The Indiana Publisher

Publisher The Indiana Volume 80, Issue 1 • January 8, 2015 Published on second Thursday monthly Public notice remains key issue Board tweaks HSPA bylaws Glick will file bill supported by HSPA Board will have at least 4 daily and nondaily members T he 2015 Indiana General Assembly gaveled into ses- sion Jan. 6 with passage of a two-year budget as its priority. The preser- vation of the requirement that local gov- ernment units publish a notice of budget hear- ing – including their proposed budgets and tax rates – is a pri- ority for the Hoosier State Press Association. State Sen. Sue Glick, R-LaGrange, committed to filing a bill to save the notice of bud- get hearing. As of print dead- line, the bill had not yet been assigned a number. The Indiana chapter of The League of Women Voters has announced it will join HSPA in supporting the measure to pro- tect citizens' right to know what government is doing or contem- plating. The long-standing require- ment was made a sunset provi- sion by HEA 1266 in the 2014 legislature. The move was initi- ated by the state Department of Local Government Finance in legislation authored by State Rep. Dan Leonard, R-Huntington. Department of Local Govern- ment Finance officials argued that the notices would be more visible through publication on its website and that ending the publication requirement would save local government agencies money. HSPA unsuccessfully argued that publication was the prefer- ence for Hoosiers, even if publi- cation was a cost for local gov- ernment units. HSPA suggested a delay in any action to allow for a statewide survey on Hoosiers' attitudes toward the publication of public notices. State Sen. Brandt Hershman, R-Buck Creek, was amenable T he Hoosier State Press Association Board of Directors unanimously voted to allow greater flexibility in the process of selecting new board mem- bers to fill vacant slots. HSPA was formed in 1933 at a time when the state's newspaper industry was represented by four dif- ferent organizations (one each representing dailies, weeklies and affiliations with the two political par- ties). To ensure that the newly formed entity would rep- resent the broad spectrum of large, small, daily and weekly newspapers, the bylaws called for the board to be made up of six newspa- per executives representing dailies and six representing weeklies. In December the board determined that this rigid formula was no longer need- ed. To increase flexibility in choice, while maintaining a balance between large and small newspaper operations, the bylaws were changed to require the board to have representation by four weekly and four daily newspaper executives. This leaves four seats that can be filled by any pub- lisher. Board of Directors Presi- dent Jon O'Bannon, publisher of The Corydon Democrat, initiated the bylaw discussion at the board's Dec. 12 meet- ing. O'Bannon said having a key staff member absent for a day to attend HSPA meetings in Indianapolis is increas- ingly more difficult for small newspapers. Chuck Wells, publisher for Home News Enterprises, said talent and commitment See Public notice, Page 4 See Board, Page 4 Foundation Front: Mark your calendars for Annual Conference Sept. 17-18 in Indianapolis. Page 3 Advertising interns: Register through Jan. 16 to host an intern in your newspaper's advertising department. Page 3 Going postal: USPS closings and changes this year require your attention. Pages 5, 7 and 8 Hey, can they do that? Steve Key answers your legal questions. Page 8 INSIDE INDIANA GENERAL ASSEMBLY Sue Glick Jon O'Bannon Help promote readership survey Consider using sample full-color ads promot- ing results of a 2014 survey of Hoosiers on newspaper readership and public notices. Publishers received the ads by email. To download them, visit www.hspa.com. HSPA offers ads touting results of Hoosier poll T he HSPA Board of direc- tors offers a second round of ads promoting public notices in Indiana. The advertising series aims to promote public notices as a necessity for government transparency and the value of newspapers. The latest ads promote sta- tistics gleaned from a 2014 survey of Hoosiers on newspa- per readership, public notices and voting habits conducted by American Opinion Research. (HSPA distributed results of the survey last year. For more information, visit hspa.com or call the association at (317) 803-4772.) The quarter-page ads inform readers that 85 percent of adults surveyed said public notices should remain in news- papers, and almost two-thirds agree that publication of notices is a good use of tax dollars. A third ad promotes the sta- tistic that almost 80 percent of adults said they read a print newspaper each week, with 86 percent reading newspaper content in print or online. HSPA distributed the ads via email. To download them, visit www.hspa.com. The HSPA Board encour- ages members to use the ads as their advertising space allows, said Brandon Erlacher, chair- man of HSPA's public notice promotional committee and publisher of The Elkhart Truth. "The ads can also be a start- ing point for newspapers' graphics staffs to create locally focused ads promoting results of the survey," Erlacher said.

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