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State Sen. Ryan Aument, a West Hempfield Township Republican who serves in the Senate, said he sent a letter to his colleagues in December asking the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to evaluate paid advertising costs incurred by public agencies. urged support for an investigation by “Statewide Entities,” LNP | Lancaster Online's Jaxon White reported last Sunday. The study “will go a long way in helping Congress determine whether continued advertising in print newspapers remains the best way to ensure this important information reaches the public.” ” Aument wrote.
The topic of where public notices for local government meetings are posted may seem like something out of baseball. In other words, it's the kind of issue that only the most picky people in government care about.
But this is actually very important for all of us, not just those employed by newspapers. This is about monitoring what local authorities are doing and how taxpayers' money is being spent. This is about transparency.
As an LNP | Lancaster Online's White said, “Pennsylvania's Sunshine Law requires public entities, such as counties, municipalities, and school boards, to conduct meetings, contract proposals, planned zoning hearings, and other public business. “We require people to be notified in advance in a newspaper of general circulation.”
“Public notices aim to better inform the public about what the government is up to, encourage participation in public meetings, and ensure companies have equal rights in bidding for jobs and projects. Masu.”
However, newspaper companies rely on public organizations to manage their public notices, and public organizations are hesitant to consider the cost. The local government official primarily wants to be able to publish public notices on her website.
As Mr. White noted, “The Pennsylvania Association of Boroughs and the Pennsylvania Association of Township Supervisors recognize that removing the requirement is a top priority.” In Pennsylvania, where local government is fragmented and inefficient, You might think, then, that these associations would have bigger fish to fry, but apparently not.
The issue of publishing public notices on local government websites starts with the website itself. Some of them are very basic and difficult to operate. This could be one reason for the low traffic. But there's also this. Even in 2024, not everyone in Lancaster County will have access to the internet.
Even though newspaper circulation is declining, it remains the best way to spread information to the widest number of people. And they are usually available at public libraries.
Barbara Huff Heusken, legislative director for the Pennsylvania News Media Association, said the notice allows voters to be “part of the process” when the government conducts public business. And importantly, newspapers are “independent third parties,” she said. Heusken said that if a public entity posts a notice on its own, it can create a “conflict of interest” because the notice can be hidden or reshaped to suit a desired viewpoint.
Huesken is a former editor-in-chief of LNP. Lancaster Online.
Heusken said the public wants newspapers to remain accountable for public reporting. She cited a 2022 poll that found 92% of 600 registered voters surveyed supported the requirement. The study was funded by the Pennsylvania News Media Association and conducted by Virginia-based Public Opinion Strategies.
To reach as many people as possible, LNP | LancasterOnline, like many local newspapers across the state, publishes public notices free of charge on our website. Although not all follow this practice, the Pennsylvania News Media Association publishes a digital log of notices at publicnoticepa.com that visitors can access for free.
As White reported, Aument and state Sen. Christine Phillips-Hill (R-York County) are considering a bill that would require newspapers to display the cost of each advertisement in the advertising section. We believe that this will increase transparency between newspaper companies and taxpayers.
There is no problem with this requirement. We say the more transparency, the better, especially when taxpayer money is being spent.
And LNP | LancasterOnline pointed out that the amount of money spent by local authorities on public notices is already public record.
Details from Mr. White's report:
— In Lancaster County, some townships, boroughs and schools spent less than 1% of their annual budgets on posting public notices, according to data obtained by LNP. LancasterOnline via public records request. Some companies spent less than 0.01% of their budget on notifications. For example, West Hempfield Township, where Aument lives, spent about $5,600 last year on issuing public notices. This is approximately 0.051% of the $11 million budget.
— LNP | LancasterOnline pricing depends on the size of the notice and the day of the week it is published. “It costs $4.96 per line of text to run an in-column notice in a Wednesday paper. It costs $82.74 per inch to run an ad in a Sunday paper as a display, which is a free-standing ad with few size restrictions. ” That money helps with the cost of newsprint, manufacturing and delivery of the newspaper.
— “In 2023 LNP | Lancaster Online’s notification revenue from municipalities, agencies and school districts in the county totaled approximately $722,000, according to Chris Fiddler, general manager of LNP | LNP Media Group.
“That total represents less than 7% of LNP | LancasterOnline’s 2023 advertising revenue is $10.5 million.”
A reduction in advertising revenue would be detrimental to newspaper companies like this one. That is an undeniable fact.
What we are concerned about, and our readers should be concerned about, is that this may be the goal of some elected officials who prioritize public notice issues.
Newspapers can be a nuisance for elected officials who want to carry out their official duties without being questioned.
Mr Aument criticized the LNP | LancasterOnline thanks news coverage of his legislative attempt to restrict access to what he considers sexually explicit content in school libraries.
He wrote a column on this issue, published by Opinion on October 29, 2023.
Community newspapers exist to provide a forum for such discussions. They exist to let the public know what their elected officials are doing for their own benefit. And when newspapers disappear, the effects are frightening. Research shows that higher borrowing costs for governments reduce voter participation, increase corruption, and raise taxes.
We hope that legislative studies that evaluate newspaper advertisements will take all of this into account. Our common interest in promoting the public good should be the overriding goal.
