Hoosier State Press Association - The Indiana Publisher
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/47202
November 10, 2011 Tap into power of the press News in brief E lections have just wrapped up, so now is a great time to reiter ate to our readers and our advertisers the tremendous relevance our community newspapers have all across the great state of Indiana. Notice that I didn't write still have. That would imply there's some question about that. There is not. People turned in great numbers to our elec tion previews, our election editions, our election results, our websites … In short, they turned to us. And we gave them what they wanted. On pages all across Indiana we published vote totals, we gave precinctbyprecinct results, we detailed the turn out, we asked voters why they voted the way they did, we wrote about trends, we did analysis pieces and we wrote opinions and editorials. In years gone by, we got the results and put them on the page and then waited until the presses began to roll. Nowadays, more papers My Two Cents By Tim Timmons than ever are posting those results online almost as soon as they are released. That's just the way we roll – pardon the press pun, please. There was no one who could do or who did do a bet ter job of telling the tale of the tape, so to speak, for this year's elections than we did. Let's share that with our readers and advertisers. In an age where soundbites become the story, where attention spans are shorter than a pica pole, it behooves us to remind our customers – past, present and future – that in the vast, vast majori ty of Hoosier communities we are the source of information. We are relevant, and we are necessary. Who else will have those results, in print and online? We are the paper of record, the source citizens all across our communities turn to. It is our franchise, our identity. Where do most of the can didates go to tell their story? The local newspaper. Where do they go to publish their thankyou ads after the election? The local newspaper. Where do they go to tell the story that won't exactly fit on those damn yard signs that pop up everywhere? The local newspaper. Soundbites are fine. Five or six words on a sign are fine. But for the real facts, the results and, as Paul Harvey might say, "the rest of the story" in elections, our com munities turn to us. Elections are one of our most shining moments. We would do well to remind our customers of that fact. Tim Timmons is publisher of The Paper of Montgomery County (Crawfordsville) and The Times (Noblesville) and president of the HSPA board of directors. Arrested photographer weighs suit A retired journalist who was arrested July 2 after taking photos of a traffic acci dent is consid ering a law suit to protest the violation of his First Amendment rights. John Fear sidering it because when you take a fellow's liberty, hand cuff him and put him in a police car, action has to be taken," he said. "I have an obligation to other people in America to sue them to get this to stop." Fearing arrived at the scene John Fearing ing, a veteran journalist and former executive director of the Arizona Newspaper Asso ciation, was arrested in Rich mond, Ind., and charged with refusing to leave an emergen cy incident area. The case was dropped by the Wayne County prosecu tor's office in midOctober after a judge initially refused a motion to dismiss it. Fearing is weighing wheth er a lawsuit is financial feasi ble on his fixed income, he said. "I'm still very seriously con Access Continued from Page 1 legislative session that will begin in January. The effort has three pri mary goals: • Allow a judge to levy a civil penalty against a pub lic official or management employee in a state or local government unit for deliber ate violations of the Open Door Law or Access to Public Records Act. • Allow Hoosiers to request email notice of meetings of public agencies. The bill would give a government unit the option of posting meeting notices on its website. • Allow the Indiana public access counselor to examine the originals of redacted docu ments to give an opinion as to whether the redaction was allowable under the Access to Public Records Act. The public access counselor of the multicar accident and started photographing the vehi cles and people milling nearby about 3 p.m. on July 2. When a police officer asked him to move away, Fearing walked down the street and then continued taking pictures. The emergency nature of the accident was over by that point, according to a motion to dismiss the charges filed in Wayne Superior Court III. All fire department and ambulance vehicles had already left, and only police and wreckers remained, according to the motion. When Richmond Police Of would maintain the confiden tiality of the documents. "Giving the public access counselor some real author ity to make sure public access laws are followed will give Indiana citizens more assur ance that there is transpar ency in government," Gard said. Gard has carried the legis lation in the past. The bill has yet to receive a negative vote on either the Senate or House floor, but the votes were not in the same year. The Senate passed a ver sion of the legislation in 2009 with a 490 vote. The House passed similar legislation 980 in 2010. In both years, the bills died for lack of a committee hear ing in the other chamber of the General Assembly. The concept of a penalty for failure to abide by state public access laws is noth ing novel, said Steve Key, ficer Aaron Stevens followed him down the street, Fearing switched his camera to video. (See the video at pixiq.com.) The footage shows Fearing standing well away from the accident area and Stevens tell ing him to stop taking photos. "When the cop told me, 'You've invading the right to privacy of these people,' I knew that was wrong," Fearing said. "Because I've been a journalist for 40 years and because I've worked with the legislature for 15 years protecting the right to public records, I'm very aware of what's public and what's private." Misinformation about indi vidual rights is a widespread issue among public officials and public safety officers, said Fearing, who worked at the Arizona Press Association from 1994 to 2008. "This isn't a problem with just the Richmond Police Department," he said. executive director and gen eral counsel for HSPA, which has pushed the legislature to add some teeth to the state's access laws through this ini tiative. "More than 30 states have already implemented either civil fines, criminal penal ties or removal from office for violations of those states' open meetings or open records laws," Key said. Prior to becoming speaker of the House, Rep. Brian Bosma, RIndianapolis, served as coauthor of House bills carrying government transparency legislation. Speakers generally do not author legislation, so HSPA will work with Bosma to find another shepherd for a House version of the bill. The Indiana Broadcasters Association also has indi cated its support for a bill to provide greater enforcement for the Open Door Law and Access to Public Records Act. The annual Job and Career Fair will be Satur day, Feb. 4 at Ball State University. Editors are asked to register their papers as soon as possible so stu dent in terviews can be scheduled. Editors at all HSPA sumed the duties of edi tor and interim publisher of the Indiana Lawyer. Through the pub lication's daily email and print edition, the staff provides coverage of legal news to Indiana lawyers, law firm admin istrators and paralegals, law students, and judges and court personnel. Kelly Lucas Page 3 Editors, register now for job fair member papers received registration information by email. If you missed yours, email Shawn Goldsby at sgoldsby@ hspa.com for a resend. Editors also can quickly register online at www.hspafoundation.org/ events. Newspaper veteran in top post Kelly Lucas has as "While I am new to the editor's chair, I am not new to the Indiana Lawyer," Lucas said in a recent column. She became associated with the newspaper in the early 1990s as a freelance writer. At the time she had recently left a posi tion as Indiana Senate Majority Caucus Services director. After several years away, she returned to the Indiana Lawyer last fall as managing editor. Lucas replaces Rebecca Collier. Mississippi State grad joins staff Kari Moore has joined Ripley Publishing Co. as a staff writer. She will cover court news, features and gov ernment meetings, among other topics. Moore is interested in how government operates, she said. She enjoys cover ing town and school board meetings to see first hand how government units work. She graduated cum laude in 2010 from Mis sissippi State University with a bachelor of arts degree in communication with a focus in public relations. Moore also holds a degree in general studies with a focus in commu nications from Ivy Tech Community College, where she graduated magna cum laude. She graduated from South Ripley High School in 2006. Newspaper owner honored Celeste Calvitto, owner of The Bright Beacon, has been named Business person of the Year by the Dearborn County Cham ber of Commerce. Calvitto is an associate member of the Hoosier State Press Association. She bought The Beacon in 2009. At that time it was a community publica tion mailed to about 5,000 households in a small part of Dearborn County. Under her ownership, The Beacon is now a full color, broadsheet newspa per that is distributed to nearly 15,000 households in parts of four Indiana counties and in neighbor ing Ohio. Calvitto was recognized for her contributions dur ing the chamber of com merce's annual dinner in Lawrenceburg. NNA video addresses mail issues Worried about the future of newspapers in the mail? The National News paper Association has produced a video on the subject for newspapers. Association Postal Committee Chairman Max Heath and President Reed Anfinson discuss how newspapers can be affected by U.S. Postal Service changes in the video interview. Watch it at nnaweb.org or on YouTube. So many publishers and editors approached the association to ask about postal changes that the NNA decided to offer reassurance through the video, according to NNA. Send promotions, announcements, staff changes and other corporate news to mtuley@hspa.com. SAVE THE DATE! Annual Meetings Feb. 16-17, 2012