Hoosier State Press Association - The Indiana Publisher
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/600222
would have been beneficial for them in achieving goals for the boards. The association will reduce board member terms from three years to two years. This gives the board more flexibility in recruiting and maintaining members. The association board decided to halt a decades-old policy that a publisher could serve on the board only for one term. The change will allow membership to bring back previous board members who want to serve again. This strengthens the board by opening it to interested publish- ers who otherwise would be precluded from consideration by the nominating committee, Key said. The boards will vote on the bylaw changes at their Dec. 11 meeting in Indianapolis. • Access will not create a significant risk of substantial harm to any person or the general public. • Release of the record does not create a prejudicial effect on ongoing civil or criminal proceedings. And the newspaper or citizen must make these arguments without the benefit of seeing the video in question. Key said the language makes it easy for police departments to deny all video requests because they don't want to be bothered with the expense and time involved in reviewing footage and making redactions that might be necessary, for example, to pro- tect the identity of an undercover police officer. Police departments will know newspapers and citizens would have to spend $3,500 to $15,000 to petition a court to see body and cruiser cam footage – a cost that would likely stop many efforts to obtain the video. If the requester calls the police department's bluff, police offi- cials who don't want litigation can always change their mind and release the video after the petition is filed. Under the state's open meeting and public access laws, the public agency pays for reasonable attorney fees and court costs if a requester wins in court. Not so with the body cam preliminary draft. Newspapers or citizens who request the video must foot their legal bill even if a judge rules in their favor. Key believes the only time law enforcement will voluntarily give access to footage is if the video exonerates the action of police officers. There is no incentive for a law enforcement agency to release footage that shows officer misconduct. The agency doesn't want bad publicity or to incite protests against police brutality, Key said. HSPA intends to lobby the legislature to alter the suggested process to obtain police videos when a bill is introduced in the 2016 legislative session. Time constraints forced the interim committee to vote on the preliminary draft as it was written or have no recommendation for the General Assembly. Several committee members expressed reservations about the draft, Key said. Page 8 November 12, 2015 Access Continued from Page 1 Bylaws Continued from Page 1 R eporters need to knock on doors to get the story, and editors need to give them the time to develop those stories. That was one of the mes- sages I took away from remarks made by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Bob Woodward at a recent Indiana Bar Foundation event in Indianapolis. To illustrate the point, Woodward talked about run- ning into a brick wall in try- ing to interview a particular general for one of Woodward's books on the Iraq War and the presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama. He knocked on the front door of the general's home at 7:17 p.m. on a Tuesday night. The general answered the knock and, according to Woodward, said: "You still doing this shit? I don't want to talk to you." Woodward stood before him silently. The pause grew by the seconds, and then the general waved him into his house. Woodward got his interview. But the push by news organizations to get the story first – up on the Internet and out through social media – has reporters posting stories before checking for accuracy or getting verification. Compare today's rush to publish/post to Woodward and Carl Bernstein writing stories on six-ply paper so several editors could get a copy. Then the story was dis- cussed at length, with editors posing questions that forced the two reporters to follow up with sources before the story printed in The Washington Post. Granted, we're talking about Watergate and the coverage of a presidential scandal. But the point is that stories were thoroughly vet- ted before publication. With fewer editors and reporters and the added responsibilities of web and mobile, are reporters making the time to go beyond a phone message or email to get a comment or interview with a source? Are editors giving reporters the time to verify a story that will damage the reputation of a public official or pushing for publication/posting to make sure the newspaper beats its competition in breaking the story? Journalism on the fly has contributed to the lack of trust in the media found in a 2014 Gallup poll. Only 40 percent say they have a great deal or fair amount of trust or confidence that the media (newspapers, TV and radio) reports the news fully, fairly and accurately. I more frequently hear from publishers and editors who are making decisions on whether they have the time and resources to cover what have been bedrock beats for reporters – the courts and police news. If Indiana newspapers stop covering these key segments of local government, who will? How many radio sta- tions still have a news staff? How deep will TV go when stories are presented in 15 to 30 second segments? I fully appreciate the chal- lenges that changes in adver- tising have put on newspa- pers and understand why many newspapers have cut newsroom staffs. But there's a line that can't be crossed to cover news properly. If Indiana newspapers cross that line, they give Hoosiers another reason not to read newspapers – print or digital. No one wins in that scenar- io. Newspapers lose readers and dollars, and Hoosiers lose when there's no one tak- ing the time to attend council meetings and court hear- ings and cover police blotter items. Let's make sure reporting involves more than accepting the spin of public information officers or moving on to the next story when a public offi- cial uses stonewall tactics. These stories are critical to Hoosiers – and newspapers. Steve Key is executive director and general counsel for the Hoosier State Press Association. Key Points Steve Key Knock, knock. Who's there? Reporters