Public notices of upcoming government meetings and actions are probably not the first thing most readers turn to when they pick up the Times Free Press or any other newspaper.
But those notices serve a vital function.
Legal notices or, for short, “legals” let people know about things such as scheduled County Commission meetings and bids for government contracts. Legals keep citizens informed about the actions of their government. That makes government officials more accountable to taxpayers and gives citizens time to express public support for or opposition to proposed government actions before votes are taken.
Running those advertisements is not free, of course, and in the name of saving money, some government officials — including officials in Chattanooga — have wrongly suggested that they should be allowed merely to post the ads on government websites rather than run them in newspapers.
But that is shortsighted. Yes, legal ads provide some revenue for newspapers, including this one, and yes, governments at all levels understandably want to save money. But taking steps that would reduce public awareness of the actions of government officials is far too high a price to pay compared with the small amount spent on legal ads. (For instance, the city of Chattanooga’s 2010-11 budget was $185 million, of which only $75,000 was allocated for legal notices.)
And the reality is, far more people will see legal notices in the newspaper than are likely to see those notices if they are quietly tucked away on government websites.
Gathering the ads together in the newspaper also provides a “one-stop shop” for readers who want to know about planned government actions. They do not have to navigate from one website to another for notices about different local governing entities.
We do not say that government should not publish public notices on websites in addition to publishing them in newspapers, as one more way to enhance public access. But little-noticed websites are not a substitute for general-circulation newspapers when it comes to keeping the people informed.
This is Public Notice Week, designated by the Tennessee Press Association as a week to fight attempts to remove public notices from newspapers and consign them to government websites. We join the TPA in opposing the transfer of legal notices out of newspapers.
Tennessee should keep its public notices thoroughly public.