During this busy summer season, the monthly peer chat lead by Chris Hardie (publisher of Western Wayne News) will pause.

We will ramp back up in September. More information about the September call will be included in our August newsletter.

Enjoy your summer!

By Kris Cundiff 

Under Indiana’s Access to Public Records Act, members of the press and the public can obtain an array of records from state and local public agencies. These public records are a crucial tool for reporting on public business, including how the government is spending taxpayer money. But what should you, as a journalist, do when you think your public records request has been wrongly denied?

In this column, I’m going to answer that question. Here are three things you should know to help you pry loose public records from secretive government agencies.

If an agency ignores your written public records request for more than seven days, the request is considered denied.

Under APRA, no response is a response. If you submit a written public records request, the agency has seven days to acknowledge your request before it is deemed denied. (If you submit an oral request, the time limit is 24 hours.)

It’s important to note that the agency isn’t required to turn over the requested records within seven days — it just has to respond to your request. Once an agency acknowledges your request, APRA requires it to produce the records within a “reasonable time,” which is not defined.

APRA has both mandatory exemptions and discretionary exceptions to disclosure.

If an agency denies your public records request, the law says it must cite a specific statutory exception. But not all statutory exemptions are created equal.

APRA contains both mandatory exemptions and discretionary exceptions. The latter exceptions don’t prohibit disclosure but allow government agencies to justify withholding public records in certain circumstances. For example, a police department may deny a public records request for a law enforcement recording if it determines that the recording, if released, may compromise a fair trial.

The Reporters Committee’s Open Government Guide for Indiana has a list of APRA’s exemptions. If your request is denied, the guide can be a handy tool to understand the statutory basis for the denial.

If you believe your request has been wrongly denied, you have 30 days to file a complaint with the Public Access Counselor.

Indiana’s public records law doesn’t have an administrative appeals process. It does, however, allow journalists and other requesters to file a formal complaint with the Office of the Public Access Counselor, which responds to inquiries from the public and state agencies on public access issues.

If your request is denied, you must file a formal complaint within 30 days of the denial. Then, the PAC may investigate the complaint. The PAC is required to issue an advisory opinion no more than 30 days after the complaint is filed.

If you later decide to sue for access to public records under APRA, it’s important that you file a complaint with the PAC first. Doing so helps ensure that you are eligible to recover attorney’s fees if your lawsuit is ultimately successful.

I’m available to field any questions you have in the course of newsgathering — APRA or otherwise. Don’t hesitate to reach out to me at kcundiff@rcfp.org.

Kris Cundiff is the Indiana Local Legal Initiative attorney at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. He lives just outside of Indianapolis.  

By Lisa Renze

Newsrooms in Indiana have multiple resources available for content, from Chalkbeat Indiana to Indiana Capital Chronicle, among others. New among this group are the news outlets of Free Press Indiana. 

Free Press Indiana formally organized more than two years ago, with the launch of its first newsroom, Mirror Indy. Mirror Indy is a hyperlocal outlet focused on the townships and neighborhoods inside Marion County, and some HSPA members have already utilized content from that team, including stories like this one, explaining the financial problems that led to the closure of Martin University.

Now, beginning later this month, Free Press Indiana is launching a statewide news team that will provide insight and deeper coverage into issues affecting all Hoosiers. From the lack of affordable housing, to access to healthcare, to education and transportation issues, the four-person FPI News team will provide content that we believe will be beneficial to you, your teams and your audiences. 

Some things to know about our work: 

• All of the content created by Mirror Indy and FPI News is free to use. That includes the stories, photos, videos and other social media content. Just like with most other nonprofit outlets, all we ask is for you to credit our team and link back to our site. Our full republishing guidelines can be found here.
• You are not required to use any of the content, nor are you being asked to give us anything in return. We do have a newsletter, The Lens, that gets distributed across the state, and any stories that you may want to promote can of course be pitched and we’re happy to work to share those with readers. The newsletter links go directly back to your news sites — we’re simply working to promote your content.
• Our stories are never intended to be competitive to the work your team is doing. You own your community, you know your audience — we’re simply trying to augment the great content you’re already creating to provide you some assistance.

Additionally: 

• We’re eager to partner with anyone who has an idea they may want to pursue, but who may not currently have the bandwidth for a project. That partnership can take on many forms, give us a call and let’s talk.

Please reach out with any questions you may have. 

Thanks for reading. 

Lisa Renze

Director of Strategic Partnerships

Free Press Indiana

(317) 513-4885

lisa.renze@freepressindiana.org. 

An E&P Webinar on Thursday June 4th, at 12n ET

Print production is no longer predictable. Paper pricing swings, supply chain disruptions, mill consolidation and global trade pressures are forcing publishers to rethink how they manage print — from budgeting and sourcing to long-term strategy.

REGISTER BELOW for this E&P webinar where we cut through the noise to focus on what’s actually happening — and what publishers can do about it. This is a practical, real-world look at how to navigate today’s print environment with more clarity, control and confidence.

What you’ll learn:

• What’s really driving today’s paper cost volatility and supply uncertainty
• How tariffs and global shifts are impacting availability and pricing
• What publishers should expect next — and what remains unpredictable
• Practical ways to plan, budget and operate more efficiently in today’s print environment

Register Here

By Kris Cundiff 

Since President Donald Trump returned to office last year, his administration has relied on state and local governments to help enforce his sweeping immigration enforcement campaign. Indiana journalists have done important reporting on this crackdown and its impact on local communities, from the expansion of ICE’s presence across the Hoosier State to the deaths of two U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees in a state prison earlier this year.

A new state law recently signed by Governor Braun will expand the role of local governments in immigration enforcement. As you continue to report on this topic, I wanted to highlight a guide compiled by my colleagues at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press that can help you understand the legal issues you might run into along the way: the Immigration Reporting Legal Guide, available in English and Spanish.

In this column, I’ll give you an overview of three key takeaways from the guide. Be sure to check out the full guide to learn more.

Know the agencies that house immigration-related public records — and how to request them.

The American immigration system is a complex web of federal, state, and private entities — no single agency holds all the immigration-related records you may want to access for your reporting. Having an understanding of which agencies control the information you’re looking for can help you more quickly obtain it.

Through requests under the federal Freedom of Information Act, you can request immigration-related records from:

● U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

● U.S. Citizenship and Information Services

● U.S. Customs and Border Protection

● Executive Office for Immigration Review

The Reporters Committee’s legal guide explains what records these agencies house and how to submit FOIA requests to each agency.

You can also use Indiana’s Access to Public Records Act to obtain immigration-related records from state and local agencies that coordinate with federal immigration enforcement.

For example, let’s say you’re looking into the conditions at the prison in Indiana where two ICE detainees recently died. Though the detainees were in federal custody, they were being housed at a detention center operated by the Indiana Department of Correction, which signed an agreement with the federal government last year to house up to 1,000 ICE detainees at the Miami Correctional Facility.

That means you’ll need to request records from the IDOC under the state public records law. (For a helpful reference on APRA, check out the Reporters Committee’s Open Government Guide for Indiana.)

But you don’t have to stop there. You can maximize the amount of information that you obtain by using FOIA in combination with APRA. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General handles inspections of detention facilities, public or private, and is subject to FOIA.

Immigration proceedings are presumptively open to the public, with some exceptions.

As the Reporters Committee’s guide explains, immigration proceedings — including removal proceedings, through which the government seeks to deport a noncitizen — are presumptively open to the public and press. Indiana’s sole immigration court is in Indianapolis.

The latest guidance from the federal sub-agency that oversees immigration proceedings encourages reporters to contact its policy office in advance at PAO.EOIR@usdoj.gov to “coordinate visits,” but reporters aren’t obligated to do so or get permission before attending a hearing.

If an immigration judge or court administrator suggests that preapproval is required, please contact me at kcundiff@rcfp.org.

Understand your rights when covering immigration enforcement officers on the ground.

The guide also covers what journalists need to know about legal obstacles they may face when reporting on immigration officers carrying out enforcement operations in public places.

Generally speaking, the First Amendment protects recording government officials, including immigration enforcement officers, who are carrying out their official duties in public. Seven federal appellate courts have recognized the constitutional right to record, including the Seventh Circuit, which has jurisdiction over Indiana.

The strength of that protection depends on how public the space is. For example, your First Amendment right to record is strongest in a traditionally public place, like a public road or sidewalk. But courts have held that the government has a much lower burden to justify infringing on someone’s right to record in places like a military base or an airport terminal.

The Immigration Reporting Legal Guide is just one of the Reporters Committee’s many free resources that can help you overcome legal issues you face in the course of reporting. You can find the rest of them on the Reporters Committee’s website.

One more thing: I wanted to shout out to all the Indiana journalists who were recently honored at the 2026 Indiana SPJ Pro Awards. Congratulations, all!

As always, I’m here to provide the free legal support you need to produce hard-hitting reporting. Reach out to me at kcundiff@rcfp.org.

Kris Cundiff is the Indiana Local Legal Initiative attorney at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. He lives just outside of Indianapolis.

Running a newspaper — especially in a small or solo operation — can be both deeply rewarding and incredibly challenging. Whether it’s finding the right resources, streamlining your operations, juggling staffing needs, or just figuring out what works, you don’t have to do it alone.

Join us for a friendly, informal monthly peer chat with other newspaper publishers from across Indiana. We’ll swap ideas, share questions, offer support, and connect each other with tools and tips that can make our work easier.

Who’s invited? Anyone in a leadership role at a newspaper organization that publishes in Indiana.

When: Mark your calendars for next month’s chat - May 6 at 2 p.m. ET.

Where: Zoom - Registration required each month:

https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/7fOpIfUnQc2m1AJs2VEIEQ

Bring your questions, your stories, and let’s help each other keep local news strong in Indiana.

Questions? Contact Chris Hardie (publisher of Western Wayne News in Wayne County) at chris@westernwaynenews.com or (765) 478-5448 x201.

By The Media Insight Project

The news industry has an imperative to understand how news habits differ by generation. In an increasingly fractured media ecosystem, age is a major factor in determining people’s news and information needs and priorities, the ways they access news, and who they trust to provide it. This understanding of news engagement by generation is essential for news leaders to develop innovative strategies to reach news consumers across age, including new opportunities to collaborate with influencers, independent creators, and local news and information providers.

A new in-depth study by the Media Insight Project, which surveyed both adults and teens as young as 13 years old, provides a deep look into how news engagement does and does not vary by generation. The research reveals that people of all generations now get news and information from “influencers” or “independent creators.” Indeed, more than half of all American teenagers and adults (57%) now report getting news and information from influencers at least sometimes. And, unlike with traditional media, levels of trust in this emerging sector are similar across political ideologies. This sector is particularly powerful with younger Americans. Fully 81% of those ages 13-17 report getting news and information from influencers. Taken together, the signals in the study suggest this sector is poised to only grow in importance, use, and effect on the information ecosystem of the nation.

Even at this relatively early stage in the evolution of the influencer/creator ecosystem, most American teenagers and adults say they trust influencers or independent creators to verify facts, be transparent, or offer different viewpoints at least somewhat well. Interestingly, this trust does not vary significantly between different age groups.

At the same time, the public has different priorities for influencers or creators than it does for other news sources. When determining which creators to get news or information from, many people feel it’s important that influencers are transparent about sponsored content and their mission. People say they care less about how many followers a creator has or whether people they know, digitally or personally, also follow that influencer.

And there are important findings about consumer revenue. In all, nearly 7 out of 10 American teenagers and adults pay for some kind of news product or service, 56% directly and another 23% through another person’s subscription or membership. The percentage is higher for older Americans. Yet even among the cohort least likely to pay, those ages 18-34, 54% pay for something, though it is more likely to be a video or TV source than a podcast, radio, or newspaper.

In general, teens continue to rely most heavily on social media, while older adults remain deeply connected to television and print-based news. Younger people are less likely to use or pay for several types of traditional news products, despite high levels of daily engagement with news content. For all that, nearly half of teens and adults still watch TV news in some form every day.

Local news continues to occupy an essential role in the media landscape, though it is one of the most threatened sectors of journalism. It is increasingly unclear what business model will be able to sustain journalism in smaller markets. Yet local news is generally more trusted. It is also one of the most complex or varied parts of the media ecosystem. Most Americans say they receive local information from local news outlets, community organizations, or word-of-mouth networks. Teens, however, are more likely than adults to encounter local news through local creators or influencers, signaling a generational shift in how communities stay informed.

While confidence in news sources remains relatively low on average, the public differentiates sharply among sources of information. Local news emerges as the most trusted overall, though local and national news outlets score similarly on several metrics, including when it comes to being perceived to be best at helping people understand the world around them, verify facts, or treating different sides fairly. Local news is considered better than national news at giving people useful information.

Only a quarter of the teens and adults say that influencers or independent creators are better than other sources of news (local outlets, national outlets, or AI) at treating all sides fairly, helping people understand the world around them, or getting facts right. Local and national news are not far ahead, with 3 in 10 saying that these two sources are best at treating all sides fairly, helping people understand the world around them, or getting the facts right – an important data point as the news industry thinks about how to leverage and work with this growing segment of information providers.

The study also reveals substantial skepticism about the utility and veracity of AI, at least for now. AI chatbots lag behind all other sources regarding public trust, with only 1 in 10 feeling they are more trustworthy than other news sources. However, some distrust of AI could be fueled by low use, with two-thirds of all teens and adults never using AI for news and information at all.

These findings are part of a new study, The Evolving News Landscape: Comparing Media Habits and Trust Between Teens and Adults, which examines news engagement with a greater level of detail than before, studying teens as young as 13, and asking not just about where and how people get news but also discovering how those habits vary by the topics people are learning about.

The report is the latest study from the Media Insight Project. The Media Insight Poll is a collaboration of The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, the American Press Institute, Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications and the Local News Network at the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism. This new report draws on a nationally representative survey of teens ages 13–17 and adults 18 and older, providing one of the most comprehensive, generationally comparative looks at how Americans navigate an increasingly complex news, information, and media ecosystem. With more than 2,000 interviews, the study offers rare insight into how media habits, values, expectations, and trust differ across five distinct age groups: ages 13–17, 18–34, 35–49, 50–64, and 65 and older.

Comparisons across generations and engagement

Most American teenagers and adults follow a variety of news and information topics. Out of a list of 14 topic areas – from “hard news” to entertainment — American teens and adults on average follow four regularly, though fully one out of five say they do not follow any particular topics consistently.

Different age groups also tend to follow different topics. Interest in hard news — such as politics, social issues, and business — continues to rise with age.  Lifestyle and entertainment remain central to the information diets of both teens and older adults. The findings also highlight meaningful differences in the extent to which people pay for, donate to, or use news products — driven not only by age, but also by the frequencies with which people follow certain categories of news. Avid hard news consumers are more likely than moderate or low hard news consumers to personally pay for or donate to several of the products surveyed.

Many news perceptions vary by age or news consumption habits: older adults and avid hard news consumers show stronger confidence in traditional outlets. Those who pay for news express notably higher trust in both local and national sources’ abilities to verify information and help audiences understand complex issues. Teens demonstrate relatively balanced confidence across traditional and alternative sources compared with older adults. Younger audiences do not reject traditional journalism outright, but they do not grant it automatic authority. Unlike older adults, who show stronger, categorical confidence in local and national outlets, teens and young adults distribute trust more evenly across traditional news and independent creators.

As the Media Insight Project and others have seen before, among adults, Democrats are more likely than Republicans to trust and regularly use local news sources, reflecting stronger confidence in traditional, community-based journalism. This difference may stem from broader partisan divides in attitudes toward legacy media and perceptions of journalistic credibility. However, these partisan distinctions do not extend to influencers: Democrats and Republicans are likely to follow influencers and to trust the information they share at similar levels.

The study also reveals significant stress and fatigue in Americans’ relationship with news. While most feel capable of finding relevant content and identifying trustworthy information, the emotional toll they feel in doing so is considerable. Very few Americans say news gives them a hopeful view of the world; and a substantial portion report feeling overwhelmed or finding news too stressful.

In response, teens and adults are actively managing their exposure — not by rejecting news wholesale, but by avoiding specific topics or contexts. Celebrity news, political content, and news encountered on social media or during personal conversations are the most commonly avoided, and these avoidance patterns differ by age. American teenagers and adults assign responsibility for misinformation primarily to politicians and social media actors rather than news organizations, with local news receiving the least blame — a pattern that may help explain why trust in local journalism remains comparatively resilient even as media fatigue grows.

Together, these findings offer a rich portrait of a media environment that is rapidly diversifying but still grounded in longstanding behaviors and expectations. They underscore both the challenges and opportunities ahead for news organizations, community information providers, and creators alike as they navigate an increasingly crowded, fragmented, and generationally stratified media world.

Among the study findings:

By Kevin Slimp

 Yesterday, I received an email from the publisher of a tiny newspaper in Minnesota, asking if I could visit with her to discuss how I could help her paper grow. We spoke by phone this morning and discussed the status of her paper. I appreciated our conversation because I love publishers who genuinely care about their communities and their newspapers. It might surprise you (or it might not, if you know me well) to know that I didn’t try to sell her anything. I stay plenty busy, and the last thing I’m going to do is try to talk someone into hiring me for something unless they really need it.

Here were some of my thoughts that I didn’t share with her:

• Yes, her newspaper could probably use a redesign (okay, it could) to draw more readers.

• Yes, her newspaper should be getting more advertising from businesses in the larger city 30 minutes away.

• Yes, I could help her grow circulation and revenue without too great an effort.

However, I didn’t suggest any of those things. Looking at the online map, I quickly learned that her newspaper serves several very small communities within a 20-minute (or so) radius. The combined population of all communities is less than 3,500. If the newspaper were located in a town of 3,500, I would likely have recommended several options, all with a price tag. Despite this, knowing she was in a small community, I wanted to be sure to give her the best possible advice without breaking the budget.

My advice? I gave her the name and phone number of a very successful small-town publisher, approximately two hours away. I suggested she give him a call, explain the situation, and see if he has any good advice before spending money on a consultant. She seemed pleased with the idea. I called my publisher friend and asked if it was okay for her to call him, and he said he’d be happy to talk with her. I am certain he will listen to her and share some ideas that will help grow her paper.

Publishers contact me just about every day. Yesterday, I heard from a smalltown publisher and the publisher of one of the biggest metro newspapers in the U.S. It’s amazing how similar the issues facing newspapers of all sizes are. With this in mind, I chose to spend the rest of this column offering suggestions to newspapers in very small communities.

Without breaking the bank (I realize that sometimes it does need breaking), here are suggestions for my small-town colleagues:

• Gather your staff together (there might just be two or three of you) and have an open conversation about ways to improve your newspaper

• Contact publishers of similar-sized newspapers and seek out advice on what is working for them. I’d bet they’ll be happy you called. There was a time when this type of thing happened a lot at press conventions, before so many papers were incorporated into large groups. There’s no reason you can’t reach out to other publishers and create your own informal support group.

• Find someone who knows something about good design (and good reporting) and ask them to critique your newspaper. You don’t have to hire someone to do this, but if you do, it’s an easy and inexpensive way to improve your paper quickly.

• Form a focus group of 8-16 people in your community to critique your newspaper and have an honest conversation about possible improvements.

• Find training. Whether it’s an online webinar, a press association training event, or something else, learn from others whose job it is to help you grow your newspaper.

Listen, I’m with you. I get it. I run a couple of small businesses. Just today, I gathered three people who had never met before. Two were former daily newspaper publishers, and the third is the owner of a large digital media company. I simply called them together, bought their lunch, and asked for advice on a new project I’m considering. It’s taken a few years, but I’m finally learning that most people really are glad when you ask for their advice, and I’m getting really good at asking for it.

That’s 800 words. My work (for the moment) is done.