Steve Key, 'one of the most respected and accomplished newspaper-association leaders,' retires today in Indiana

Steve Key makes the case for Indiana newspapers.

Steve Key, who has helped Indiana's newspapers for 30 years, retires today as executive director  of the Hoosier State Press Association. He is "one of the most respected and accomplished newspaper association leaders. His counsel is wise, his passion for the industry is vibrant, his questions are smart and focused, and his humble collegiality is second to none," writes Tom Silvestri, director of The Relevance Project, a project of U.S. and Canadian newspaper associations.

Key started with HSPA as legislative counsel and director of government affairs and became the boss in 2010, succeeding the legendary Dick Cardwell. He says Indiana, California, Florida and Pennsylvania are the only state press groups that have a lawyer on staff, and that won't change; he is being succeeded by Amelia Dieter McClure, who has been HSPA legislative counsel.

Asked his proudest career moment, Key said "Perhaps the most impactful was successfully lobbying for the permanent creation of Indiana’s Public Access Counselor’s office. This position serves as an educator and mediator on questions of the state’s right to know what its government is doing through use of the Open Door Law and Access to Public Records Act. The office has reduced the number of lawsuits required by the public to file to two categories – questions of how the law should be interpreted and situations where state or local public officials have decided to ignore the law."

Key has a journalism degree from Butler University in Indianapolis. He worked at the Quincy Herald-Whig in Illinois, the now-defunct Kentucky Post in Covington, the Daily Journal in Franklin, Ind., and the Noblesville Daily Ledger, where he was managing editor. After a brief spell in utility public relations, he got a law degree. He told The Rural Blog, "I’ve had a job that I believe in and I think is important because of the impact it can have on legislation and the viability of newspapers, so I’ve been very fortunate to do that."

Amelia Dieter McClure (Photo via IBJ)

McClure told the Indianapolis Business Journal that for newspapers, "The biggest issue is obviously the progress into online—print versus online. I saw it a lot this session, actually. The appetite for news is there. People want to know things. We see that with the coverage of Covid, that local news got such an infusion because they were the ones that were delivering the information on Covid directly to people that didn’t have any other way to find out about it. … That was a really good reminder for people how important local news is, but I think there’s this misconception out there that newspapers … are old-fashioned, they’re not moving forward. And that’s really not true." McClure is the daughter of Mary Dieter, former Indiana statehouse reporter for the Louisville Courier Journal. "Steve Key likes to say it's in my blood," she said.