The Importance of Public Notices In Newspapers

EDITORIAL: Local newspaper public notices keep the fox out of the henhouse

(Jeffersonville & New Albany) News and Tribune

For years, legislatures across the country have been searching for any excuse to remove public notices from newspapers of record.

For years, legislatures across the country have been searching for any excuse to remove public notices from newspapers of record.

For years, those same government bodies have been making headway. During that same span, newspaper readers have been lulled into believing that the governmental motive of “saving taxpayer dollars” is pure.

PURE IN MOTIVE? Hardly. Pure nonsense? More likely.

Fact: Newspapers count public notices (also called legal notices) as a revenue stream. Revenue used to pay for the service of delivering important information about actions of government to its constituency without editorial spin or editing – as prescribed by state law or regulations.

For the full article, see this week’s edition of the Parke County Sentinel.