The Indiana Publisher

Page 4 April 9, 2015 T wo Indiana newspaper managers made this year's Editor & Publisher 25 Under 35 list of young leaders. The 2015 list features Joe Battistoni, director of digital advertising at The Times Media Co. of northwest Indiana, and Ryan Martin, 27, managing editor of The Elkhart Truth. The list of honorees includes a senior systems architect, a video producer, a consumer experience director, and a digital marketing specialist, in addition to the traditional roles of reporters, editors, advertising directors, and circulation managers. Editor & Publisher asked for nominations of people "who are young, bright and capable of tackling whatever the changing newspaper climate throws at them. People with business acumen to lead through trying times and vision to implement bold, new strategies to move their newspapers forward." Battistoni and Martin both said they were honored to be named to the list. "The accomplishment really reflects the hard work of the team here in northwest Indiana, not just me," Battistoni said. "From the publisher's office on down to our retail sales team to our editorial department, we have rallied around digital and will continue to do so." Battistoni intends to grow The Times' digital agency model and increase mobile traffic on nwi.com. "We want to drive industry- leading results for our customers," he said. Martin said he is excited to continue working in service to his newspaper's community and readership. "I'm thankful to The Elkhart Truth family for all of their support," he said. "It's been an exciting time at The Truth as we work to enhance our journalism and grow our digital audiences." Challenges in the news- paper industry bring plenty of opportunities as well, Martin said. Battistoni likes a recent sentiment offered by a Times advertising partner – "We are the best digital media company advertisers work with. We also just happen to produce a daily newspaper." "That is our mantra now and will continue to be for years to come," Battistoni said. Take me to your newspaper leader Joe Battistoni, 32 Title: Director of digital advertising Company: The Times Media Co. of Northwest Indiana Education: Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, bachelor of arts, political science What E&P had to say about him: Battistoni joined The Times Media Co. in 2014. Prior to his time in northwest Indiana, Battistoni worked for the Chicago Tribune Media Group for nine years. According to Times publisher Chris White, Battistoni has been "an absolute game-changer," taking digital sales operation from one of the worst performers in the company's peer group to the top of the list in only six months. Ryan Martin, 27 Title: Managing editor Company: The Elkhart Truth Education: Washington University in St. Louis, master in business administration; University of Missouri, bachelor of arts, journalism What E&P had to say about him: Martin is res- pon sible for producing a daily newspaper, elkhartruth.com, flavor574.com (a quarterly digital magazine), and a daily three-hour radio show. He also works as digital director of Truth parent company Federated Media. In that role, he builds a digital content network across four markets. His strategy has led to audience growth of 160 percent on Facebook and 70 percent on Twitter in a year. Joe Battistoni Ryan Martin Indiana staffers make E&P's 25 Under 35 Indiana transparent on state spending G overnment spending trans- parency is improving, but many states still lag far behind, according to a recent report. Indiana ranked second among states, according to "Following the Money 2015: How the 50 States Rate in Providing Online Access to Government Spending Data." The annual report is the sixth of its kind by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education Fund. Some states have improved their spending transparency web portals significantly, and even introduced entirely new state-of-the-art transparency sites with innovative features, while others are still barely achieving the minimum standards. "Budget transparency is becoming a clear priority among the states, as shown by some of the dramatic improvements we've seen in this year's study," said Phineas Baxandall, Senior Analyst with the U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education Fund. "States like Ohio have skyrocketed to the top, while others, like Alaska and California, remain far behind their peers." Officials from 47 states provided the researchers with feedback on their initial evaluation of state transparency websites. The leading states with the most comprehensive transparency websites are Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Oregon, Louisiana, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Florida, Iowa, Illinois, Montana, New York, Texas, and South Dakota. To read the full report visit http:// uspirg.org/reports/usp/following- money-2015. Based on an inventory of the content and ease-of-use of states' transparency websites, the "Follow- ing the Money 2015" report assigns each state a grade of "A+" to "F." This year, most states have met basic standards for providing online access to information about state contracting and an increasing number provide information about economic development subsidies and off-budget agencies. All but two states allow users to search the online checkbook by agency, keyword or vendor, or some combination of the three, and 44 states' transparency websites provide links to one or more tax expenditure reports. Ohio has the most dramatically improved website, rising from a "D-" in 2014's report to the highest score in this year's report, an "A+". While many states continue to improve, the states that most distinguished themselves as leaders in spending transparency are those that provide access to types of expenditures that otherwise receive little public scrutiny. For instance, only eight states include the recipients of each of the state's most important subsidy programs in their online databases "Open and accessible state budgets are important so that the public can see where its tax dollars are being spent, and hold their state government accountable for its decisions," said Sunlight Foundation National Policy Manager Emily Shaw. "It's encouraging to see more states prioritizing open data policies and taking the steps necessary to make their data truly accessible." States that have created or improved their online transparency have typically done so with little upfront cost. Top-flight transparency web portals can save money for taxpayers, while also restoring public confidence in government and preventing misspending and pay-to- play contracts. State spending transparency is a non-partisan issue. The report compared transparency scores against party control of governors' offices and the state legislatures. For neither measure did higher levels of spending transparency correspond to Republican or Democratic control. Follow the Money To read the full report visit http:// uspirg.org/reports/usp/following- money-2015.

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