The Indiana Publisher

Indiana The Volume 77, Issue 6 • March 15, 2012 Publisher Published alternate Thursdays Legislation strengthens public access laws If Daniels signs bill, judges can levy fines The General Assembly's passage of legislation that allows civil fines for public officials who deliberately vio- late access laws comes after years of effort by friends of the public's right to know. Sen. Beverly Gard, R-Greenfield, filed the first attempt to add teeth to the Open Door Law and Access to Public Records Act in 2008. InfoNet content available via ftp HSPA's content-sharing site, www.HSPAInfo.net, now ex - ports every story, photo and caption into an ftp directory where the content is available to extract. The text Content via ftp To receive HSPAInfo.net stories via ftp, send an email requesting a user account to deps@hbmedia group.com. files are ASCII, and the photos are jpg format. Stories are dropped into it hourly, and the process keeps the past three days' content in the active folder. HSPA and partner 1Up! worked with Home News Enterprises to develop the ftp capability. HNE has been pulling content and importing it into the front-end system it uses for several weeks suc- cessfully. Any newspaper with a front-end system capable of getting the material via ftp need only request a user account by emailing Info Net editor John DePrez Jr. at deps@ hbmediagroup.com. INSIDE Postal Service regulation: Mail trays are a recom- mended option for newspapers instead of bags. Page 2 Future print jour- nalists: HSPA Foun- dation awards an- nual scholarships to two students. Page 3 Legal Q&A: Steve Key answers your media law questions. Page 4 Indianapolis leaders unveiled the first 10 memo- rial pillars honoring Hoosier Legacy Award recip- ients March 2 on Georgia Street. Ernie Pyle, the Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard prepares to unveil a pillar memorial- izing former President Benjamin Har rison in Indianapolis. Among the nine other pillars is one honoring Hoosier jour- nalist Ernie Pyle. Pulitzer Prize-winning World War II correspon- dent and former resident of Dana, is among the inaugural class. Journalist honored Ernie Pyle, the famed World War II correspon- dent, is memorialized along with nine other famous Hoosiers on pillars in downtown Indianapolis. Pyle was on assign- ment when he died on April 18, 1945, after being struck by a Japanese machine gunner's bullet on Ie Shima, a small island in the South Pacific. Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard; Steve Key, HSPA executive direc- tor and general counsel; and Phillip Hess, vice president of the Friends of Ernie Pyle (from left), chat after the unveiling about Pyle's accounts of World War II G.I.s and Bal- lard's and Hess' military service. When lawmakers approved the pro- vision last week as H.B. 1003, it was the fourth to last bill passed before they gaveled the 2012 legislature to an end. The Senate and House votes came after midnight. The successful outcome wasn't with- out some wrangling. A conference committee of Reps. Suzanne Crouch, R-Evansville, and Chet Dobis, D-Merrillville, and Sens. Travis Holdman, R-Markle, and Jim Arnold, D-LaPorte, signed the report moving the civil fine provi- sion from H.B. 1093 into H.B. 1003. H.B. 1003, authored by Crouch, establishes ground rules for state commissions to allow members to par- ticipate in meetings by telephone or other electronic means such as Skype. HSPA supported the bill and offered some suggested improvements that Crouch and Dobis accepted during the bill's House committee hearing. H.B. 1093, authored by Rep. Kevin Mahan, R-Hartford City, contained the concepts that HSPA has been pushing for during the past five legis- lative sessions. An allowable civil fine of up to $100 for deliberate violations of the state's access laws (up to $500 for repeat offenders) was the main component of the bill. The bill also statutorily sets "rea- sonable" as the time frame for when records should be produced by a public agency when requested. This is the standard, but former Public Access Counselor Andrew See Access, Page 4 Attorney general makes right call The Indiana attorney gener- al's intervention in the South Bend Tribune's recent prior restraint case was a victory for the First Amendment and state newspapers, said Steve Key, HSPA executive director and general counsel. The Tribune won the right to publish and post audio record- ings from a child abuse pre- vention hotline after Attorney General Greg Zoel ler obtained a dismissal of a state agency's appeal that had sought to pre- vent publication. Zoel ler's appreciation of the First Amendment implica- tions of prior restraint and his position not to make such a request of the courts is gratify- ing, Key said. The Tribune's handling of the issue worked in its favor as well after a court ordered it not to print a story the paper had already posted at southbendtribune.com, he said. "I think the Tribune acted responsibly in removing the initial story from its website to allow the judicial process to proceed," Key said. "The result is a declaration by Attorney General Zoeller that the state will not attempt to muzzle the press, and the Tribune is free to report on a story with state- wide implications." Prior restraint of the news media publishing public records is inconsistent with the First Amendment, Zoeller said. "As the lawyer for state government, the office of the Indiana attorney general now asserts the legal position of the state that in the interest of openness and transpar- ency, the publication of public See Records, Page 2 Attorney General Greg Zoeller

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