The Publish Notice Resource Center released a great one sheet that makes a compelling case for why newspapers are the right choice for publishing notices required by law to be made public.
Here are 5 great reasons why it is important for newspapers to continue to educate and inform local markets about Public Notices:
Open meetings, Freedom of Information, and Public notices go together
Public notices are one of three critical elements in preserving government transparency essential to a functioning democracy.
The founding Congress selected newspapers to make notices public for a reason
Here are the four pillars supporting their reasoning—accessibility, independence, verifiability, and archivability. They are essential to ensure notices required by law to be widely published and readily available will meet these criterias.
Newspapers and their websites have the largest audience by far to fulfill these criteria
The use of a website with smaller audiences reduces the presence of public notices on the internet, as well as overall. Print also reaches many rural areas and audiences without access to the internet.
Newsprint spreads information in a unique way that is not replicated online
People find things in newspapers they are not expecting to see as they scan pages. On the internet, people search for specific information and ignore everything else. Newspapers and their websites deliver the best of both worlds.
Public notices in newspapers prevent information from being hidden
The third-party role and full audience of the newspaper in print and online, prevent any entity, whether governmental or private, from intentionally hiding information that is required by law to be made public.
