Newspapers win one, lose one this year

As the curtain comes down on the 2009 session of the Utah Legislature, the state's struggling newspaper business has a legitimate claim to a stake as one of this year's biggest losers.

If two key pieces of legislation now sitting on his desk are signed into law by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., newspapers will not only lose a big chunk of their annual revenue, but they also will lose guaranteed access to some of their most important sources of news.

SB208, sponsored by Sen. Steve Urquhart, R-St. George, requires all legally mandated public notices to be posted on a state-run Web site and removes the existing requirement that they be posted in local newspapers. The argument in favor of the new requirement is that online notices will reach more people and cost less.

On Wednesday the proposal cleared its final hurdle in the House by a six-vote margin after changes were made to the Senate version that will allow newspapers time to brace for what is anticipated to be a significant loss of revenue.

Starting next year, all public notices must be jointly published in both newspapers and online. In 2012 the larger counties in the state will begin to publish notices online only, while smaller counties will continue to require that notices be posted in both places.

Rep. John Dougall, R-American Fork, told House members the final version of the bill was worked out in conjunction with representatives from local newspapers, Media One and the Utah Press Association and was supported by the Deseret News, Salt Lake Tribune and Provo Daily Herald.

During Senate debate on the bill Monday, Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, said newspapers could have avoided the legislation "if they had been willing to move into the 21st century" by offering online notice postings.

HB122, sponsored by Rep. Doug Aagard, R-Kaysville, will make it easier to keep public records private by removing the simple "balancing test" provision for eight of the 56 types of records covered under the Government Records Access and Management Act that deal with police investigations and legal proceedings.

The Attorney General's Office had pushed for the changes, which the proposal's Senate sponsor, Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, said were necessary because groups and individuals were increasingly using GRAMA provisions to "circumvent well-established rules of discovery."

Although there was a deal worked out earlier in the week, it fell apart in the waning hours of the session. A Thursday night conference committee to hammer out some sort of a compromise failed to yield any results, and the bill died on the floor.

The changes would have allowed a record to remain private if the life or safety of someone involved in an investigation might be jeopardized unless the media outlet making the request can show "clear and convincing" evidence that the information should be public. The other seven changes related to investigations and lawsuits raised the standard to a "preponderance" of the evidence.

The Deseret News, as part of the Utah Media Coalition, retained lobbyists to work with legislators on the bill.

E-MAIL: dservatius@desnews.com