Hoosier State Press Association - The Indiana Publisher
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/600222
November 12, 2015 Page 3 News in brief Send promotions, announcements, staff changes and other corporate news to mtuley@hspa.com. Times welcomes new ME For editor, it's –30– after 33 years Publisher takes on more papers Audience director joins Trib-Star Erin Orr has joined The Times Media Co. as its managing editor. Orr came from The State Journal Register in Spring- field, Ill., where she had served as managing editor since 2008. Orr hails from Southern California, where she began her career at the Antelope Valley Press in Palmdale, Calif. She also worked at the Stockton Record and The Modesto Bee in California before joining The State Journal Register, where she spent 12 years as a features and magazine editor before becoming managing editor. Orr said she and her husband look forward to spending time at the lake- shore and area parks and venturing further afield to Milwaukee and Michigan. And, the Midwestern climate is fine with Orr. "I'm a true Californian who loves four seasons," she said. – The Times (Munster) On Nov. 20, Craig Klugman will come to work as editor of The Journal Gazette (Fort Wayne) for the final time. After 33 years of guiding the news- room's news and editorial report, he has announced his retirement. Sherry Skufca, manag- ing editor of The Journal Gazette since 1989, will succeed Klugman as edi- tor. Jim Touvell, assistant managing editor in charge of the design and copy desks, will be promoted to managing editor. Klugman began his Journal Gazette tenure in 1982, and the news- paper has won numer- ous state and national awards under his leader- ship, including the HSPA Foundation's Blue Ribbon Newspaper of the Year award. Inducted into the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame in 2009, he previously received HSPA's Distinguished Service Award as well as the Hoosier Intellectual Freedom Award. – The Journal Gazette (Fort Wayne) Lee Enterprises named Chris White, publisher of the Times Media Co. in northwest Indiana, a group publisher. White will oversee operations of the Journal Times in Racine, Wisconsin; the Globe Gazette in Mason City, Iowa; the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier; and other specialty publications in those markets. White, 48, serves as president of the HSPA board of directors. He became publisher in 2013 of Times Media Co., which includes The Times (Munster) and specialty publications. The Times was named Lee Enterprise of the Year in 2014. Before joining Lee, White was publisher of GateHouse-Ohio Media after serving as general manager and senior vice president for sales and marketing with the com- pany. In 2002, he was among Presstime magazine's "20 under 40" class of out- standing achievers. He has been active in many community organi- zations, including econom- ic development initiatives, foundations and advisory boards. A new audience devel- opment director at the Tribune-Star (Terre Haute) is tasked with getting more eyeballs on the paper's print and digital products. Mick Siemers, a former circulation director in Laf- ayette and Indian apolis, brings more than 20 years of newspaper experience. With the addition of online, mobile and elec- tronic editions of the newspaper, readers have more options on how they receive their news and stay up-to-date on devel- oping news, he said. That means that though print circulation remains strong, the digital side keeps readers in the infor- mation loop, he said. – Tribune-Star (Terre Haute) Chris White Craig Klugman Erin Orr The following questions came from Berne Tri-Weekly News, Pilot-News (Plymouth), Hendricks County Flyer (Avon) and Times-Mail (Bedford): Our local police department has contracted with BuyCrash.com and says that we have to go there to gain access to any accident reports. Is this in line with what the law allows? The county pro- vides them to us without even asking, but the Berne PD is a totally different story. If you want cop- ies of the accident reports, you'll have to go through their vendor unless they give you an exception as a newspaper/ journalist. But if you want to "inspect" the records and make your own notes from the reports, then the police department still must allow that for free. There is no charge for inspecting public records. Since that will require Berne to access or make cop- ies for you to inspect, they may be willing to work with the newspaper on a system that reduces the work for them and saves you copying costs. Copies can be expensive because there's a provision in state law that allows police agencies to charge $4 or more for accident reports. (The money goes toward train- ing.) A few years ago the Hammond Police Department was charging $20 a copy. I've been having some issues with Starke County releasing jail booking/police report information. They will allow someone to access the information, but the reporter has to come down to each station (Knox city police, Starke County sheriff's department, and North Judson police) and hand copy the information. Is there a way we can get access at least to the jail bookings electronically? Unfortunately, there is no legal obligation for a public agency to send records electronically under the Access to Public Records Act, even if they already are in that format and it would be a matter of attaching the file and sending an email. Question for you: Why aren't they giving you copies instead of requiring your reporter to make notes? IC 5-14-3-3 requires them to provide you copies, allow you to make copies on their equipment, or use your own scanning devices. Are you trying to avoid copying fees? Regardless, I recommend you try to put together an argument as to how much time/manpower it would save each department if they would merely electronically share the jail bookings list, dispatch log, etc. Unless they are hell- bent on making it hard for you to get the news, law enforcement agencies generally will go along with a system that makes it easier for them, particularly if it involves officers who could be on patrol rather than in the office babysitting a reporter making notes from copies the staff had to print. We had a high school coach submit a photo to run in the paper, which we did. Once the paper came out, the photog- rapher called us threatening to sue and demanding pay- ment. I thought that once they've sold their photo to a parent/ coach/school, they no longer owned it. We have a lot of submitted photos for youth sports teams, weddings, engagements, anniversaries, obituaries, etc. Are we wrong to publish these? Unless the photo clearly had a label on the back saying it's the property of the photographer, there's no way you could have known the photographer was going to claim an ongoing copyright on it. The photographer's beef should be with the coach, assuming that person knew the photographer was going to limit use of the photo. I'm assuming the photo was illustrating editorial content and not an advertise- ment, so if the photographer wanted to press a legal copy- right infringement action, I think "fair use" would prevail in your defense. For future reference, check submitted photos for indica- tions that the photographer may be claiming a copyright. If so, check with the person who submitted the photo. I'd suggest to this pho- tographer that you did not infringe on his or her copy- right and that if he or she wants to pursue an action it should be against the party that submitted the photo, not the newspaper, which had no reasonable way to ascertain an ongoing copyright claim. In September, I filed open records requests with the city of Mitchell and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission after learning Mitchell Police Officer Britni Webster filed a complaint with the commission regarding her employment with the city. The response I received from the commission cites, "The disclosure of files to non- party requesters is an invasion of personal privacy." Is the Equal Employment Oppor tunity Commission correct? Yes. Unfortun- ately, the federal Free dom of Infor- ma tion Act contains a provision that allows confidentiality to avoid an "unwarranted invasion of privacy." Thankfully, this has not been added to Indiana's Access to Public Records Act. The rationale behind the argument is to protect the individuals being accused of violating the complainant's rights until an investigation uncovered evidence that would bring a charge against the accused. This protects people's reputations from unwarranted complaints. I know of nothing that prevents the complainant from sharing her allegations, although her attorney might advise her to keep quiet at this point in the process. Contact Steve Key, HSPA executive director and general counsel, with media law ques- tions at skey@hspa.com or (317) 624-4427. HSPA Hotline A A A A Q Q Q Q