Year after year my anxiety level rises when the General Assembly meets

About this time every year my anxiety level rises because the Kentucky General assembly is in session. This has been going on with me ever since they started meeting annually. The reason? They keep chipping away with the information you should be entitled to, that is, public notice advertising. For 70 years this information has been published in newspapers.

Don Estep is publisher of the News Journal.

I urge you to read Mark White’s column on this page for examples of what is happening now. He clearly illustrates the pitfalls of not knowing how your tax dollars are being spent and what the consequences could be.

Today you know less about the actions by the General Assembly’s public notices than you have ever known since legal advertising was ruled by law to be published.

The assault continues with some legislators wanting all public notices to be put on the Internet, basically hiding it. But mind you the sponsor of the Bill wants a notice run in the newspaper telling people that it is on the Internet. Doesn’t that strike you as odd? He is aware that newspapers will deliver the message the best. I think most of you will agree with me that trying to find about anything on the Internet is like searching for a needle in a haystack.

One of the main reasons I want public notices to be in a newspaper is because those of us in this line of work need the revenue from its advertising. It is very much in our best interest that this continue.

What if all legal advertising is pulled from newspapers, what would be the consequences? For one thing there would be several newspapers go out of business. Here are some reason why you benefit from having newspapers in your community.

1. Public Notices in local newspapers are vital to the proper functioning of democratic government.

a. The government has a fundamental responsibility to ensure adequate notification to the public of its actions. That responsibility cannot be abandoned in favor of cost savings that may prove to be elusive in light of a decrease in effective public notice.

b. Allowing government officials to post legal ads takes away third-party neutral interest, and removes any independent proof of publication.

c. Furthermore, placing the responsibility of notifying the public in the hands of government officials carries with it a potential for abuse. For example, it may create the temptation to change or manipulate the timing of public notices.

2. Newspapers are a more effective medium by which to reach the public.

a. The vast majority of public notices now arrive at citizens’ homes or businesses on a regular schedule and in a context that compels readership (amid local news, features, and other important information).

b. With an online format, guaranteeing or measuring readership is very difficult, as opposed to newspapers, which are required to demonstrate readership by providing records of paid subscribers, maintaining postal permits, or submitting to outside subscription audits.

c. Local newspapers have become the traditional medium for public notices, and this is exactly where the public expects to find them. (In fact, some commercial services, such as those serving the construction industry, actually mine public notices, and then pass on valuable information via email notification lists.)

d. An Internet site can appear only on one computer, to one reader at a time. On the other hand, a newspaper can be read and passed along to other readers.

3. Newspapers are more accessible to the public than the Internet.

a. The public won’t see legal notices if they don’t have a computer, and large segments of society lack the financial means to purchase a computer.

As Mark pointed out in his column our local elected representatives are not responsible for the efforts being made that target newspapers. They know, and you know, this will have about the same effect as not publishing legal advertising at all. But what everybody should really be doing is to acknowledge the value community newspapers bring.

While watching the new series about President Lincoln on the History channel it was mentioned that if not for the effect of newspapers the Union may have fallen. Wow, I did not know that. Not to that degree, but newspapers still play a role in making our communities better.