Illinois citizens - whose taxes pay for the schools that make up 85 percent of the membership of the Illinois High School Association - should make it clear to IHSA officials and state lawmakers that they don't want a quasi-government agency dictating the coverage of tournaments and post-season events.

If you like those up-close-and-personal photos and videos that make you feel like part of the action at high school tournaments, you are likely to be disappointed if the IHSA has its way.

Starting with football championships last fall and continuing with the recent Competitive Cheerleading Championships in Bloomington, it has barred from the field and floor any news photographer who refuses to sign an agreement restricting what it calls "secondary use" of the images the photographer shoots.

The IHSA had no problem with news media covering - and, in effect, promoting - its tournaments until the IHSA signed a contract with Wisconsin-based Visual Image Photograph, giving the private company favored treatment and exclusive rights to sell images at IHSA events in exchange for the IHSA getting free use of those images.

Now it wants to prohibit the long-standing practice of the news media selling photos they take.

For newspapers, these sales are more of a public service than a profit-making venture. The Pantagraph, for example, estimates it earned less than $1,000 from photo reprints of IHSA-sponsored events last year.

Rather, they are part of the news-gathering, information-providing function that includes not only the printed product you may be holding in your hand as you read this but also the Internet, magazines and community events, such as the recent Kids Expo.

If we allow the IHSA to dictate how we perform those functions or turn our backs on the tournaments, we wouldn't be doing our job - we wouldn't be serving our readers.

A lawsuit filed against the IHSA by the 600-plus-member Illinois Press Association is pending in Sangamon County.

A bill also was recently filed by state Rep. Joseph Lyons of Chicago, House Bill 4582, that would prohibit public schools and the IHSA from infringing upon or attempting to regulate the distribution of news or use of visual images. State Sen. James DeLeo of Chicago is sponsoring the measure in the Senate.

State Rep. Dan Brady, R-Bloomington, hasn't taken a position on the legislation. However, Brady said he hopes it can bring the sides together to resolve the matter without passing a law.

Likewise, state Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, an ex-officio member of the IHSA's board, would like to see the school association and news media come together. He had no comment on the bill itself or the dispute.

But this is more than a dispute between the IHSA and the news media. When the IHSA attempts to restrict what the news media can do, they are in effect restricting what the public sees. That is unacceptable.