelby County freelancer, Indianapolis Business Journal: We have prepared the annual letters to local gov- ernment agencies request- ing notice of meetings for 2021. Do the letters have to be sent by the U.S. mail or can they be emailed to the agencies? The statute (IC 5-14-1.5- 5(b)(2) says the newspaper must "deliver an annual written request …" to the gov- ernment unit. The language was passed before the Internet was invented, but I would contend writ- ten would include an email. It's verifiable and easy for you to keep a copy to show notice was sent if it becomes an issue. Based on the above, I would say do the email for entities you don't expect to be a problem in 2021 and ask for a reply to con- firm they received it. If you've got a contentious relationship with a particular governing body, then I'd consider doing a letter and email to avoid an attempt to circumvent the statute on a technicality. If you have that type of concern with the unit of government, put a copy of both the email and the letter in your files. We have a client that is planning a contest that will give out daily prizes to customers. I just want to confirm - does the client need a No Purchase Necessary option for entry? They were wanting to tie it to their Rewards program and pick a customer that visited the store on a particular day to get the prize. I recommend you sug- gest they include a no purchase necessary option for the public. Otherwise, they are creating an illegal lottery where the player must give consideration for the chance to win the prize. Unless they are a non-profit entity with a permit to do so, they could get in trouble with the state of Indiana. The customer should appreciate you catching this and saving them from a legal problem. The mayor has locked down Shelbyville City Hall; it's closed to the pub- lic except by appointment due to COVID-19. City government meet- ings are being held virtually and streamed on the city's Facebook page, including the Shelbyville Redevelopment Commission. Problem was, there was no sound for the RDC meeting. Several people complained online about it, and there have been complaints about sound problems at previous other meetings as well. The city has acknowledged the complaints. Question is: Was the silent RDC meeting legal? While the technical glitch effectively robbed the public of its right to "observe and record" under the Open Door Law. I'm not sure there's a remedy for the problem. If they recorded the meeting, it could be made available to the public. They could perform a "do-over," but the subsequent meeting would probably be short and perfunctory. The same debate over an issue probably wouldn't be repeated because the participants already heard the arguments at the "silent" meeting. If a citizen sought an opinion from the Public Access Counselor saying the silent meeting violated the law, would a local judge order them to do it over or recognize that the effort was made to comply dur- ing extremely unusual times, con- cluding that a violation didn't occur. The citizen then would be stuck with a legal bill and no satisfaction. This is an opportunity for you or a media outlet to fill the breach. Reach out to the council and fill in the silence with a story. On the other hand, if the glitch becomes the normal occurrence, a citizen would be able to make the argument that malice is involved by the council and action needs to be taken. The court would be more likely to issue an injunction requiring them to abide by the rules set out by the governor's executive order for electronic meetings, per- haps even consider a civil fine for the malicious strategy of muting the public meetings. Conclusion: Technically, the meeting failed to meet the require- ments of the executive order because the public could not hear what happened. Practically, how do you fix it is more problematic. How many months/years of public notices do we need to maintain on our website? Our current database goes back to 2017. Is it required that we archive back any farther than that? The statute does not set a specific time frame. My recommendation at this time would be two years, which covers the statute of limitations for most civil actions that would be tied to a failure to give proper notice. That would allow you to roll off the older notices to reduce the amount of storage space needed. Send your questions to Steve Key, HSPA executive director and general counsel, skey@hspa.com or call (317) 624-4427. Q A Emails OK for annual letters requesting notice of meetings HSPA Legal Hotline A Maintain public notices for at least two years on your website Q Q Silent meeting fails to meet Open Door Law requirement A Q Customer needs 'no purchase necessary' option for contest A

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