Public Notices and Funding The News
Like postal subsidies, paid public notices trace their American origins to colonial days. And like postal subsidies, public notices mandated by the government have been a critical component of economic stability for newspapers.
Public notices are government-required announcements that give citizens information about important activities. In most cases government mandates these notices of itself or of subordinate governments; in other cases they establish publication requirements for private sector concerns. Typical public-notice laws apply to public budgets, public hearings, government contracts open for bidding, unclaimed property, and court actions such as probating wills and notification of unknown creditors. Public agencies have required paid publication of this kind of information for decades as a way to ensure that citizens are informed of critical actions.
Historically, these fine-print notices have been a lucrative business for newspaper publishers, and have touched off heated bidding wars for government contracts. Legal notices have been especially important to weekly and other community newspapers. Their trade association, the National Newspaper Association, estimated in 2000 that public notices accounted for 5 percent to 10 percent of all community newspaper revenue.
While other forms of advertising have plummeted, public notices have been a bright spot for publishers. Although small newspapers are the chief beneficiaries of public notices, nearly all newspapers benefit to some extent. The Wall Street Journal, for example, has a contract with the government to print seized-property notices. In a four-week study, we discovered that the government was a top purchaser, by column inches, of ad space in the Journal. It’s a business the newspaper would like to expand. In 2009 it was battling with Virginia-area papers to get its regional edition certified to print local legal notices.
But the era of big money in public notices will almost certainly fade away. Proposals have been introduced in 40 states to allow local and state agencies to shift publication to the Web, in some cases to the government’s own Web sites. Responding to The Wall Street Journal’s efforts to get a share of the public-notice revenue in Virginia, a circuit court judge in Norfolk said it “may be an opportune time for the General Assembly to revisit the issue of notice by publication in light of the variety of electronic means of mass communication available.” The media industry has beaten down many of these initiatives so far, but in a clear indication of future trends, the shift is beginning to happen. The Obama administration’s Justice Department announced in 2009 that it would move federal asset forfeiture notices to the Web, saving $6.7 million over five years.
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Source: University of Southern California Annenberg Center on Communication...
Public notices are government-required announcements that give citizens information about important activities. In most cases government mandates these notices of itself or of subordinate governments; in other cases they establish publication requirements for private sector concerns. Typical public-notice laws apply to public budgets, public hearings, government contracts open for bidding, unclaimed property, and court actions such as probating wills and notification of unknown creditors. Public agencies have required paid publication of this kind of information for decades as a way to ensure that citizens are informed of critical actions.
Historically, these fine-print notices have been a lucrative business for newspaper publishers, and have touched off heated bidding wars for government contracts. Legal notices have been especially important to weekly and other community newspapers. Their trade association, the National Newspaper Association, estimated in 2000 that public notices accounted for 5 percent to 10 percent of all community newspaper revenue.
While other forms of advertising have plummeted, public notices have been a bright spot for publishers. Although small newspapers are the chief beneficiaries of public notices, nearly all newspapers benefit to some extent. The Wall Street Journal, for example, has a contract with the government to print seized-property notices. In a four-week study, we discovered that the government was a top purchaser, by column inches, of ad space in the Journal. It’s a business the newspaper would like to expand. In 2009 it was battling with Virginia-area papers to get its regional edition certified to print local legal notices.
But the era of big money in public notices will almost certainly fade away. Proposals have been introduced in 40 states to allow local and state agencies to shift publication to the Web, in some cases to the government’s own Web sites. Responding to The Wall Street Journal’s efforts to get a share of the public-notice revenue in Virginia, a circuit court judge in Norfolk said it “may be an opportune time for the General Assembly to revisit the issue of notice by publication in light of the variety of electronic means of mass communication available.” The media industry has beaten down many of these initiatives so far, but in a clear indication of future trends, the shift is beginning to happen. The Obama administration’s Justice Department announced in 2009 that it would move federal asset forfeiture notices to the Web, saving $6.7 million over five years.
Download The Full Report
Source: University of Southern California Annenberg Center on Communication...
Tags: government, newspaper
Comment
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Comment by Bill Grady on February 11, 2010 at MyFortDodge.com -
Here's and interesting read on the subject as Arizona lawmakers are looking at this issue as well:
From the story:
In a digital age, should Arizona taxpayers have to continue covering the cost of publishing public notices in newspapers?
Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Gilbert, says it’s wasted money when government bodies can easily post the notices on their Web sites. He’s sponsoring a bill to remove a requirement in state law that public notices, also known as legal notices or legal ads, run in newspapers.
“It is extremely costly to do print media,” he said. “You’re dealing with essentially 19th century technology to disseminate information.”
Biggs said HB 2244, which has yet to be scheduled for committee action, would make public notices more accessible while reducing costs.
Posting online would make notices available to a wider audience and would increase government transparency, he said. Typing in a key phrase and pulling up a notice would be easier than searching through fine print, Biggs said. Use the 21st century technology we have. It’s cheaper, more efficient, more transparent and more available.”
Todd Madekzsa, director of legislative affairs for the County Supervisors Association of Arizona, said posting public notices online would save counties money at a time when they dearly need it.
“If we can save $8,000 in six different areas, we can keep a sheriff’s deputy on the streets,” he said.
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Comment by Bill Grady on February 10, 2010 at MyFortDodge.com
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Missouri is looking to relieve their cities, counties, and schools from the financial burden. With the proposed cuts to the Webster County Budget (read today's paper), wouldn't you rather have the money go to civil services or economic development instead of to the newspaper's bank account to pay for ads?
"Lawmakers considered a bill on Monday that would give small Missouri cities the authority to publish government information only online instead of in print newspapers.
Missouri, like most states, requires cities and counties to publish public notices about government business in the area's newspapers.
The bill, which was heard before the Senate elections committee, would allow notices about filing dates for special elections to be posted online instead of published in a newspaper. It also would allow some cities and villages to publish their financial statements at city hall and online instead of requiring them to print the notices in a newspaper.
Supporters say it will save taxpayer money.
Sponsoring Sen. Joan Bray, D-St. Louis, told The Associated Press that publishing the information in newspapers is an unfair financial burden for small cities. Only cities with less than 5,000 must publish their financial statements semiannually.
"This is an outdated requirement. When there's more people online than are reading papers, the way to get to people is online," Bray said.
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Comment by Bill Grady on February 8, 2010 at MyFortDodge.com
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An interesting read on the issue. It's a story about how a town in Connecticut is trying to save money in their budget, but the newspaper is opposing it not because of journalistic reasons, but because they're afraid of losing the money.
As the debate goes on, you'll see the real issue being framed here: It's all about the money. One group trying to save, one side trying to keep it coming into their bank account.
My question is: How many police officers, fire fighters, and other civic services could be hired, kept, or added with an extra $100,000? And why don't our state legislators see that as a bigger priority than what the newspaper lobby has presented to them?
The other thing that's interesting is that the headline doesn't read "Citizens Oppose Plan to Put Legal Ads On-line". The headline is "Newspapers Oppose Plan to Put Legal Ads On-line".
BINGO!
"East Hartford spends almost $100,000 a year for legal advertisements, Mayor Melody Currey said. “It would be very helpful if we could just post them online. Anytime you can save money it helps,” she said.
“The thing is newspapers are no longer the mass media. On my street in Danbury I am the only one who gets the newspaper,” said Rep. Bob Godfrey (D-Danbury) who supports Rell’s proposal. “The information would still be available, just in a medium more accessible than newspapers. Newspapers are not the mass medium that they use to be and we need to switch over to the media that now is.”
Newspapers Oppose Plan to Put Legal Ads On-line
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Comment by Bill Grady on February 1, 2010 at MyFortDodge.com
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The issue at hand right now in Iowa is the budget, and the debate is on which ways we could save. This is where the issue of mandatory public notices has come up, and whether cash strapped local governments and school districts should be allowed to have the option to publish public notices on their website and save money instead of being forced by law to buy an ad in the newspaper. If a school system sees that buying a public notice in the newspaper is the best option for them, OK. But if they're strapped for cash, I believe they should have the option to post it on their website and save the money for other things. If you're like me, I'd rather see our taxpayer money go to teacher salaries and public works instead of to the bank accounts of the newspaper....and so wouldn't many school district and city government officials.
If you agree that our local government and school districts should have this option to choose, let your state legislators know about it. Their email address are listed below:
Rich Olive (D-Story City) rich.olive@legis.state.ia.us
Daryl Beall (D-Fort Dodge) daryl.beall@legis.state.ia.us
Mckinley Bailey (D-Webster City) mckinley.bailey@legis.state.ia.us
Dolores Mertz (D-Ottosen) dolores.mertz@legis.state.ia.us
Helen Miller (D-Fort Dodge) helen.miller@legis.state.ia.us
David Tjepkes (R-Gowrie) david.tjepkes@legis.state.ia.us
Gary Wortha (R-Storm Lake) gary.worthan@legis.state.ia.us
© 2010 Created by Bill Grady
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