KBOI-TV

Chris Nettleton is the new Sports Director. He previously worked at stations in Minnesota, Tennessee and Iowa.  Stephanie Smith is the new morning news show co-anchor.  She came from KLEW.

Idaho Public Television

Greg Hahn, formerly an editor for the Idaho Statesman, is the new Producer/Reporter/Host for Idaho Reports.  Melanie Corry, Associate Producer for Dialogue, departs to work for the PBS station in Redding, Calif.

KNIN-TV

New arrivals include Roland Beres, weekday anchor, who was working in Madison, Wisconsin and previously had worked at KTVB; Tamara Jolee, sports and field reporter, who was working in Dallas, Texas; Michael Lopez, video journalist, who came from South Florida; and Jennifer Auh, video journalist, who came from KTVE in Monroe, Louisiana.

KTVB-TV

New arrivals include Jenna Jordan, morning producer, from University of Colorado at Boulder; Andrea Lutz, nightside reporter, from KAJ, Missoula; Jay Tust, sports reporter/anchor from KLEW, Lewiston; Julia Dodson, senior morning producer from WXIN, Indianapolis; and Adrea Young, nightside assignment editor/digital media producer, from KOIN, Portland, Ore.
Departures include former news director Jim Gilchriest to WAVY, Hampton Roads, Virginia; nightside reporter Nishi Gupta, who took a job at Global TV in Toronto;  morning producer Kelly Fisk; nightside assignment editor Nick Lambert; nightside photographer Trevor Loucks; and sports anchor/reporter Zach Wolken.

KTRV-TV

New arrivals include morning news anchor Jonathan Martinez, who came from Las Vegas. Judy Alley is the new weekend news anchor/reporter. She came from Los Angeles. Brian Staudinger is a new video journalist.  He was previously an editor and left to work for a cruise line before returning. Carl Rippe is a new weekend weatherperson.  He came from west Texas.

Former weekend anchor Mike Vogel left to start his own Web company.  Adam Bartelmay, former weekday anchor, left for a public relations position with the Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce.

KIFI/KIDK-TV

New reporter Caleb James came from the University of Colorado, Boulder, as did new reporter Kylie Bearse; new reporter/weekend producer Jamie Ostroff came from Miami, and new weekday producer Paul Riley arrives from BYU Idaho. New overnight producer Jake Copp hails from the University of Wisconsin.

Troy Campbell, a reporter, moved to a station in El Paso, Texas.  Tammy Harmer, weekend anchor/reporter, left the industry. Brandon Aisle, executive producer, left to become executive producer at KKTV in Colorado Springs.

KPVI-TV

Former morning anchor/producer Stuart Summers left for a position at ISU. Diana Nguyen, who was a reporter, left the business.

Haley Smith is the new morning anchor/producer.  She came from BYU. Sasha Zimmerman, who came from BYU Idaho, is the new reporter.

KMVT-TV

Diane Dean is the new weekday anchor, arriving from Texas. Also from Texas is new reporter Aimee Burnett. Former reporter Rachael Giffoni left for the CBS station in Fort Myers, Fla.

KLEW-TV

Nate Keuster is the new News Director.  He came from Boise, as did Matt Johnson, the new Sports Director. New reporter Cindy Cha arrives from Honolulu, Hawaii. Stephanie Smith departed to become the morning anchor on KBOI-TV.

PRINT

BOISE WEEKLY

After eight years of hard work at Boise Weekly, Arts and Entertainment Editor Amy Atkins has left to pursue life outside of the newsroom. Staff Writer Tara Morgan was named to fill Atkins’ shoes as A&E editor, while Sheree Whiteley, Andrew Crisp and Stephen Foster joined the editorial staff in various reporting positions.

IDAHO MOUNTAIN EXPRESS

Sabina Dana Plasse, former arts and events editor, left to pursue other writing opportunities and new projects in the valley. Jennifer Liebrum will be taking over as the new arts and events editor.

TWIN FALLS TIMES-NEWS

Julie Wootton has joined the Times-News as an education reporter. She was formerly with the Elko (Nev.) Daily Free Press. Features reporter Melissa Davlin has joined the editorial board.

IDAHO STATESMAN

Mike Jung is the new president and publisher. He is the former publisher of the Santa Cruz (Calif.) Sentinel, and before that worked for the San Jose Mercury News and Florida Today.

IDAHO STATE JOURNAL

Former teacher and newspaper editor Michael H. O’Donnell has joined the Idaho State Journal staff as assistant managing editor. O’Donnell will continue to write his Sunday column for the paper in addition to his new duties.

IDAHO FALLS POST    REGISTER

Ruth Brown is the new cops and courts reporter for the Post Register. Brown comes to Idaho Falls from the Capital Journal in Pierre, S.D., where she covered state government, city council, and courts in two counties as well as the police beat. Brown replaces Rachel Cook, who took a job at the Bakersfield Californian as a breaking news reporter.

IDAHO PRESS-TRIBUNE

Charlotte Wiemerslage is the new local editor; she’s a recent BSU grad, former managing editor of the BSU Arbiter, and a graduate of Eagle High School. Holly Beech, a Northwest Nazarene University grad, former editor of the college paper, and graduate of Skyview High School in Nampa, is a new business reporter.

Nate Green signs on as education reporter; he’s a former reporter for the Laramie Daily Boomerang in Laramie, Wyo. and also teaches English at the college level. John Funk is the new night reporter; he worked for the Herald Journal in Logan, Utah. New photographer Adam Eschbach is a recent graduate of the University of Montana.

Name: Kelsey Jacobson

Press Club position: Board member of the IPC Southwest Chapter

Job: Senior Digital Media Producer for KTVB.COM.  I really like the new media side of journalism.  I love writing for the web, designing new web pages, graphics, and I really enjoy the social media aspect of it all.  With how fast everything changes in the new media world, it’s hard to say where my career will take me!

Education: I graduated magna cum laude from the University of North Dakota in 2007 with a degree in Communication.  But my experience in broadcast journalism dates back to high school.  I began working in television running cameras, teleprompter, audio, and chyron at an ABC affiliate in 2002.  While working at WDAZ-TV, I worked my way up, eventually producing newscasts, reporting, shooting and editing my own stories.  Once I graduated from college I moved out to Boise.  September marked my four year anniversary at KTVB, while October marked my nine year anniversary in the news industry.

Honors/Achievements: In 2008, I was honored to be producing KTVB’s Today’s Morning News when it was awarded an Emmy from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.  Since I’ve joined the web team, we were also honored with a national Edward R. Murrow Award.  Those are huge honors that I’m very proud to be a part of.

What do you love about your job? I love the fast pace of the news industry.  I get a rush producing breaking news, and I feel a great sense of pride when I see a story through from start to finish.  In news, you get to learn a little about a lot of things and every day is different.  In this last year, my job allowed me to visit a new city every day for two weeks during our Live Tour.  One day I was exploring Ponderosa Park in McCall, and the next I found myself driving through Hells Canyon taking pictures.  It was an incredible experience.  KTVB has given me the opportunity to do what I love, learn, and grow as a producer, writer, photographer, and graphic designer.  Day-to-day, keeping up with current events, surfing other news web sites, utilizing social media, and discovering new tools are things that I do whether I’m at work or not.  You know you have found a great job when you are doing things at work that you enjoy doing in your free time.

About Idaho? Idaho is an outdoor adventurist’s dream!  I love camping, hiking, waterskiing, snow skiing, exploring hot springs, and just being outdoors in general.  I don’t know of any other place where you can actually water ski in the morning and then go up the mountain in the afternoon to snow ski.  I actually did that last year … in February.  Crazy?  Yes.  But that is definitely not something I would be able to do where I came from in North Dakota.  Idaho has so much to offer and I am always finding new places to explore and new things to try.

Where did you grow up? I grew up in Grand Forks, North Dakota, where the average temperature is … freezing.  When I first moved to Idaho, I wore flip flops all year long and the only time I put on a coat was to go skiing in the mountains.  People thought I was crazy.  But having come from a place where the temperature drops to 40 degrees below, I feel like anything above zero is balmy.

Interests/Pastimes: Since working as the Senior Digital Media Producer here at KTVB, I’ve had the opportunity to get out from in front of the computer and go out into the community to take pictures for the web site.  I’ve always loved photography, but I didn’t realize how much I enjoyed it until now.  Other things I enjoy are traveling, camping, skiing, football Sundays, and craft beer.

Surprising skill: One surprising skill I have is the ability to hurt myself doing pretty much anything.  I fall walking up the stairs, I trip over myself just walking down a hallway.  In April, I had surgery after tearing my ACL on the ski hill.  The first time my doctor told me I could ride a bike after my surgery, I went over the handlebars and found myself in the emergency room getting six stitches in my chin.  This is a surprising skill I have yet to find a use for.

Other involvements: I’m currently involved in Make-A-Wish as a wish granter.  I’m teaming up with a good friend of mine, who happens to be a competitor, to grant wishes to children with life-threatening medical conditions.  Stacey Skrysak from KTRV and I are a wish granting team.  We are still working together to grant our first wish, and were recently assigned our second.

Bucket list: I am grateful to have been able to accomplish quite a few things on my bucket list like skydiving and swimming with dolphins.  A few things I have left to do are camp on a beach, go on a long road trip with no real destination, and learn to play the Cheers theme song on the piano.

Interviewed by Betsy Russell

By Betsy Russell

An Idaho judge has issued a significant court decision finding that the personnel records of former University of Idaho Professor Ernesto Bustamante – who took his own life after shooting to death graduate student Katy Benoit – must be released under the Idaho Public Records Law.

The Idaho Press Club joined with media organizations across the state, including the Lewiston  Tribune, Moscow-Pullman Daily News, Idaho Statesman, The Spokesman-

Review,  The Associated Press and KXLY-TV, to go to court for access to the Bustamante records, which include tens of thousands of emails, and we won. It was a unique court case, in part because the university, though on the other side of the case, essentially joined with the news media outlets in seeking the court ruling. The university won’t appeal, and the ruling now sets precedent for such cases in Idaho in the future.

“This provides us with what we sought: a clear path forward,” University of Idaho general counsel Kent Nelson said of the ruling. “It has always been the university’s intention to be as open and transparent as the law allows in this matter.”

The legal question was whether the disclosure exemption in the public records law for most personnel records of a public official still applies after the official dies. The media argued that it doesn’t – in part because the law allows the release of those records with the public official’s written consent.

“The definition of ‘public official’ is not inclusive of a deceased person whether or not that person passed away weeks ago or one hundred years ago,” wrote Lewiston attorney Charles Brown in a brief submitted to the court. “For a court to expand the concept of ‘public official’ to all deceased former public officials would have a broad and dramatic impact for generations to come without the consequences having been thought through as to the impact on history, research, and other unintended consequences, and the public’s right to know and understand how public institutions such as the University handle situations which involve the safety and well-being of their students, and not just a concern for the personnel files of a deceased and deadly ex-public official.”

2^nd District Judge John Stegner ruled, however, that the law’s reference to personnel records of a “former public official” can include those who are dead, meaning Bustamante is considered a “former public official” under the law. However, he held, “The statute is silent regarding what happens upon the death of a former public official. … This court is therefore called upon to resolve the statute’s ambiguity.”

It would be an “overly restrictive interpretation” to find that all former public officials’ personnel records are secret forever, including after their deaths, Stegner wrote, especially “given the espoused statutory preference that ‘all public records in Idaho are open at all reasonable times for inspection except as otherwise expressly provided by statute.’ … Forever sealing records that could have been disclosed had the official consented, is contrary to the Idaho Public Records Act’s presumption that records be open for inspection.”

Instead, the judge found that a balancing test must be applied, to weigh the public’s need to know against the need to maintain confidentiality of the personnel records. In this case, he held, the balance clearly tipped to the public.

“Here, the public’s need to know clearly outweighs whatever right to privacy exists,” Stegner wrote. “Bustamante engaged in behavior that resulted in Benoit lodging a complaint against him. The public needs to know, in as much detail as possible, how the University responded to that complaint and whether its response was appropriate under the circumstances. Bustamante, by doing what he did, has little, if any, right to maintain the privacy of his personnel records. Accordingly, before personnel records of a deceased public employee may be released, a court must conduct a balancing test to determine whether the public’s interest outweighs the former public official’s right to privacy.”

The law’s exemption for personnel records notes that even within personnel records, certain items must remain open for public inspection, including employment history, classification, pay grade and step, longevity, gross salary and salary history, status, workplace and employing agency. All other personnel records can be released with the employee’s written consent.

The ruling is especially significant because it reinforces the central premise of Idaho’s public records law – that public records are open. The exemption for personnel records doesn’t outweigh that basic premise when the public’s right to know outweighs the interest in privacy.

Betsy Russell is a Boise-based reporter for The Spokesman-Review, and is the president of the Idaho Press Club.

BOISE – Leaves weren’t the only things changing across the Treasure Valley landscape this fall — the local television landscape was undergoing a dramatic shift of its own.

The month of September saw an unprecedented number of changes to each of the local stations that produce news – with changes to nearly every station’s lineup.

Local television has seen a major expansion of its available news product over the last 12 years or so. On any given weekday in 1999 just three channels presented a total of nine hours of local news.  Today viewers have access to more than 19 hours across seven stations: KTVB, 24/7, KIVI, KNIN, KTRV, KBOI and KYUU.

KNIN

The most heavily-promoted changes came to KNIN-TV channel 9.  The station, which started life as a Home Shopping Club affiliate, continued its evolution to a top-tier network affiliate. Now known as Fox 9, the Journal Broadcast Group-owned outlet traded low-rated CW programming for well-known shows like House, American Idol and Glee.

It also restructured its

commitment to news programming. Once famously known as “Idaho’s No-News Channel,” KNIN added a 30-minute nightly news program in 2009 at 9 p.m. when it was acquired by Journal Broadcast Group – which also owns local ABC affiliate KIVI.  The show was anchored by KIVI’s talent and grew out of Journal’s deal with the Federal Communications Commitment to merge the two stations.

With the move from CW to Fox on September 1st, a glossy new hour-long newscast premiered, anchored by a separate team. Texas native Tamara Jolee had been paired with former KTVB morning anchor Roland Beres for the show.  The station later replaced Jolee with KIVI anchor Michelle Edmonds. While the show shares a set (brand new), graphics (also new) and reporting team (partly new) with KIVI, some unique-to-KNIN features are mixed in to help the show stand apart.

KTRV

After losing the Fox affiliation to KNIN, KTRV spent the summer fashioning a new program lineup.  The station now calls itself 12KTRV and is playing up the moniker “Idaho Independent TV.”

KTRV added an hour of morning news from 8-9 a.m. – giving it a three-hour block that starts at 6 a.m.  Weekend anchor Bri Eggers moved to mornings and the station has added live segments in the early morning hours.

In place of Fox shows in prime-time, channel 12 now runs syndicated repeats of 30 Rock and Law & Order Criminal Intent leading into its established 9 p.m. newscast.

The station also is running Friday Football Live, a weekly high school football matchup produced in association with Impact Radio Group.

KBOI

The third partner in the television Do-Si-Do is KBOI and co-owned station KYUU.  Digital channel 2.2 had been home to a classic sitcom service known as Retro TV – but after KNIN dropped CW programming, KYUU remade itself as a full affiliate of the network.

Like KNIN, KYUU had a fledgling 9 p.m. newscast – but also took the new affiliation as a chance to beef up its presence in the time slot.  Former KBOI morning anchor Trina Cobbley produces and appears alongside reporter Alana Brophy for the 30-minute show, which features traditional local news headlines and weather with lifestyle segments and entertainment news.

On its main CBS affiliate, KBOI launched a new morning show known as AM Extra with former sports director J Bates and market newcomer Stephanie Smith. Much like its 9 pm cousin, the new morning show is going outside the traditional local news formula by adding personality and lifestyle segments to the steady diet of news, weather and traffic.

KIVI

Channel 6 has rehired some of the staff lost during a round of layoffs in 2010. It also shares a new set with KNIN and introduced new graphics and music to complete the look. Market veteran Bob Anthony returned to the station for his second tour of duty as weekend weather anchor at channel 6, after spending several years at KTVB followed by time out of TV news.

KTVB

No major changes at KTVB – though the station (disclosure: my employer) is putting added emphasis on the live newscasts on its digital station, now known as Idaho’s Very Own 24/7.  The 6:30 p.m. newscast has been revamped, and a number of features added to the morning news at 7 a.m.

Don Day, Internet sales and product manager for KTVB News Group, is a former Idaho Press Club state board member.

Idaho’s Boise State Public Radio is at the center of a national initiative to expand and improve reporting on state government and how it affects people and communities – through both broadcast and online reporting.

Two new full-time reporters have been hired and started in mid-September as part of  StateImpact Idaho. It’s one of eight StateImpact projects launched in collaboration with National Public Radio; the others are in Florida, Indiana, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Texas.

“StateImpact is launching at a time when investments in local media are shrinking or have disappeared all together,” said Margaret Low Smith, NPR’s interim Senior Vice President for News. “StateImpact will deliver first class accountability reporting at the local level. This vital reporting is nowhere to be found in dozens of cities and towns across America, and we want to fill that void.”

In Boise, that means Emilie Ritter Saunders, the former Capitol Bureau Chief for Montana Public Radio who spearheaded that station’s foray into the digital world and was a senior fellow for NPR’s Economic Training Project, and Molly Messick, a former reporter and host at Wyoming Public Radio, have joined the newsroom staff. Their focus is Idaho’s economy, and how state governmental actions affect it.

“StateImpact Idaho is a project dedicated to asking and answering big questions,” said Messick, the project’s broadcast reporter, who will specialize in in-depth radio stories. “We aim to help our audience understand the broad and perhaps unexpected effects of incremental policy decisions.  We also want to give listeners a more comprehensive view of the state’s economic situation.  We want people to be at the heart of these stories, so that at no time do we talk about policy and the troubled economy, without thinking about how both play out and affect people in their daily lives.”

Ritter Saunders, who is Boise State Public Radio’s first digital reporter, said, “A few months from now I see StateImpact Idaho being the go-to statewide resource for economic news. People will have StateImpact Idaho bookmarked as a must-read daily news site.  We’re in the process of building a tool that will be a hub for learning about state government policies that impact business and the economy, and a place to find real-life stories of how Idahoans are coping with a ‘post-recession’ economy.”

The two-reporter team will break down key economic terms and ideas, the budget and much more.  Those stories will be told using the best platform available from multi-media to on-air. All of the content can be found on the StateImpact Idaho website: http://stateimpact.npr.org/idaho/. The project also is on Facebook and Twitter.

It’s part of a local-national journalism collaborative designed to build on the best of local and state reporting at NPR member stations across the nation by focusing on how governmental decisions affect citizens in such areas as education, healthcare, business, the environment, energy and jobs. StateImpact will eventually put reporters on the ground in all 50 states to serve public radio’s growing audience of 34 million listeners, and tens of millions more online and on mobile.

Several foundations, corporations and individual donors have made philanthropic contributions to NPR and partner stations in support of StateImpact. These grants fund the planning and launch phases, and have made it possible for NPR to staff an eight-member StateImpact desk to run the project, which is starting with a two-year pilot in the eight states. NPR is working with partner stations to seek additional funding for the overall initiative and local and regional matching funds.

NPR will invite applications from additional stations and states to join the project in the coming months.

Both Ritter Saunders and Messick say they’re glad to be in Boise and to continue reporting in the West.

Ritter Saunders said she’s excited to be part of “a news organization that is embracing new reporting initiatives.  It’s energizing to work in a newsroom where quality is paramount and we’re able to put a human face on economic stories.”

Sadie Babits is the news director at Boise State Radio and a member of the Press Club board.

Treasure Valley market

KBOI-TV

Adam Balinski, who comes from BYU, is a new weekend reporter. New morning reporter  Eric Avanier arrived from North Carolina.   Michael Calcagno left to return to family in Portland.

KIVI-TV 

Marie McGlynn-Peach is the new General Manager. Former general manager Bob Rosenthal is now director of  sales for Citadel.

Idaho Falls/ Pocatello Market

KPVI-TV

Diana Nguyen, a new reporter, arrived from   San Jose. Logan McDougall was promoted to reporter.

Twin Falls Market

KMVT-TV

New Chief Meteorologist Brian Neudorff arrived from WROC. Former chief meteorologist Adam Colpack left to explore other options. Weekend anchor/weekday reporter Rachael Griffoni left for WINK in Fort Meyers, Fla.

DAILY NEWSPAPER

IDAHO STATESMAN

Mi-Ai Parrish, publisher of the Idaho Statesman since the paper joined the McClatchy Co. in 2006, was hired as the publisher of the Kansas City Star, one the company’s largest papers with a Sunday circulation of nearly 300,000. Tim Woodward, longtime Statesman columnist, retired after 40 years at the paper. He’s working on a book of his best Idaho stories and columns.

Margaret McKenzie joined the Statesman copy desk. She has worked for the Palm Beach Post and the Daily Business Review in Miami, Fla. Audrey Dutton joined the business team at the Idaho Statesman, writing for both the daily paper and Business Insider, the Statesman’s new business weekly. The Twin Falls High School graduate was most recently at the Bond Buyer in Washington, D.C.

TWIN FALLS TIMES-NEWS

Kimberlee Kruesi, a recent journalism graduate who hails from Lebanon, Ore., is the new environmental reporter.  She replaces health and environment reporter Laura Lundquist, who in March took a reporting job at the Ravalli Republic, a fellow Lee newspaper in Hamilton, Mont.

Assistant City Editor Nate Poppino has been promoted to night editor. He will manage the copy desk, in addition to his current duties as a front-line editor for the city desk report. News Editor David Burgess has accepted a copy editor job in Lynchburg, Va. Nate will assume many of his former duties.

Sports editor Mike Christensen took a job in the advertising department; the paper is currently interviewing prospective sports editor candidates.

The bad news: Business Editor Blair Koch and features reporter Ariel Hansen were laid off on June 13. The paper said, “Their contributions will be sorely missed.”

LEWISTON TRIBUNE

New reporter Cody Bloomsburg will cover the Nez Perce Tribe and serve as a roving reporter for the Tribune. A Lewiston native, Bloomsburg received his bachelor’s degree from Lewis-Clark State College and completed his master’s degree in journalism at the University of Montana this spring.
Robert Monteith has joined the Tribune news desk after spending the last two years as a desk editor at the Laramie Boomerang in Laramie, Wyo. He’s a 2007 graduate of Humboldt State University.

Name: John Hecht

Press Club board position:  At-large rep, Idaho Press Club state board

Current occupation: Recently retired.

Last job: For the previous 15 years, I was a “natural resources technical writer/editor” at the Pacific Northwest Regional Office of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (just across the street from the Statesman), with collateral duties managing the Planning Library.  I primarily translated and edited government reports into English.

Career path: To avoid being drafted into the Marines, I joined the U.S. Navy in 1968 and travelled by ships literally around the world, visiting 20 countries on four continents; I was a Radioman with additional duties in the Cryptography Room, and was separated in 1972.

Assisted by the G.I. Bill, I attended the University of Idaho and was deeply involved with student media and student politics.  Forced into graduating in 1980, I went to Alaska.  I was first employed in Juneau by community-owned KTOO-TV, which had the contract to cover the legislature, as a producer/reporter.  I opened my own business (Southeast Communications Administrative Media Services) and provided support to independent film and video companies.

I was a volunteer lobbyist, then the office manager for the Vietnam Veterans of Alaska Counseling Center.  I took a leave-of-absence to be Interim News Director at community-owned KBRW-AM, a 10,000 watt community-owned clear channel in Barrow, Alaska.

When state oil revenues dropped, I had another stint at the University of Idaho, where at the age of 39, I was selected as editor of the Idaho Argonaut, the student newspaper.  Back to Alaska to be radio station news director (Valdez), then editor of the weekly Valdez Vanguard, departed when new ownership came in, to work for my brother-in-law in Kodiak at the largest rock bar and liquor store on the island.

Idaho beckoned once again, and after various short-term and season jobs (editor of the Rupert News-Journal; Public Information Assistant at the Boise Interagency Fire Center), I was hired by Reclamation.  To my surprise (and that of my family and friends), it was a very good fit and I stayed employed.

Education: University of Idaho, B.S. Interdisciplinary Studies in Communications and Political Science (1980); B.S. Political Science (1986).

What first got you interested in journalism? The professor in Newswriting 201 passed on our less-than-awful stories to the student paper, and the electrical jolt of a byline lured me in deeper.  Then I found out I could get paid for asking experts questions.

What do you think of how journalism in Idaho has changed? The decreased flow of the revenue streams for newspapers and other media had a consequent decrease in reporters and thus reduced local coverage.  The internet is a marvelous tool, but it allows too much access and attention to persons not trained in journalism and its ethical standards.

Formative experience? Intense immersion at the UI with the student media:  Newspaper, radio stations (two FMs), and photo bureau, and participation in the (essentially) student-run KUID-TV.

Greatest achievement? My participation in the Vietnam Veterans of Alaska, from its beginning, as a lobbyist for mental health funding, and then establishment of our counseling center, probably the first such state-funded office in the country.  We improved the lives of a lot of Vietnam vets and their families.

Something people may not know about you? Lots, I hope.

Hometown: Boise now, for 23 years.

Family: Never married, but I have four siblings (two here in Boise) and lots of nieces and nephews.

Hobbies: I collect Hawaiian shirts, vinyl records (with an emphasis on blues and rock ‘n’ roll), and classic comic strip and comic book collections.

Surprising skill: If I’m skillful at something, it’s a surprise.

Past Press Club service: IPC member for more than 20 years; treasurer for both the Southwest Chapter and then the State board.

Other involvements: UI School of Journalism and Mass Media advisory board;  Boise Blues Society; Vinyl Preservation Society (of Idaho).

By Betsy Russell

Last year, I was contacted by several reporters for various news organizations who were having trouble with public records requests to the city of Boise. Among them was Nishi Gupta of KTVB Channel 7, who was facing a surprising $547.36 labor charge for a public records request – an outlandishly high charge, and not one most news organizations could afford to pay these days.

Allen Derr and I met with Boise Mayor Dave Bieter, along with his attorney and communications director, and we felt that we had a good, productive discussion – it lasted for more than an hour – about all the concerns we raised. The mayor said he’s committed to openness and transparency in the city’s government.

He refused to budge, however, on the huge labor charge, maintaining that his staff had had to spend hours to assemble the requested information. We discussed other possibilities to avoid this with future requests, from letting the reporter herself do some of the ground work (contacting various departments, going through files and so forth), to working with reporters to structure requests in such a way as to reduce city labor involved, to making it clear up-front that certain aspects of a request could lead to big labor charges. We asked him to consider at least, as a gesture of good faith, cutting that large fee for KTVB in half, and he agreed to consider it.

Several weeks later, I heard back from Nishi that Mayor Bieter told her he’d considered it, but decided not to do it. The station paid the full bill.

We were surprised and disappointed, and had to conclude that the current law regarding labor fees for public records requests needed to be changed.

Our First Amendment Committee, which is chaired by Todd Dvorak of the AP and on which both Allen and I serve, discussed the issue with our new lobbyists, John Foster and Kate Haas, who are representing the Press Club pro-bono. John contacted the Idaho Attorney General’s office, and proposed, as a starting point, perhaps changing the law to make the first hour of labor free, with any charges thereafter coming at the pay rate of the lowest-paid employee at the agency.

What we got was much better: The first two hours of labor and the first 100 pages of copies, for any public records request in Idaho, are now free. That means no copy fees. That means the vast majority of everyday public records requests most reporters in Idaho file are now free.

What happened was that at the same time we were looking at making changes to the labor charges section of Idaho’s public records law, the Idaho Department of Agriculture and the Idaho Dairymen’s Association were looking at their own changes to the same law, with a different goal – making sure that agencies were reimbursed for the costs of huge requests requiring large amounts of labor.

Stage legislators including House Majority Leader Mike Moyle and acting Rep. Gayle Batt declared they’d only propose legislation if all involved came to some kind of agreement. Others were brought to the table as well – cities, counties, the attorney general, and more.

One of the concerns that Mayor Bieter had raised with Allen and me was that he felt the city couldn’t make any inquiry of a reporter or member of the public who unknowingly submitted an overbroad request, that would necessitate huge amounts of labor to fulfill. The new law, HB 328, added this line to the exceptions to the “make no inquiry” clause: The agency “may provide the requester with information to help the requester narrow the scope of the request or help the requester make the request more specific when the response to the request is likely to be voluminous or require payment.” Everyone involved like this change.

Another important change says that labor “fees, if charged” (we got the “if charged” added to make it clear that the agencies are NOT required to charge for labor), must be at the per-hour pay rate of the lowest-paid employee necessary and qualified to process the request.

There were also changes made to the public interest exemption from fees. That section now echoes the federal FOIA law’s language on public interest exemptions from fees. Another change – not ours – tightened up the “inability to pay” section, so that it applies only in combination with the public-interest exemption, not as an alternative exemption from fees for those not invoking the public-interest exemption. Some nonprofits that use the public interest exemption are concerned about how the changes to this section affect them, and it may need further adjustment in the future.

Another change requires agencies charging labor fees to provide the requester of the records an itemized statement explaining the fees charged, including per-page charges and actual employees’ time and pay rates. To its credit, the city of Boise did provide this on its $500-plus charge, though it gave no earlier warning that hours or charges would run that high.

During the course of the negotiations on the bill, the Press Club expressed interest in continuing to work on and refine our public records law, and doing so in a collaborative manner, in concert with other interested parties and under the leadership of the attorney general – similar to the way we successfully helped develop legislation several years ago to fix the Idaho Open Meeting Law after it was gutted by an Idaho Supreme Court decision.

HB 328 passed the House unanimously, it passed the Senate 31-2, it was signed into law on April 7 and it took effect immediately.

So, remember: The first 100 pages of your next public records request are FREE. It’s the law.

Betsy Russell is a Boise-based reporter for The Spokesman-Review, and is the president of the Idaho Press Club.

A series of shake-ups in the Boise area TV market will actually bring more TV news reporting to the Treasure Valley. Here’s a breakdown:

* Channel 12 is going independent in September.

Yes, KTRV — currently the Fox affiliate — officially will become a station without a network.

This doesn’t mean KTRV will produce less local news. KTRV, which is owned by privately held Block Communications, plans to pull itself up by its bootstraps, invest resources and add even more news programming. The station says it will hire at least six more news staffers.

KTRV wants to explore ways to become more community-oriented, says Ricky Joseph, president and general manager — possibly even broadcasting live sports from minor-league teams such as the Boise Hawks or Idaho Steelheads, or diving further into high-school sports.

Instead of Fox prime-time programming on Channel 12, you’ll find syndicated comedy and dramas.

There are successful independent TV stations out there. Going indie adds freedom and the potential to sell more advertising time. But it all takes blood, sweat and tears.

“It’s been done,” says Michael Malone, deputy editor at weekly trade publication Broadcasting & Cable. “… But it’s tough.”

* Channel 9 will become the new Fox affiliate in September. That means we’ll get a fresh Fox news team here.

Fox recently cut a deal with Journal Broadcast Group, which owns KNIN Channel 9 and KIVI Channel 6. No more “American Idol” or “Glee” on Channel 12, kids. This fall, it’s all Fox9.

A Fox affiliate requires a hip, quicker-paced brand of TV journalism, right? Journal is hiring two news anchors, along with a slew of other staffers. (I counted 16 TV job openings listed at Journal’s website.)

With Journal operating the ABC affiliate at KIVI and the Fox affiliate at KNIN, resources will be pooled — theoretically making both news programs stronger.

With more people reporting, anchoring and shooting, Journal’s TV stations will have the ability to cover the news with more depth, says Marie McGlynn, vice president and general manager.

Initially at least, Fox9 will broadcast less news programming than Channel 12 does currently. For example, at night, you’ll see a 9 p.m. local newscast on Fox9 but no newscast at 10 p.m. While Channel 6 does its 10 o’clock news, Fox9 will offer an alternative in the form of syndicated programming. Makes sense. Why compete with yourself?

* The CW — currently on Channel 9 — is moving to digital channel KBOI.2 with a simulcast on low-power KYUU. Yep, that’s where you’ll find the network that carries shows such as “Gossip Girl” and “America’s Next Top Model.”

In addition, it will feature local morning and late news. But will KBOI Channel 2 — owned by Fisher Communications — simply rebroadcast its local news program on the digital-channel CW? Nope. There will be a separate news product on the CW at 9 p.m. nightly, as well as mornings at 7 a.m.

No decision has been made regarding staffing, says Eric Jordan, KBOI’s general manager. However, it seems very possible that the current Channel 2 news staff simply will find itself doing extra daily broadcasts for the CW.

So … are there enough ad dollars for all the stations in this struggling, small-market economy? BIA/Kelsey estimates the gross revenues of all over-the-air TV stations here in 2006 was $41.6 million. In 2010, those revenues fell to $29.9 million. Dominant KTVB Channel 7 swallowed up nearly half of that (which means it’s also taken the biggest dollar hit during the drop).

Whatever the case, it appears there will be a ton of local TV news here for the foreseeable future.

Michael Deeds is a columnist and entertainment editor at the Idaho Statesman, where this article first appeared on June 17 in the Scene magazine; it is reprinted here by permission. He can be reached on Twitter at @IDS_Deeds.