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!
Download a two-page PDF from the Public Notice Resource Center: "Why Public Notice Should Remain in Newspapers"
Approved by the 2023 legislature, the new law states e-editions of a newspaper may satisfy publication rules for legal notices, which in the past had to be published in an actual newspaper.
Ohio HB-33 allows municipalities to publish many or most of their notices on their own websites and social media feeds or on the Ohio News Media Association’s statewide public notice website, instead of publishing them in local newspapers or legal journals.
September 14, 2023 - Retaliation against newspapers using public notice contracts is not new, and it’s happening around the country.
September 7, 2023 - With only eight state legislatures still in session, the legislative die for 2023 has largely been cast. There’s always a chance that one of those states could still make mischief, but when the calendar turns to Dec. 31 it’s likely we’ll be able to say it was a pretty good year for public notice.
July 12, 2023 - Jim Lockwood, a reporter for the Times-Tribune in Scranton, Pennsylvania, has been named the 2023 winner of the Public Notice Resource Center’s Michael Kramer Public Notice Journalism Award.
June 20, 2023 - When coverage upsets them, towns and counties are revoking newspapers’ lucrative contracts to print public notices.
June 6, 2023 - Last week, Louisiana became the first state to pass a law that will eventually make newspaper websites the primary platform for public notice.
March 13, 2023 - Local newspapers nationwide are facing the loss of a key source of cash that many need to survive: legal notices.
January 27, 2023 - Technology has changed but the law hasn’t. Senator Obenshain and Delegate Hope are pushing legislation that would allow government legal notices to be posted online.
January 25, 2023 - Florida’s Republican lawmakers hate the daily newspapers and for 25 years have sought to end laws requiring public notices in newspapers. Their answer: Let government control public notice. Ha!
January 20, 2023 - Sarasota County will no longer publish all of its legal advertisements, including those about hearings where the public can speak on new developments and rezonings, in local newspapers, as county commissioners eliminated that mandate on Wednesday.
August 29, 2022 - The law, which takes effect Jan. 1, contains “new provisions to allow such notices to be posted exclusively on specific government controlled websites or alternatively, in free newspapers or print publications that have not historically met the requirements to publish public notices,” Courthouse News Service reports.
June 22, 2022 - The city of Gilroy, California, just put a charter amendment on the November ballot to eliminate the requirement for publishing bids in newspapers of general circulation. This June 22 editorial was published by the Gilroy Dispatch in response to the city's action.
May 17, 2022 - Michigan newspapers need to post notices of public meetings or other similar announcements online in a manner that is free for everyone, according to a pair of bills Gov. Gretchen Whitmer recently signed into law.
May 5, 2022 - One of the most important steps newspaper publishers can take to ensure newspapers continue to remain the exclusive vehicle for public notice is to expand the audience for those notices by posting them on their own website and on their state press associations’ statewide public notice website.
