Download and Reprint our Public Notice Ads

Ad campaign focuses on need to protect public notices in newspapers and readers' right to know

You have the right to know what's happening in your community.

A new marketing campaign being rolled out by America's Newspapers highlights the need to protect public notices in newspapers and readers' right to know.

Newspapers can download this series of print and social media ads at no cost.  The print ads include space for the name or logo of the newspaper publishing them. 

The ads, produced in partnership with Sandpaper Marketing, call on readers to let their state legislators know that they value being able to access notices in the newspaper and that they are worth the investment.

If you have any difficulty accessing the files, email Greg Watson at America's Newspapers.

Yes, I want to access the print and digital ads from America's Newspapers!

 

Updates from around the country
July 19, 2024 - A Minnehaha County judge declined to order a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction that would have reinstated the Argus Leader as the legal newspaper for the City of Sioux Falls.
July 9, 2024 - The Argus Leader is suing the City of Sioux Falls to reinstate this institution as the city’s official newspaper.
June 20, 2024 - The publisher of a weekly newspaper in a rural Colorado county has sued another newspaper in hopes of getting legal clarity about an obscure but important aspect of the local print news business. At issue is what specifically it takes to become a county’s official “newspaper of record.”
June 20, 2024 - The Wichita City Council decided Tuesday to use its own website as the city’s official newspaper — a move that will save the city $120,000 annually.
June 7, 2024 - Sioux Falls (South Dakota) residents will find information about the actions and plans of their government posted in a different newspaper for at least the next year.
A bill that would have curbed some public notice advertising revenue for newspapers in Maryland has been vetoed by Gov. Wes Moore (D).
May 8, 2024 - April saw an uptick in legislative activity surrounding public notice issues as many states approached the date they’re scheduled to adjourn. Press groups in Minnesota and Louisiana found themselves in scramble mode as public notice bills they opposed began moving.
May 7, 2024 - Pennsylvania is the latest state that could stop jurisdictions from paying newspapers for publishing their legal notices. 
April 22, 2024 - A bill that would place public notices on a government website, depriving local newspapers of revenue and readers of transparency, critics argue, is now on the governor’s desk in Maryland. 
April 5, 2024 - Virginia has become the first state in the nation to approve the publication of legal notices in online-only local news sites.
April 3, 2024 - Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb signed three bills last month that will impact the state’s public notice laws. When it takes effect on July 1, the most significant bill will make Indiana the first state to authorize government units to publish primary notice on some newspaper websites or e-editions.
The suspense over Alaska Senate Bill 68, which would remove the legal requirement that public notices related to the sale and removal of water, are to be placed in local newspapers, is resolved.
March 5, 2024 - Last month provided additional confirmation that state legislatures are increasingly looking to newspaper websites rather than government sites to supplement and perhaps eventually serve as an alternative to printed newspapers as the primary medium for public notice. Bills illustrating that trend moved closer to becoming law in both Indiana and Iowa.
February 14, 2024 - A new bill signed by Governor Kristi Noem on Feb. 12 will redefine the term “legal newspaper” in South Dakota.
February 7, 2023 - Public notice legislation introduced so far in 2024 suggests state legislatures are growing increasingly comfortable having news websites serve as an alternative source of official notice. And that comfort seems to have cooled their ardor for moving notices from newspapers to government websites.
Public Notices: Keeping Citizens informed
March 23, 2021 - By a vote of 8-3, the Florida Senate’s Judiciary Committee voted March 22 to send legislation to the Senate floor that — if approved — would authorize legal notifications in Florida, in certain cases, to be published on a website established by the Supreme Court, in lieu of newspaper publication. SB 402 also specifies that website publication constitutes proof of publication, unless otherwise determined by a court. 

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Let your state legislators know that you value being able to access notices in your newspaper and that they are worth the investment. There is a cost to keeping citizens informed, but the costs of not doing so are much higher!

READ MORE AND REPRINT

Download a two-page PDF from the Public Notice Resource Center: "Why Public Notice Should Remain in Newspapers"