Lawmakers to review policy on media space in Kansas Statehouse

? Legislative leaders in Kansas are calling for a review of and possible changes to the state’s policy of providing free office space to news organizations that maintain a full-time presence in the Statehouse in Topeka.

Members of the Legislative Coordinating Council, which includes the top Republican and Democratic leaders in both chambers, voted Wednesday to direct their administrative staff to draft a uniform policy on how new requests for space should be handled.

But at least one member of the council, House Speaker Pro Tem Scott Schwab of Olathe, said he would like to reconsider the policy of providing the space for free, at least to for-profit news organizations.

“I’m fine with the Kansas Broadcasters Association, a nonprofit; the Kansas Associated Press, a nonprofit; college students; public broadcasting,” Schwab said. “But when you bring a for-profit media into the building and you give them free space — and let’s be honest, sometimes they lobby when it comes to freedom of information, Kansas open meetings, or even the publication of notices — these are the same organizations that suddenly become lobbying firms.”

News outlets that maintain a full-time presence in the Statehouse, including the Lawrence Journal-World, have been given free office space for decades. Before the latest renovation of the building, many had to share space with other organizations.

In 2001, the state launched a massive renovation project that would ultimately take 13 years to complete, at a cost of $325 million. As part of that project, news organizations that had a full-time presence in the building at the time were provided their own private offices in a suite located in the newly dug-out basement of the building.

That suite contains eight offices. Besides the Journal-World, it houses The Associated Press; Kansas City Star; Wichita Eagle; Topeka Capital-Journal; Kansas Public Radio; and Hawver’s Capitol Report, a political insiders newsletter published by veteran journalist Martin Hawver.

There is also an office that was formerly assigned to the Harris newspaper group, which owned newspapers in Hutchinson, Garden City, Hays, Salina, Parsons and Chanute. Harris closed its Statehouse bureau around 2008, and the chain has since been sold to Gatehouse Media. The empty office is now used by student journalists during legislative sessions.

The review of the policy was prompted recently when a group of television stations known as the KSN network requested space in the building. That network, which is owned by Irving, Texas-based Nexstar Media Group, includes KSNT-TV in Topeka, KSNW-TV in Wichita, and KSNF-TV, which serves the Joplin, Mo., and Pittsburg markets.

Those stations have announced plans to launch a full-time Statehouse bureau, similar to operations in other states where Nexstar owns TV stations. Together, those three stations, along with several other affiliated stations, reach an estimated 753,000 households and 95 of the 105 counties in Kansas.

Tom Day, who heads the Legislature’s Administrative Services department, said the biggest issues involved in allocating space were the availability of office space and how the state should handle future requests.

He also noted that before the renovation, some TV stations had space in the building, but they only used those offices during legislative sessions. The rest of the year, the offices were empty, except perhaps on days when there were news conferences or other special events.

Senate President Susan Wagle, R-Wichita, said a number of other TV stations have asked for space in recent years, and those requests have been denied.

But House Democratic Leader Jim Ward, of Wichita, said he thought the KSN request should get serious consideration.

“I feel strongly that we need to make accommodations for the media, particularly broadcast,” he said. “We’ve got a good footprint of print media. And this isn’t someone — as I understand the proposal, it’s got a statewide network of stations, the KSN network, and they want to have a permanent, day-to-day presence in the Capitol to provide that transparency that’s essential.”

Day said he surveyed some other state capitols to ask about their media accommodations. He said some charge rent for the space and others do not. Some provide individual offices for each outlet and others, such as Nebraska, require all news outlets to use a single, common office area.

House Speaker Ron Ryckman, R-Olathe, made the motion directing Day and his staff to develop a draft policy that would reflect “best practices” used in other states.

The Legislative Coordinating Council is expected to revisit the issue at a future meeting.