NEW IPO Logo - by Charles Larry Home Search Browse About IPO Staff Links

Legislative Action


The media as lobbyists

By DEBORAH L. GERTZ


The vote was 11-1 to pass House Bill 590 from the Judiciary I Committee to the floor. The bill would allow lawsuits to force published corrections as an alternative to libel suits for damages. The hearing room was packed. Proponents argued that the measure was needed and called it "the restoration of reputation" bill; the media argued against it and said it would open the door to lawsuits demanding printed apologies from newspapers.

Libel laws are not the only issue before the General Assembly on which the media is lobbying. The media will lobby on any bill that may affect reporters' freedom or access to information. They will also lobby when an issue threatens their profit margins. In this they do not differ from any other industry in the state. The media are represented by the Illinois Press Association (newspapers), and the Illinois News Broadcasters Association (radio and television news interests) and the Illinois Broadcasters Association (radio and television corporate interests). David L. Bennett is executive director of the Illinois Press Association, the lobby organization for some 600 member newspapers. Bennett explains the media as lobbyist: "It's naive to think that your good intentions and your best interests and your noble purposes will be carried on if you don't fight for them, and in this state that means you have to be vigilant all the time, and it's getting tougher and tougher and tougher."

On the debate over the libel bill, sponsored by Rep. Timothy V. Johnson (R-104, Urbana), Bennett argues that it would allow someone to sue for an apology. Current libel law deters public officials from suing because of the need to prove malicious intent in published material. He says that Johnson's bill would drop that standard and would open up a flood of nuisance suits by public officials. He also questions its constitutionality: "The courts can't order the press to publish or not to publish."

The libel bill's cosponsor, Rep. John W. Countryman (R-76, DeKalb), says he had expected media support and is unmoved by their arguments against the bill. He believes the bill will provide a remedy that is badly needed in the public sector. "It's an idea that needs to be debated,'' he adds. He says he told media lobbyists that he won't shut the door to their opinions.

When the media lobby, their style is usually grass roots. Bennett describes the newspapers' methods: "The influence we have as an industry doesn't come from me, it comes from our members'' and their influence on local legislators. When the organization is really interested in an issue, local editors are contacted and they talk with their representatives and senators." The press association does not contribute to political campaigns, and Bennett likes that arrangement: "I don't threaten legislators or try to buy their votes; I'm just as comfortable not having to do that.''

Rep. Lee Preston (D-3, Chicago) has experienced the press' lobbying style. He says while the media voice their opinions on freedom of information issues, the lobbying becomes more intense on a "bread and butter issue" — like last year's proposal to remove the jury duty exemption for journalists. On such issues that affect the business side of newspapers, he says there may be an implication that a legislator's vote would result in limited or unfavorable coverage.

Although the broadcasting organizations may join the newspaper lobby group when common interests are at stake, they have their own focus. The Illinois Broadcasters Association is a trade association, explains executive director Wally Gair, with most of its attention focused on Washington. It also employs grass-roots lobbying: to help promote or defeat bills, the group has local stations contact representatives and senators. Gair's group focuses mainly on the corporate area. In contrast, the Illinois News Broadcasters Association focuses on issues concerned with reporting. Association head L.P. Phillips explains that while Gair's group deals with federal regulations, the news business is more affected by what happens in Springfield because of state statutes on open meetings, freedom of information and libel.

The news broadcasters do not have a paid lobbyist in Springfield but probably would if they could afford one, Phillips says. The organization tries to present its side during legislative hearings and urges members to contact legislators to express opinions on bills. And Phillips believes that it is becoming easier for his organization to influence legislation as television and radio become more important. The news broadcasters often combine forces with the newspaper lobby. They joined the press assocation in opposing ing Johnson's libel bill.

Do the media lobbies ever clash? "Sometimes we don't have the same interests," Phillips explains, "we may not be in concert, but we don't often oppose one another."

Topping Bennett's list of traditional press issues this year are changes in the Freedom of Information Act to limit copying fees and to speed up responses to queries. Both the press association and the news broadcasters association favor them. Common Cause and the ACLU also support proposed changes introduced by Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie (D-26, Chicago). A bread-and-butter issue on which the newspapers and the broadcasters are united in opposition is Gov. James R. Thompson's proposed sales tax on services. The media as an industry do not want advertising services taxed. Although the governor has explained that he is not proposing to tax advertisements handled directly by a newspaper or a station, his proposed tax would apply to the services of advertising agencies and that would include advertising services now provided by Bennett's association to its members. (No actual bill had been introduced as of April 27.)

June 1987/Ilinois Issues/23


One issue solely affecting the press association is what Illinois governments should pay newspapers for printing required public notices. A basic principle is that the public should know what its government is doing, but implementing that through legal notices published in newspapers brings up the issue of payment. "We have that paradoxical situation that we're always in when we support the constitutional principles involved, but we're not going to do it for free either,'' explains Bennett. Newspapers may be a forum for public issues and opinions, but, according to Bennett, "to protect the first amendment, you have to be strong financially." The paradox is how to separate reporting from lobbying on these issues. "The first function of a newspaper is to make money," explains Robert Best, publisher of the Sullivan News-Progress. At the same time Best does not want his reporters worried about profits. He says that his staff journalists remain separate from the business side of the newspaper, which has to worry about making money.

John P. Clarke, publisher of the State Journal-Register in Springfield, sees a need for the same separation. He would prefer that the newspapers confine their lobbying to editorial pages, using what they print there to persuade legislators. Clarke acknowledges that on issues such as freedom of information and libel it can become necessary for "media managers — and certainly not the working press" — to take a more active role because no one else will. When it comes to protecting the newspapers' business interests, Clarke says lobbying can come through traditional business organizations like the Illinois State Chamber of Commerce.

On this business side of the print medium's agenda is a 50 percent boost in the minimum rate for legal notices. Public notices required by law include such items as property tax assessments, dates for contract bidding and ballot information. These notices are paid for by the state or local government required to publish them. The press association wants to increase the minimum per line rate from 20 cents to 30 cents. That rate has increased only once in the last 30 years, according to Bennett. In competitive markets, he says, papers charge the minimum because printing public notices often become a bidding war. In almost every part of the state, he says, newspapers charge state government far less than any other customer.

At the Sullivan News-Progress, public notices now sell for $1.60 per inch; if the proposed bill passes, that would go up to $2.40. "We're taking a bath on that; we ought to get some of our investment back," says publisher Best. Jim Roberts, publisher of The Fairbury Blade, anticipates no great profit from the hike: "Public notices in proportion to total revenue is minimal to newspapers."

The press association also supports measures to return to the practice of publishing complete specimen ballots for all elections in the state and of publishing the names of deputy voter registrars. Bennett says specimen ballots and deputy registrar lists will provide needed information to voters. Printing them will also provide more money to papers and raise local governments' cost.

Morgan County Clerk Barb Gross, member of the Illinois Association of County Clerks and Recorders, explains that it is already difficult for the smaller counties to pay for election costs. Using Iroquois County as an example, she explains that to publish specimen ballots for each of the county's 34 April elections would have cost approximately $l,900. Instead, she says, the county opted to publish one list of candidates at a cost of $50. "We understand that people need to know what they're voting on," Gross says, but she doesn't know where the money will come from.

Legislators and the media lobby do reach compromises. For example, after the press association's battle last session to maintain the exemption from jury duty for print journalists, it gave up this spring but only after bill sponsor Rep. John Cullerton (D-4, Chicago) agreed to an amendment. The amendment safeguards journalists from harassment by jury commissioners because of articles they have written. Although Cullerton expects his bill to pass, Bennett believes that "the issue is naive if not silly" because he doubts that lawyers would seat journalists on juries anyway.

At the end of April there was no compromise promise in sight on the libel bill. Bennett was surprised by the overwhelming support for it in the House committee, and he says, "We'll fight it, no question about it."

24/June 1987/lllinois Issues



|Home| |Search| |Back to Periodicals Available| |Table of Contents| |Back to Illinois Issues 1987|
Illinois Periodicals Online (IPO) is a digital imaging project at the Northern Illinois University Libraries funded by the Illinois State Library