By Melissa Davlin The Idaho media has plenty to celebrate as new laws go into effect on July 1 -- both for what the 2018 Legislature passed, and what it didn’t. Each session, the Idaho Press Club’s First Amendment Committee, which advocates for public records access and open meetings, works with lobbyists and lawmakers on bills that promoted government transparency, and against proposals that go against that spirit of openness. Here are some highlights from the 2018 session:

• An expansion of open meeting … [Read more...]

By Betsy Z. Russell After nearly 27 years with The Spokesman-Review – a fine newspaper – I never thought I’d switch at this point in my career. But then the Idaho Press came along. In May, I started as the new Boise bureau chief for the Idaho Press and Adams Publishing Group, a family-owned company that in addition to the longstanding Canyon County daily (formerly the Idaho Press-Tribune), also owns the Post Register in Idaho Falls, the Idaho State Journal in Pocatello, and several other smaller papers throughout southern … [Read more...]

Note: Ben Olson, publisher of the Sandpoint Reader, won an Idaho Press Club Don Watkins Mid-Career Scholarship of $500 to aid in this project. You, too, can apply for the mid-career scholarship, which is available for any Idaho Press Club member to use for any training or project that will benefit the working press in Idaho. The deadline to apply each year is Feb. 15; there's more information at our website, www.idahopressclub.org. By Ben Olson Every January, the alternative weekly Sandpoint … [Read more...]