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Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Ind. Law - More on: "Reformers urge state to freeze executions"; blogs as media

In this ILB entry yesterday, I quoted from the Indianapolis Star coverage of the American Bar Association's Death Penalty Moratorium Implementation Project and the forthcoming Indiana Report, which was to be released later that day. The report calls for Indiana to impose a moratorium on executions. [The Indiana report is now available here.]

Here is AP coverage of the report from Rick Callahan. A number of Indiana papers ran this coverage. The NWI Times had this story today. A quote: "The assessment team that reviewed Indiana's death penalty system found that the state is in full compliance with only 10 of the 79 protocols the ABA drafted in 2001 to ensure that capital punishment is applied fairly to convicted murderers."

Blogs as Media. In yesterday's entry, I noted that the report was not yet available online and that the Star apparently had received an embargoed copy. Today I received this note from Joel Schumm, who chaired the Indiana study and who is associate professor at Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis:

Hi Marcia, I'm not one to make excuses but am more than eager to offer an apology when one is warranted. I think we owe you one.

Embargoed copies of the Indiana Death Penalty Assessment were released to a number of media people (including the Star) late last week. I believe this is the practice that has been followed in other assessment states. The ABA has never released embargoed copies to a blog, but Indiana is certainly different. Your blog is not only widely read but also well-respected. A copy should have been sent to you. I've talked with the Project Director in DC who will keep legal blogs in mind as reports are released in the remaining three states.
I appreciated the note and am posting it here as part of my continuing effort to assure that blogs which attempt to do serious journalism are recognized as part of the media. Speaking specifically about the ILB, the Indiana Courts, with what I consider to be great foresight, graciously issued the ILB press credentials several years ago. I considered asking for legislative press credentials at the start of this session, but decided I was unlikely to need them, and would wait until I did. Others of you out there who issue press releases and the like might consider adding the ILB to your lists. I would appreciate it.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 21, 2007 02:40 PM
Posted to Indiana Law