Member Resources

IPA Services

Legal Defense Fund

 






Member Resources

Advertising - Whether you want to place advertising in newspapers across the state of Illinois or across the country, the Illinois Press Advertising Services (IPAS) staff can take care of your advertising needs.  IPAS has established different networks with IPA newspapers and other press associations across the country to make advertisers marketing easy, efficient and cost effective.

Illinois Newspapers-The Illinois Press Directory provides unmatched information on reaching more than 400 newspapers throughout the state. The annual publication provides unmatched information on Illinois newspapers. Users can search for information about a select newspaper based on its city or county.

Illinois Press Clipping Bureau- If you need to know what's going on in Illinois, you need Illinois newspapers.  There is no other source that can provide you with the in-depth statewide coverage that newspapers carry every day.

Press Release Services -Get your press release seen by the right people at more than 400 newspapers. The IPA has helped individuals, businesses and organizations improve their relationships with the print and broadcast media, both in Illinois and nationwide. The IPA Press Release Service assists clients in disseminating their information through press releases to Illinois newspapers.

Illinois First Amendment Center -The IFAC promotes First Amendment rights and responsibilities through education designed to raise awareness of the need to understand, preserve and protect the First Amendment. 

PressLines -The Illinois Press Association can help you reach more than 1,700 newspaper decision makers in the quarterly publication, PressLines.

Conventions -The Illinois Press Association holds a combined annual convention; Advertising and Marketing Convention and the News/Editorial Convention. 

Training –Throughout the year, the Illinois Press Association offers online training, workshops and seminars on a variety of topics.

Newspapers in Education/Partners in Literacy -Newspapers In Education (NIE) is an exciting educational program for students from kindergarten to adult education. NIE provides newspapers to students that chronicle current events and social issues that inevitably affect their lives. The Illinois Press Association, Illinois Press Foundation and the Illinois First Amendment Center support NIE in Illinois by providing educational and fundraising resources for NIE Coordinators.

Grants & Scholarships -The Illinois Press Foundation (IPF) is dedicated to promoting and protecting free expression through educational activities that foster the practice and respect for First Amendment principles and values, to enhance the quality of services provided by newspapers to their communities, and to support reading and literacy efforts.

Legal Defense Fund

In 1993, the Illinois Press Association embarked on a bold new initiative to strengthen the future of the Illinois newspaper industry.  The mission of the Illinois Press Association Board of Directors is to promote, protect and foster Illinois newspapers by establishing the Illinois Newspaper Legal Defense Fund.

The Illinois Newspaper Legal Defense Fund will provide quality legal research, consultation and court action in cases where the outcome will affect the Illinois newspaper industry as a whole. 

The Illinois Newspaper Legal Defense Fund will address, but not be limited to, areas such as advertising, business, circulation, distribution and news-editorial.

In an increasingly litigious society it is imperative that Illinois newspapers have the support and the resources to meet future legal challenges.  The very existence of the Illinois Newspaper Legal Defense Fund will enhance the ability of the Illinois Press Association to meet those needs and to deter action which may adversely affect the newspaper industry.

The Illinois Newspaper Legal Defense Fund is a restricted fund with the Illinois Press Association and is to be used for no other purpose.   

IPA Legal Defense Fund Criteria

The IPA's executive committee shall consider providing funding from the IPA's Legal Defense Fund (the "Fund") if the circumstances and litigated matter meet the following criteria:

1.  Litigated matters or claims that have the potential for materially altering the manner and means by which Illinois newspapers gather news, distribute their products or otherwise conduct business. When it is necessary and appropriate and

(a)  where it would otherwise have a positive impact on the IPA's mission (e.g. legislative or governmental efforts).

(b)  where the IPA's presence has the potential to raise the profile of the issue at the heart of the litigated matter or the IPA, [and/or]  

(c)  ) relieve the economic burden of undertaking legal defense. 

2. The grant amount from the Fund shall be determined in the Executive Committee's discretion. Except as stated in paragraph 3.2 below and unless the IPA is the initiator or the sole party to the suit, the IPA's grant from the Fund shall neither exceed the cost to be borne by the requesting member litigant(s) nor provide the sole source of funding for the litigated matter. 

3.  Notwithstanding the foregoing , sole funding may be provided through the Fund for the litigated matter if (a)  the member litigant has made every reasonable effort to obtain funding from other sources, (b) if all of the criteria set forth in paragraphs 1 and 2 above are met, and (c) a majority of the full IPA Board approves.

4.  If any attorneys' fees are awarded or recovered in the matter by a member litigant that receives funding hereunder, the member litigant shall be required to reimburse the amount of the award back the Fund.