Category Archives: Uncategorized

NAM launches website linking statewide public notice sites

Newspaper Association Managers, Inc., a consortium of North American associations and non-profit groups representing the newspaper industry, recently launched a website aimed at promoting public notice in newspapers. PNRC is a NAM member.

The website, USALegalNotice.com, pulls together links to the 47 statewide public notice sites operated by state press associations. The site allows the public to more easily access the latest public notice advertisements in different states, including foreclosures, public hearings, financial reports, ordinances and resolutions, and other important government proceedings.

Connecticut courts move notices to government website

The week before Christmas, Connecticut’s court system announced that as of Jan. 2, it would moving its notices from newspapers to a bare webpage on the Judicial Branch’s website. “It is expected that this will save a great deal of time and expense, and provide greater accuracy and broader notice than newspaper publication,” the judicial branch said in a statement posted on its website.

Connecticut courts are not required by state statute to publish notices in print, but until last month they relied on newspapers to satisfy their notice requirements, said Chris VandeHoef, executive director of the Connecticut Daily Newspapers Association.

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Why we call it “public notice”

Statutorily required notice goes by a number of different names. There’s “public notice”, of course. “Legal notice” is a big one. “Legal ads” is also used quite often. And then there’s plain old “legals”, as in “the legals”.

Ask someone in the newspaper business what they’re called and you may get any one of those answers. Ask someone outside the newspaper business the same question and the response is likely to be, “Huh?”

There are a number of reasons for the public confusion over public notice advertising, including the fact that the newspaper industry can’t agree on a name for them. Branding 101 would suggest that’s a problem.

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Missouri papers take the offensive; unusual notice bills introduced in Idaho and West Virginia

Newspapers in Missouri are going on the offensive in their battle to save public notice in their state.

Fighting separate bills that would move all government and foreclosure notice in the state from newspapers to government and law-firm websites, the Missouri Press Association (MPA) threw its support behind Senate Bill 515, introduced last week on the final day for filing new legislation in Jefferson City. SB 515 would require newspapers in the state that publish notices to also post them on MPA’s statewide public notice site. It would also limit rates by requiring newspapers to include volume or repeat-buyer discounts, and by mandating lower prices for “second and successive insertions”.

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City pulls notices after critical coverage

A New York Times story reports on a move by the Garden City, N.Y. village board to take public notices out of a local newspaper and start running them in a smaller competitor.

It’s the latest attempt by government officials to use economic pressure to try to sway coverage.

Meg Morgan Norris, editor and publisher of the 8,300-circulation Garden City News, has been critical of the village board’s handling of the redevelopment of a local landmark.

In addition to cutting the notices, the village board also has threatened to stop sending news items like calendar listings and senior columns to the News.

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Poor Customer Service Sabotages Newspaper Notice

When the Air Quality Division of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) announced a proposal last year to move all of its public notice advertising from newspapers to its own website, its motivation for doing so was clear: Bureaucratic efficiency.

“(IDEM’s) proposal never even bothers to claim e-notice will reach more Indiana citizens,” PNRC noted in the comments we filed opposing the plan. “It focuses instead on cost, convenience and expedience. Those are all worthy goals. Unfortunately, none are the primary purpose of public notice laws.”

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More Newspapers Should Do This

The Indianapolis Star published a story today about the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) proposal to move the notices it is required to publish under the Clean Air Act from newspapers to its lightly visited website. The article by Emily Hopkins and Sarah Bowman may be the best reporting we’ve ever seen squarely addressing the subject of whether public notice belongs in newspapers or on government websites. In fact, it may be the only reporting we’ve ever seen on that issue.

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Court Rejects Claim Foreclosure Notice Violated Federal Law

A U.S. District Court in Michigan ruled last month that a foreclosure notice published by the Detroit Legal News did not violate the Fair Credit Reporting Act. FCRA is a federal law designed to protect the privacy of consumer credit information held by credit reporting agencies.

The case was filed earlier this year after plaintiffs Matthew and Stephanie Walker lost their home in a foreclosure proceeding. Their complaint alleged that Detroit Legal News violated their privacy rights under FCRA by publishing notice of an impending sheriff sale of the property. The notice included information about the sale and stated the Walker’s mortgage was in default and the amount they owed was $56,825.94.

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TV Stars Announce Engagement via Newspaper Notice

Just sayin’ …

Maine’s Governor Vetoes Another Public Notice Bill

As we noted last month, Maine Gov. Paul LePage doesn’t like the newspapers in his state. There’s now evidence to suggest his disgust for print-based local journalism provokes him to stake out irrational positions on public notice bills.

In April, LePage vetoed a bill requiring newspapers to continue posting public notices on their own websites at no extra cost to the state. The veto was counterintuitive but it had an internal logic. LePage doesn’t believe in half measures. He is convinced that newspapers are dying but he’s an impatient man, so he wants to do all he can to hasten their demise.

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