Indiana law has a solid foundation on which governmental transparency has been built. Access to public meetings and records is a vital part of the democratic process, and these laws are in place to ensure and protect such access.
Three specific laws exist as cornerstones of that foundation: The Public Notice Advertising Law, the Open Door Law and the Access to Public Records Act. Together, they support the public’s right to know what government is doing or contemplating.
Unfortunately, it seems as if efforts to erode this foundation emerge with every session of the General Assembly.
Among several troubling pieces of legislation that have been introduced this session is one from Sen. Jim Banks, R-Columbia City, to eliminate the requirement that local governments place and pay for public notices in their local newspapers. In its place would be the wholly inadequate stipulation that such notices be placed on government websites.
Eliminating public notice advertising is something sought by local governments through their lobbying associations. They claim they can save money by eliminating public notice advertising yet still fulfill transparency obligations by posting notices cheaply on their own websites.
The issue places the state’s newspapers, long known as strong advocates for access to government proceedings and records, in an awkward position. Critics complain that newspapers try to preserve public notice advertising laws because of their monetary interests.
While newspapers do get revenue from public notices, it’s unfair to suggest that it taints the view of those of us who willingly accept the responsibility of reporting on the activities of government for our readership. In most communities in the state, newspapers are the only media which provides in-depth coverage of public meetings and publishes numerous public records and notices — free of charge — pertaining to government activity.
It should also be noted that most government websites have an extremely low number of visitors, while newspapers in their communities have a strong base of readers. For example, the Tribune-Star has more than 21,000 paid subscribers.
The point of public notice advertising is to put information in places where people not necessarily looking for it are likely to find it. And that’s what transparency is all about. Truly effective public notices put the responsibility of disseminating information in the hands if an independent third party. They can be archived for future reference, are easily accessible to a wide segment of society and are legally verifiable. Newspapers fit those criteria. Government websites do not.
What’s more, independent studies show that Hoosiers want public notice advertising published in newspapers.
n Pulse Research of America survey last spring reported that 71.6 percent of respondents said they would prefer public notices published in the newspaper rather than on a government website.
n American Opinion Research also reported in a survey that 73 percent of Hoosiers said local and state governments should be required to publish public notice ads — paid ads — in newspapers.
Newspapers remain the single most viable means of providing information about government activities in the state’s communities, large and small. There should be no public notice shortcuts made available to government entities just to save a few bucks.
There is a legislative hearing today on the bill to do away with public notice advertising in newspapers in the Senate Local Government Committee.
We urge Wabash Valley legislators to oppose this bill. We ask citizens to urge their legislators to do the same.
Editorials
EDITORIAL: No cheap shortcuts to transparency
State should not water down public notice advertising
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EDITORIAL: Waging the ‘readiness’ campaign
Almost every Hoosier who starts college intends to finish. Unfortunately, those who arrive on campus unprepared in key academic areas are far less likely to fulfill that aspiration.
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EDITORIAL: Insult to an independent press
Distrust of government secrecy has been elevated to an exceptional level with the disclosure the Justice Department covertly examined two months of Associated Press phone records to determine who leaked details to the AP about a foiled terrorist plot.
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EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news: Dashing finish for the Sycamores
It’s always thrilling to see Indiana State University’s athletic teams do well in high-level competition, and two specific teams rose to impressive heights last weekend in the Missouri Valley Conference outdoor track and field championships.
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EDITORIAL: Better monitoring needed to prevent local environmental messes
The nasty, hazardous messes lurking in the community raise a bottom-line, red-flag question. Could these environmental problems have been monitored and, thus, prevented?
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EDITORIAL: Memo to U.S.A.: You can ‘SPPRAK’ just as we do in Vigo County
Our kids, truly, are ‘Making a Difference’
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Some words in praise of boring government — Indiana’s
A conservative Republican governor has super majorities in both branches of the legislature. One might suspect such one-party government leads to major changes in public policy. This did not happen in 2013 in Indiana.
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EDITORIAL: Doc’s prescient prescription
Viewed through a 2013 prism, Doc Bowen’s response to the AIDS epidemic looks merely prudent, routine.
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EDITORIAL: Education remains worth the cost
Within the next few weeks, each of the local colleges will have conducted graduation ceremonies. A few days later, a different Class of 2013 will don caps and gowns for commencement — the seniors at five Vigo County high schools. It is still a smart, worthy aspiration for those high school grads to replicate the achievement of those college students by earning a higher-education degree.
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EDITORIAL: Good news for downtown
For decades, it seems, downtown Terre Haute has been in the throes of change
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EDITORIAL: Overall, state budget step in the right direction
For average Hoosiers uninterested in political point-scoring, the budget crafted by the Indiana Legislature inspires only muted, if any, fanfare.
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EDITORIAL: The lessons of organ donation
The range of emotion surrounding life-saving transplantation of a vital organ is extreme. It is the ultimate “good news-bad news” scenario.
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READERS’ FORUM: April 26, 2013
• Pence’s tax cuts benefit wealthiest
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EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news
This does not qualify as a surprise in any way. But the Wabash Valley’s response to widespread flooding of recent days has been nothing short of impressive, even inspirational.
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EDITORIAL: Still waiting for the jobs reward
The forces in control of Indiana government for most of the past decade need to show some results to Hoosiers in one primary category.
Good-paying jobs. -
MARK BENNETT: Littered with irony: Why do people callously discard their trash, and who are they?
Though they aren’t acknowledged by the U.S. Census Bureau, there are basically two demographic groups of people … Those who would dump their old toilet on the banks of the Wabash River or a rural roadside. And those who wouldn’t.
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EDITORIAL: Doing the dirty work to clean up tossed trash
A first-of-its-kind, coast-to-coast project to remove litter from U.S. roadsides brought the Pick Up America crew through the Wabash Valley two years ago.
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EDITORIAL: Keep school security a local issue
The decision to provide armed security inside a schoolhouse should be made locally.
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EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news
Indiana’s parks need your help.
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EDITORIAL: The return of terror
Emotions today remain strong and raw in wake of Monday’s terror bombings near the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
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EDITORIAL: A solution to distracted driving … stop it … now
You’ve got to stop. You know you do it. It’s a miracle you haven’t caused a tragedy already.
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EDITORIAL: ‘Women of Influence’: 2013 selectees have given much to their communities
For the second year, United Way of the Wabash Valley has teamed up with local sponsors to select and honor a group of women who have made outstanding contributions to their communities, professions and families.
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EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news: A new honor for our veterans
A commendation goes out today to state Rep. Clyde Kersey, a Terre Haute Democrat who led the charge this week in the Indiana House of Representatives to pay tribute to the nation’s Purple Heart recipients.
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EDITORIAL: Shifting view on marriage
One could argue, as many have, that Sen. Joe Donnelly did the right thing last week when he dropped his support of government-sanctioned opposition to same-sex marriage. It wasn’t a radical move, considering most Democrats have now made the switch.
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MAX JONES: The American Newspaper: Changing? Yes. Dying? No way!
It happened again this past January when all those “looking at the year ahead” stories started popping up on Internet “news” websites and broadcast “news” programs. Under a provocative headline reading something like “Five industries/businesses doomed to tank in the coming year,” there it was, a prediction based on an unsubstantiated “expert” analysis that the newspaper industry will continue in 2013 to suffer its slide into oblivion.
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EDITORIAL: A chance to change our bad cultural habits
The sight of diligent, eager young people dragging trash out of the Wabash River wetlands is both inspiring and sad.
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EDITORIAL: Maintaining high standards
Standards
It’s the raging buzzword in education circles these days. Everyone insists that higher standards must be met. Anything less is, doggone it, unacceptable. -
Noteworthy in the news
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EDITORIAL: Crack down on dumpers
There is a reason it’s called “illegal” dumping. It’s against the law. And there is a very good reason illegal dumping is against the law.
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Season of Day 2s arrives
Calendars in Cincinnati contain one extra holiday — Opening Day, traditionally the first Monday in April.
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Congress fails to recognize problem of education costs
Who hasn’t gotten this message yet? The cost of a college degree has become unaffordable for a wide swath of middle-class America.
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