The Indiana Publisher

The Indiana Publisher Published alternate Thursdays Volume 78, Issue 17 • August 15, 2013 PULLIAM INTERN MULTIMEDIA LUNCHEON A photo presentation created by Caitlin O'Hara of Zionsville features children in an orphanage in South Korea. O'Hara, a senior at IU, worked as a photography intern at the Daily Journal (Franklin). Creative learning The 2013 class of journalism students in the HSPA Foundation's Eugene S. Pulliam Internship Program gathered at The Indianapolis Star Aug. 2 to showcase their multimedia projects for the Foundation's board of directors. Above: Nelson Price (center), the Pulliam internship writing coach, talks to students during the luncheon. Left: John Rumbach (left), past president of the Foundation board of directors, discusses video on newspaper websites during the meeting. Public notice search site set to launch H SPA's upgraded public notice advertising website will launch by month's end. The association designed the website – with advanced search options – to collect all public notices from member newspapers in one place. The site serves as part of HSPA's efforts to preserve public notice advertising. The online listing acts as a defensive measure against legislation that would eliminate public notice publication in newspapers and replace it with government website postings. HSPA identified four anti-public notice bills in the 2013 session of the Indiana General Assembly, said Steve Key, HSPA executive director and general counsel. "HSPA opposes this decrease in government transparency," Key said. "Eliminating or reducing the publication of notices in newspapers would also mean the end of publication by an independent, non-governmental third party." The upgraded website will serve residents in a variety of ways, from those trying to find a recently published notice impacting their neighborhood to a construction firm president looking for government projects to submit bids on throughout the state. The association's previous public notice website collected notices for many of HSPA's 165 member newspapers. The number wasn't adequate, however, and the board of directors opted to change the information-collection process to increase the participation level. HSPA is now ready to transition to a website with search functions operated by Tecnavia Press Inc., Key said. This year the board of directors requested that member newspapers include a short code – hspaxlp – at the end of each public notice they publish and upload their newspaper pages to an FTP site. That allows Tecnavia to identify newspaper pages that contain public notices and include them on the public notice website. In order to make the website a success for newspapers and state residents, pages from all member newspapers are needed, Key said. "We're still working diligently to achieve 100 percent participation," he said. If you have questions about this project, contact Key at skey@hspa.com or (317) 624-4427. Price matters in postal reform T he Senate plan for postal reform would leave newspapers facing mailing price increases. The wide split between House and Senate postal bills also decreases the likelihood of any reform becoming law, said Max Heath, postal chairman for the National Newspaper Association. "The USPS and mailers are between a rock and a hard place," Heath said. The Senate bill would: • Let the rate cap attached to the Consumer Price Index expire in 2016, when the U.S. Postal Service could set its own rates. This would leave mailers facing "exigent" price increases above inflation, Heath said. • Preserve Saturday delivery for at least one year after passage. • Cut the Postal Services' retiree health costs by nearly half by reducing pre-funding payments over 40 years. • Give a two-year moratorium on plant and retail office closings. • Allow the Postal Service to receive up to $6 billion of any surplus it pays into the Federal Employee Retirement System to cover operating costs. • Permit the agency to seek its own healthcare employee plan. A postal reform bill introduced in the House last month left the rate cap untouched and recommended consolidating redundant postal operations. Shield law action stalls T he Senate Committee on the Judiciary is scheduled to review the Free Flow of Information Act Sept. 12. The committee conducted a markup hearing on the bill Aug. 1 but delayed a final vote. To receive email updates regarding action on the shield law and other bills, sign up at www.govtrack.us/ congress/bills. Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) introduced the bill, S.987, May 16. Nineteen co-sponsors signed onto the bill. In other shield law news, no action is currently scheduled for H.R. 1962, also called the Free Flow of Information Act. Rep. Ted Poe (R-Tex.) intro duced the bill May 14, and 47 co-sponsors signed on.

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