GUEST EDITORIAL: Why public notices are needed

BY RICK MORAIN

Public notices — items that inform citizens of government-related activities — have contributed to the fabric of newspaper content since the 17th century. Surveys over the past several decades repeatedly indicate that community residents overwhelmingly read their local newspaper, and that they also believe that public notices should be published in those newspapers.

Public notices in newspapers appear in a forum independent of government. They can be stored in a secure and publicly available format, accessible by all segments of society. Their publication is immediately verifiable, and the circulation data of the newspapers that publish them is required by the U.S. Postal Service.

A 2009 survey of Iowans, conducted by an Oklahoma research firm, found that one in every four adult Iowans does not have access to the Internet. That figure is lower in rural Iowa. Over half of those Iowans surveyed said they never look at local government websites.

Think about it: Would you be more likely to read public notices in this newspaper, or by surfing the Internet? Where would you be more likely to run across minutes of city, county or school board meetings, or notices of upcoming public hearings, or probate notices?

Newspapers charge governments for public notices. The rate, in nearly all cases, is less than the rate paid by other advertisers. That’s because the newspaper industry considers publication of public notices part of its “contract” with readers. Citizens look to their local newspaper to publish information of general interest, and surveys show that public notices certainly fall into that category.

The Internet can supplement the dissemination of news about government activities, but it should not replace newspapers as the basic conduit of such information. The newspaper continues to be what it has been since the time of Benjamin Franklin: The place where people look for what’s going on in their local government.

Rick Morain is publisher of the Jefferson Herald and co-chair of the Iowa Newspaper Association Government Relations Committee.