“Don’t let the fox guard the henhouse!” we warn legislators when they consider moving public notices from newspapers to government websites. There’s too much incentive for governments to hide notices if the responsibility for their publication is left solely to them, the argument goes. Newspapers are the independent publisher the public needs to ensure official notices actually see the light of day.

But the argument only works if newspapers guard the henhouse by providing oversight of the notices their government clients are statutorily required to publish.

The Salem News showed how it’s done late last year, when the small-town Missouri newspaper reported the city clerk failed to publish a notice providing locals with details about how and when candidates can file to run for office in the municipal election scheduled to be held April 6. The notice was required by ordinance to be published in a local newspaper, and the city has used the News to provide notice in Salem for decades.

Prompted by the News, the clerk published the notice the following week. (Although it was published later than the ordinance requires, the city later announced it “is compliant with the notice requirements” and will move forward with election on April 6.)

The paper discovered the missing notice “during a routine search” of the notices it had published to see who it needed to contact for a list of candidates and ballot issues.

Although the story was no doubt embarrassing for the city, the News didn’t get any pushback for publishing it, according to Donald Dodd (pictured above), who has owned the paper since 1998. “I assume it will help ensure they get it right in the future,” he said.