Legal Notices in Newspapers

Politics and Internet May Cut Into Newspaper Government Advertising

May 9, 2009

The Obama Administration is switching some public notices from newspapers to the Internet. Will the policy change trickle down to local and state papers?

Newspapers have for decades received a steady stream of government income by publishing public notices, but the recession and the Internet have given politicians greater reason to challenge that practice. American belief in government transparency has long demanded that local, state and federal governments publish notices of their transactions and plans. Until recently, it was logical to publish those notices in newspapers.

That logic is up for discussion these days since practically every government entity now has its own Internet website where notices can be posted faster, cheaper and longer. For many years, newspapers could argue that not everyone had access to the Internet. However, that defense gets weaker as:

Obama Administration Cuts Newspaper Ads

Newspapers suffered a setback in May 2009 when the Obama Administration announced it would stop buying newspaper advertising to publish property forfeiture notices. It said it would save $6.7 million over five years by publishing the notices on a government website.

The loss of the $6.7 million was not overwhelming and most papers would not lose a penny from it. But the change in federal policy highlighted the issue and encouraged local and state forces that have been trying for years to decrease government advertising in newspapers.

Most requirements for publishing public notices in newspapers are embedded in local and state legislation. In recent years, the Internet has provided reason to challenge those laws.

Free Circulation Newspapers Seek Ads

Protesters have said some of the laws were written to favor or eliminate some papers from eligibility by narrowly defining requirements for circulation, news content, frequency of publication and other publishing criteria. That controversy grew in the last century as free circulation and alternative newspapers popped up and sought the government ads. Some local public bodies have sought relief from the publishing requirements, some for budgetary reasons, some perhaps for political reasons.

One Minnesota school board asked the state governor and legislature to exempt it from the state law requiring publication of legal notices in the local newspaper, saying that would save the board $27,000. The local paper fired back with an editorial saying the school board members "may have forgotten their high school history lessons about government of, by and for the people."

Good Policy, Great Politics

In Arizona, the Sonoran Alliance of conservative political writers wrote in March 2009 that "there is a silly legal requirement that articles of incorporation and LLC formation documents be published in a newspaper that nobody reads. These laws do nothing but prop up the print media."

Referring to "similar archaic requirements for government notices," the Allliance said "nobody reads these silly small print notices that litter the back pages of newspapers, and this would save cities a lot of money."

It said the move to rescind the laws was timely, good policy and "great politics as it would allow Republicans to inflict significant damage on our political enemies in the print media."

The extent of the public notice business is shown by the New York Sun which advertises that it can handle notices of "name changes, foreclosures, liquidations, incorporations, bankruptcies, unclaimed funds (and) family court." Other public bodies publish meeting notices, minutes and meeting transactions.

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