The Indiana Publisher

Indiana The Volume 77, Issue 7 • Thursday, March 29, 2012 Publisher Published alternate Thursdays Signing of pro-access bill caps session Law increases accountability HSPA supported legisla- tion adding a civil fine provi- sion to state public access laws, one of the associa- tion's several focuses during the 2012 Indiana General Assembly. Following is a summary of other bills that HSPA either supported, opposed, sought to amend or monitored: Public access S.E.A. 262 reorganized Title 4 and 5, but Sen. Richard Bray, R-Martinsville, added a change to the Access to Public Records Act. The author of the bill reduced the penalty against a public official who releases a confidential record from a Class A misdemeanor to a Class A infraction. Bray told HSPA he didn't believe the action should be a criminal offense. HSPA sup- ported the change because the criminal penalty tended to make public officials err on the side of secrecy for fear of becoming criminally liable for a mistake. HSPA approached Bray and Inspector General David Thomas with language to clarify that the penalty would only apply to the release of records mandated by law to be confidential or records a public agency had used its discretion to declare confi- dential. Bray and Thomas accepted the HSPA amend- ment, which sponsor Rep. Greg Steuerwald, R-Danville, inserted during the bill's hearing before the House Committee on Courts and Criminal Code. The Senate and House approved S.E.A. 262's confer- ence committee report 49-0 and 90-1, respectively. It awaited the signature of Gov. Mitch Daniels at press time. S.E.A. 259 adds strategy concerning school consolida- tion as subject matter that See SESSION, Page 2 Don't miss out on free training HSPA reminds publishers and advertising directors that member papers have free access to Media $ales Basics, a self- paced online advertising training pro- gram. The lessons Media $ales Basics PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE OFFICE OF GOV. MITCH DANIELS Teeth for public access Gov. Mitch Daniels, center at table, signed several bills into law on Monday, March 19, including House Enacted Act 1003. The measure allows judges to impose civil fines on public officials who deliberately violate access laws. Supporters of public access in attendance include Attorney General Greg Zoeller, third from left, and Steve Key, HSPA executive director and general counsel, second from left. To see how your local legislators voted on the measure, go to www.hspa.com/accessteeth. target begin- ning ad man- agers and sales reps and expe- rienced sales reps from other fields – anytime, any- where they can access the Internet. To sign up HSPA members can use the online advertis- ing training pro- gram free in 2012. Visit www.media salesbasics.com. Training questions: Dave Blakes lee, dblakeslee@ admall.com or (614) 794-0500 Ext. 110 HSPA partners to gather reader research The Hoosier State Press Association and Pulse Research Inc. are working together to collect data for a compre- hensive reader survey. There will be no cost to HSPA or member newspapers to use the statis- tics collected. The information will help advertis- ing departments in preparing sales presentations. HSPA started distributing 2x2 ads to member newspapers that invite Hoosiers to complete the survey. In return, Pulse will provide HSPA with the statistical results, which the association will share with member newspapers. Founded in 1985, Pulse provides publishing clients with research- based advertising sales and marketing programs. The company offers research and marketing services for daily and weekly newspapers, shopper publica- tions and special-interest print prod- ucts across the United States and Canada. Pulse Research has worked with more than 2,000 publishing clients in all 50 states and Canada, completing more than 4,000 surveys. For more information about the sur- vey or research, contact Andrew Dove of Pulse Research at dove@paper.net or (503) 626-5224. For questions about the partner- ship project, contact HSPA's Steve Key at skey@hspa.com or (317) 624- 4427. INSIDE Content via ftp: Get free state stories from www.HSPAInfo.net ex ported to your pa- per's front-end sys- tem. Page 3 U.S. Senate primary: A debate between Sen. Richard Lugar and State Treasurer Richard Mour dock will air at 7 p.m. EDT April 11. Page 3 Legal hotline: Steve Key an- swers your "They can't do that, can they?" questions. Page 4 Postal matters: A senator from Maine blasts the U.S. Postal Service's plan to re- duce service, a move that could affect newspaper delivery. Page 4 for training, go to www.media salesbasics. com and use the log-in information HSPA mem- bers received by email. To request a resend, contact Shawn Golds by at sgoldsby@ hspa.com or (317) 803-4772. After successfully entering Questions about use of the program: Karen Braeckel, HSPA Founda- tion director, kbraeckel@ hspa.com or (317) 624-4426 Request a resend of login information: Shawn Goldsby, sgoldsby@ hspa.com or (317) 803-4772 the HSPA login, each user will be asked to set up an individu- al account with name, email and company information. Employees then no longer See TRAINING, Page 4

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