Yes, Virginia, there is a better way to modernize public notices
There are models of successful modernization of public notices that Pennsylvania should follow instead of protecting the print newspaper monopoly.
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL - A Letter to the Editor appears in the Bloomsburg Press-Enterprise.
The Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association’s proposed “modernization” of Pennsylvania’s public notice law is a brazen attempt to translate the print paper monopoly into the digital age.
Publishers like the Sentinel have spent the past month speaking with lawmakers and lobbyists to explain the issues with HB 1291.
In fact, the Sentinel wrote letters to the editor of the Shamokin News-Item and Bloomsburg Press-Enterprise to rebut PNA guest columns appearing in both publications and many other statewide.
At Monday’s Schuylkill County Zoning Hearing Board proceedings, of which the Sentinel was the only media outlet in attendance, a concerned Mahanoy City resident echoed some points we’ve been trying to make.
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“While we acknowledge that the notice was publicized in the Republican-Herald, the reality is newspaper readership has declined significantly,” he told the zoning board. “In today’s world, legal print notices alone are not a reliable way to ensure that residents are actually informed.”
He was laying the foundation for a claim that, in his belief, the neighborhood was not properly notified about the potential development of storage units in their block. We wonder if the public notice were allowed to appear in the Sentinel or our online colleagues and competitors in the county, if better notice would have been served?
PNA paid lip service to our critique, ignored amendments, and stuck to its guns, touting a flawed bill as progressive policy.
If only they had done more research. There are models of successful modernization that avoid PNA’s doomsday scenario: Agencies publishing notices on their own websites.
Maybe PNA doesn’t really want the best policy for public notices. Maybe they’re focused on protecting their members’ interests. That’s their prerogative as a trade group, after all.
Here’s the bottom line: Any law which allows legacy newspapers to drop print and retain their lucrative monopoly over public notices is going to be bad for taxpayers, and will do nothing to alleviate the exorbitant costs and dismal customer service endemic today. It’s time for PNA to wake up and realize digital publishers like the Sentinel aren’t just here to stay, but in many cases already the most read and relied upon local news outlets.
So, let’s clear the table. Let’s refocus the conversation.
Yes, Virginia, there is a better way to modernize public notices.
In 2024, that other commonwealth, the one Washington called home, became the first state to approve the publication of legal notices in online-only local news sites. The Virginia Press Association celebrated its collaboration with these digital news sites.
“The Virginia Press Association believes that independent, third-party local news sites (print or online) are the best place to publish government public notices,” said Betsy Edwards, VPA Executive Director, in a statement shared after the bill was signed into law last year. “We supported this legislation because it utilizes local newspapers and news websites to provide the public with maximum transparency.”
Public notices are not primarily about publishers earning revenue, even if that’s how the big out-of-state newspaper companies view them.
After all, they’re raking in no small sum of OUR taxpayer dollars. Last December, Shenandoah Borough Council reported spending $591.16 on advertising in the Republican-Herald. In February, it was $280.46.
East Union Township spent $2,836.10 on advertising in the Standard~Speaker, split in two bills in December, according to their bill ledger at the time, and Ryan Township reported spending $577.60 with the Republican-Herald.
All money that our local communities are forced to send to news organizations based out-of-state that have shown little commitment to our communities, instead of keeping it local with the hometown, homegrown news source.
That money could also be used for any number of municipal functions: roads, police, parks, a donation to the fire company, you name it.
The reform in Virginia was squarely focused on better public access and aligning the law with modern news distribution and readership habits. The goal wasn’t to require anyone to use digital sites but to create a second option for notice distribution and increase choice and flexibility for agencies.
The Virginia bill keeps the existing right of newspapers to publish public notices while also laying out criteria for online-only news outlets to compete. These criteria include:
- Employing local news staff
- Being in business for at least two years
- Publishing regularly updated general news coverage
- Having a clear link to public notices on the homepage
- Obtaining approval to publish notices by a local court
In Virginia, news organizations and taxpayers alike benefitted by not falling for tired “print vs. digital” debates and instead making it “all of us vs. government websites.”
If PNA continues to block reform, and ignore the fact that digital publishers are the present and future of local news, the legacy papers risk losing public notices entirely.
As one Virginia legislator put it, “With the sharp growth in local online news publications, print newspapers are no longer the only source readers turn to obtain information. Legal notices belong in a place that will be seen and, in many communities, that is an online publication.”
How’s that for common sense?
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