...into the sunshine: SB-147

We were pleasantly surprised Thursday (1/29) to see a new open records measure introduced by State Senator Dave Knudson and a bi-partisan group of legislative leaders. SB-147 emerges with the presumption that public documents should be accessible to the public unless there is ample justification for keeping them confidential.

That's light years ahead of existing law, which basically presumes that records are closed to the public unless specifically identified as "open." There are lots of exceptions in this new measure -- maybe too many -- but it's a big step in the right direction for South Dakota.

Congratulations to Senators Knudson, Heidepriem, Rhoden, Turbak Berry, and several other legislators in both the Senate and House for stepping forward with this important piece of legislation.

Take a look at SB-147.

I think the legislature will pass this bill -- or some form of it -- this session. But don't expect the Governor to sign it with a smile, if he signs it at all.

With the fiscal crisis enveloping state government, this will likely be one of a handful of "non-fiscal" topics to get much attention. We look forward to watching the story evolve.

Media woes explained

The other day, I read that Time Warner, which publishes Time magazine and owns CNN and a bevy of other media companies, would “write down” its assets by $25 billion. It is apparently an adjustment that is necessary in order to reflect the declining value of its properties. I’m sure the failing economy has a lot to do with it, but the AOL-Time Warner merger and other questionable business decisions probably played a role, too.

Then I read a George Will column about the Death of Common Sense.

These two seemingly disparate events merged in my mind today, when I opened the mailbox and found this postcard from my friends at Time magazine:

Need I say more? I believe I'll forego seeking a refund -- and paying postage to send my request. Instead, I'll look forward to enjoying my one-cent issue of Time. Who said there aren't bargains anymore?

Seattle P-I may shut down

In perhaps the most vivid example of hard times for the newspaper industry, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer has been put up for sale by Hearst Corporation. They say if they don't sell the paper within 60 days, they will shut down the newspaper and operate only a website -- or close down both the newspaper and the website.

In a news release, it was noted that the paper has lost money since 2000 and that Hearst is not prepared to continue operation of the paper, which it has owned since 1921.

It was a somber scene on Friday as Hearst Newspaper President Steve Swartz shared the sad news with the P-I editorial staff.

No local owner -- and no local sports

On-line comments today (1/8/09) to the Rapid City Journal regarding Jake Nordbye's story about the new ESPN radio affiliate in town were glowing. Even near legendary broadcaster Bob Laskowski chimed in with a congratulatory note.

Clearly, lots of folks in the Rapid City area are ready for more sports broadcasting, and absentee-owned KRKI is delivering it. Nordbye quoted KRKI program director Lonnie Glasford as saying that only national programming will air on the station, which is found at 99.5 on the FM dial. They "hope" to add local programming in the future.

It's too bad, however, that KRKI didn't pick up the rights last year to broadcast the Rapid City Rush, the hockey team that seems to be taking the area in a.....well, rush. KRKI has tried country music....then Christmas music.....and now casts its lot with wall-to-wall sports.

ESPN is a well-established brand, and they've done well in satiating the appetites of folks who can't get enough sports.

But KRKI's desire to become an "up-to-the minute source" for local sports will fall flat, unless and until they can add that local component. Stations like KOTA in Rapid City and KDSJ in Deadwood (although it fails miserably on local news coverage) have demonstrated what it takes to become sports leaders in broadcasting.

Localism remains the key to long-term survival, a reality that KRKI owner and entrepreneur Victor Michael (Colorado's Michael Radio Group) doesn't seem to embrace.

"All the ads fit to print"

It was a first – another a sign of the continuing hard times for the newspaper industry – as display advertising appeared on the front page of the New York Times.

The Wall Street Journal has been adorned with front-page advertising since 2006, but it wasn’t until this Monday (1/5/09) that “The Gray Lady” began accepting front-page display ads. The Times is the largest metropolitan daily in the United States.

In their own story about this new strategy, the Times on Sunday (1/5/09) acknowledged that the move would likely be seen by traditionalists as a "commercial incursion into the most important news space in the paper."

Yup.

Resolutions

Lorraine Collins has a wonderful way with words -- and her approach to resolutions for the new year seems right on target. We've often opined on open government, and we were delighted to see her suggest improving open government as a reasonable resolution for the 2009 South Dakota Legislature. Here is her column penned for the Black Hills Pioneer:

More than once, I’ve pointed out that January is no time to be making resolutions. Resolutions should be made in the spring of the year when everything seems possible, or perhaps in the autumn, when everything seems necessary. Except for this arbitrary calendar, why do we believe that January begins a New Year and therefore requires New Years resolutions? Some time ago, March was considered the beginning of the New Year. That was in the Gregorian calendar, so I’ve often tried to defend my lack of making resolutions in January by saying, “Well, I still go by the Gregorian Calendar. I’ll get around to this in March.”

This does not necessarily convince anybody, but it gives me an excuse for not suddenly, in the dark of winter, trying to think about reforming myself. However, since the South Dakota Legislature meets in January, I guess they cannot wait until March to think about what they should do to improve their previous performance. So I’ve been thinking about what resolutions the South Dakota Legislature should have.

When making resolutions it’s best to be realistic, not choosing a goal that is clearly going to be unattainable. That just leads to early discouragement and abandonment of the effort. So our legislators should not dream of accomplishing something like making our state rank number one in state support for public education. But how about some more modest goal, like attaining the rank of 47th? That would be an improvement over our present ranking of 50th and it would demonstrate that we’re embarrassed by our current status and are serious about trying to improve ourselves. We might make it only to 48th, but we’d have taken that first step and could feel we were on the right road.

If tackling such a difficult subject as improving state support for education seems too daunting, the legislature could try something else, like improving some other area in which our state ranks last. How about improving our status regarding open government? According to the Better Government Association, we rank at the bottom there, too.

The BGA ranked states on matters such as laws pertaining to freedom of information, whistleblower protection, campaign finance, open meetings and disclosure of conflict of interest by lawmakers. If a state got a 100% rating in each of these five areas, it would be rated at 500%. South Dakota achieved just 162%. In terms of freedom of information, we actually got a zero. Our highest rating was in laws relating to disclosure of conflicts of interest where we climbed up to 42nd place.

What excuse do we have for being the most secretive state in the union? We do seem to have a penchant for secrecy, I admit. I was surprised to learn recently that state law keeps secret the names of people who hold video lottery licenses. I suppose that 20 years ago when the state video lottery program was started, there may have been some concern about protecting license holders from gambling opponents, though I don’t know why. We don’t hide the owners of liquor licenses because some people are opposed to alcohol. If there ever was any kind of justification for secrecy regarding video lottery, it certainly wouldn’t seem to exist now. And a business that apparently generates over 200 million dollars a year shouldn’t have a lot of secrecy, should it?

I’ll stop my list of recommended resolutions for our state legislators with just these two: get us off the bottom of the list in education funding and in having open and transparent government. That may provide challenge, but if legislators have open minds and stout hearts, I think they can do it.

Lorraine Collins is a writer who lives in Spearfish. She can be contacted at collins1@rushmore.com.

Lee stock in the tank

Tough times continue for Lee Enterprises, the media company that owns the Rapid City Journal, which includes a number of associated weeklies like the Lawrence County Star, the Hot Springs Journal, the Belle Fourche Post & Bee, and the Chadron (Nebr) Record.

One year ago, the Davenport, Iowa, publisher saw its stock trading at $14.91 per share. Just before the 2008 holidays, a Lee share went for just 30 cents per share, and it’s been over a month since its stock has seen anything above one dollar.

Lee owns 49 daily newspapers, and its poor financial showing means that it has fallen below standards necessary to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Business Week reports that Lee plans to announce a strategy within the next 10 days that would allow them to keep their NYSE listing. Being forced to trade over-the-counter would be a severe black-eye for the firm, which continues to struggle with lower advertising revenues and declining circulation numbers.

Nonetheless, Lee officials say their circulation numbers are not as bad as the rest of the industry, which has seen a decline of some 20% over the past year.

Despite my arm-chair criticism of some practices at the Rapid City Journal – and the fact that I’ve become a habitual user of internet services – I’m hoping that Lee Enterprises and the Rapid City Journal will get through these difficult times.

Call me old fashioned, but I believe there’ll always be a place for print journalism products. While it’s hard for me to imagine a world without my morning newspaper, it’s clear that the industry will have to become more creative in finding ways to retain its relevancy in this glitzo-techno era.