Hoosier State Press Association - The Indiana Publisher
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/82774
Page 4 September 13, 2012 Public notice decision hurts Hoosiers I cerning air quality from pub- lication in local newspapers to its state website allows us to make a comparison. The numbers look good for newspapers. On Sept. 10 I checked the DEM's decision to move public notices of federally required hearings con- IDEM website where notices of hearings are posted. IDEM divides the notices into eight geographical areas of the state and one statewide grouping. On that date, 113 notices were posted in the eight regions with no notices in the statewide slot. IDEM was very coopera- tive in providing me with the number of unique visitors to its notices webpage by week for the first half of 2012. The average number of say that the unique visitors take the time to look at all 113 notices, so the average number of people looking at a particular notice is now 105 a week. So our range is 1 to 105 people a week seeing a par- ticular notice. Let's compare that to public Points By Steve Key Key notice advertising in Indiana. We'll use Ohio County (not a heavily populated area) as our example. American Opinion Research in 2004 surveyed Hoosiers and found that 66.7 percent recall seeing public notices in their local newspaper. The survey found that percent of those adults would likely read a public notice advertisement placed in the county's largest newspaper, The Rising Sun Recorder. That's 1,562 adults. Now let's look at the worst- seven out of 10 said they read the public notice they recalled seeing. That takes us to 46.7 per- unique visitors to the page per week was 105, with a low of 81 and high of 129. If we divide the average number of unique visitors in a week by the number of notices posted on Sept. 10, we get 0.92 individuals per notice. (I'm assuming 113 notices is a normal number of postings and that someone in Lake County probably is only read- ing a notice concerning his city or town.) To put it in the most favor- able light for IDEM, we could cent. Of that group, seven out of 10 said they read public notices always, often or some- times. That puts our public notice advertising readers at 32.7 percent. (In more recent surveys in other states, these figures are comparable.) The estimated 2011 adult population of Ohio County is 4,777, according to Indiana Business Research Center. So best case scenario, knowing that newspapers get passed on beyond the person who subscribes or buys a newspa- per, one could argue that 32.7 tiple individuals on average read a particular newspaper copy, we'll take 32.7 percent of the Recorder's circulation. That number is 366. So our range is 366 to Ignoring the fact that mul- newspaper in any county. So in other counties, the number of citizens who would have the notice placed in their hands only goes up. With IDEM's best scenario and the worst-case scenario for newspapers, Indiana's number of individuals reading the notice is still 2.84 times greater using print publica- tion over the website. And I don't believe that case scenario. The Rising Sun Recorder has a circulation of 1,120. 1,562. Can I guarantee that 32.7 percent of the readers see a particular notice? No. But I can vouch that 1,120 adults in Ohio County have had the notice put into their hands. IDEM can claim at most that 129 individuals looked at a notice in one week. That's 11 percent of The Rising Sun Recorder's circulation. I purposely chose Ohio County because the Recorder's circulation is the smallest among the largest HSPA Hotline came from the Palladium-Item (Richmond), The Indianapolis Star and the Journal & Courier (Lafayette): The following questions A Q Q ing is conducted in chambers is the media allowed to cover it? The courts have If a pre-trial hear- judge and attorneys is not a formal court proceeding, which would be held in the courtroom, recorded for the record and open to the public. They consider it an informal taken the position that the pre-trial conference between administrative process so the judge and attorneys can work out details as to how much time will be needed for the trial, what dates will accom- modate everyone's schedule, what motions are expected to be filed, whether the judge wants oral arguments on motions or just briefs, etc. So the answer is no, don't expect to be allowed to sit in. But it doesn't hurt to ask – there's nothing to prevent the judge from allowing you to sit in on the discussion. It would make a good story VOTING Continued from Page 1 Indiana educators. The Foundation will post the material on a password- protected area of its web- site – HSPAfoundation.org – by Sept. 24. On that date, Braeckel will introduce the material to teachers attend- ing the ISRA state conference using to make a purchase or contract for a service. Most government reporters A as to how a trial moves for- ward from filing of the law- suit (civil action) or filing or charges by the state (criminal action). ested in privately managing the lottery, despite a statement in their own request for infor- mation that says they are pub- lic record "once submitted." Do lottery official have a basis to deny our request? Different rules apply depending on the statute that a government unit is are familiar with the "compet- itive bidding" process. County commissioners use this to pur- chase gravel, asphalt, etc., for the year. Under this statute, the bids Lottery won't provide us with access to proposals submitted by companies inter- The Hoosier chasing processes – ones that allow the government unit to keep the initial proposals con- fidential while it negotiates with the bidders to improve the agreement to the benefit of taxpayers. In each case, the govern- ment unit is required to maintain and create certain records, which become avail- able for public inspection and copying at a later date. A reporter needs to check with the public agency to see which process it is using to determine what records are accessible and when. I expect the lottery records will fall under one of these: • Negotiated Bidding (IC 5-22-9-5) • Public-Private Agree- are opened during a public meeting, and all the proposals should be available for inspec- tion and copying after the bids are opened. See IC 5-22-7-6. But the government unit may be relying on other pur- in Indianapolis. Any newspaper that wants to promote the material to teachers may obtain a pass- word to distribute to schools or educator groups in its cir- culation area. To receive a password, please email HSPA's Shawn Goldsby at sgoldsby@ hspa.com. Dr. Sandra Cook, state coordinator for Newspaper Q 5-22-7.3-9) • Request for Proposals (IC ments (IC 5-23-5-6 and IC 5-23-5-9). Police and its vendor, Appriss, which operates the database on traffic accidents. The Appriss contact says the cost will be $90 an hour negoti ating the price for traffic accident information with the Indiana State The newspaper is in Education for the North Carolina Press Foundation and director of the NIE pro- gram based at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, developed the guide. She taught middle and high for an "extract" and 10 cents per record. Based on that information, we're estimating it will cost $1,916 to get some information we want. What is your take on this? I'm not sure what A doesn't fall under the Access to Public Records Act's "enhanced access" provision, so they can't argue for a "reasonable fee." That means it falls under This type of request IC-5-14-3-6(c), seeking information contained electronically that may require "reprogramming." If that's the case, they information, such as a flash drive or CD. I don't know what the $90 an hour represents. Since it's electronic data the basis is for their fee, so I suggest you follow up on it. there aren't hard copies involved, so there isn't a copying fee. I'm at a loss as to how they can justify the fee of 10 cents per page. I'd follow up with them on where the costs are coming from based on the fee restrictions of the Access to Public Records Act. Do keep in mind one either the best case for IDEM or worst case for newspapers is where the actual gap lies, so that ratio can only be bet- ter for newspapers. IDEM will argue they are reaching people who are most likely to comment or attend a hearing. That's probably true because the majority of those who even know about the website are likely employ- ees of utilities or companies directly impacted by a rule or permit under consideration by IDEM. Or perhaps they're volunteers who routinely check the website for an envi- ronmental organization, such as the Hoosier Environmental Council or Citizens Action Coalition. But that means IDEM believes public notice is satis- fied by giving notice to those with a special interest in a hearing – not your normal citizen. The concept of public notice advertising is to reach the greatest number of Hoosiers in a cost-effective manner. In Ohio County, The Rising Sun Recorder, when you mul- tiply circulation by two to reflect the average number of readers per copy, reaches 46.9 percent of the county's adult population. If all 105 visitors of IDEM's public notice webpage lived in Ohio County (doubtful), the percentage is 2.2 percent. There is no guarantee that those who read the notice, whether on IDEM's website or in a newspaper, will file com- ments or attend a hearing. Public notice only gives an opportunity for the public to take action. But I'll take the opportunity to reach a minimum of 46.9 percent of the community over a maximum of 2.2 percent. Lastly, I'll point out that a recent Pulse Research poll of Hoosiers taken in the second quarter of 2012 found that 71.6 percent prefer public notices in newspapers over Internet posting on a government website, while only 1.3 percent favored Internet posting. IDEM needs to change its decision. director and general counsel for HSPA. Steve Key is executive would be within the statute to charge you "direct costs" to fulfill your request. "Direct cost" is defined at IC 5-14-3-2(c). Direct cost would be 105 percent of the sum of: • The cost to program the computer to retrieve your information (if any reprogramming is necessary) • The labor to retrieve the electronically stored data requested • The cost of any medium used to duplicate the the North Carolina Press Foundation, any teacher in Indiana may use the material. "Newspapers provide the school and led the NIE pro- gram at The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) before mov- ing to her current position in 1995. In an agreement with best informational text for teachers during elections," Braeckel said. "No text book provides the content necessary to study the 2012 contests." The guide comes in two formats for teachers – pdf and a writable version for use on interactive white boards. thing not in your favor: The public agency controls the format that you can receive the records in – paper or electronic, for example. So the vendor and the state police could get together and decide, "Fine, if you don't want to pay this charge we'll give you the information on paper and let you re-enter the data into your system." So you may not have the leverage you'd like to bring the cost down. executive director and gen- eral counsel, with media law questions at skey@hspa.com or (317) 624-4427. Contact Steve Key, HSPA guide, Cook explains the reason for studying vot- ing: "Elections carry weight beyond the days and years when voting takes place. Voters choose leaders who must deal with issues and problems that affect citi zens' daily lives and shape relation- ships with other communities and states and with nations around the world." In the introduction to the