In 2014 and 2015, Michigan legislators attempted to pass bills that would ultimately pull public notices out of newspapers. Veiled as a way for local governments to save money, the laws proposed that public notices would be published on government websites, rather than paid for in local newspapers.

While the bill never passed, we received word last week that, once again, a group of legislators intend to propose legislation that would change the way government officials communicate with their constituents.

The Michigan Press Association defines public notices as “any other type of notice that a unit of government or taxpayer-supported entity must publish in a ‘newspaper’ in order to satisfy due process requirements for Michigan citizens.”

If you turn to the back third of your newspaper, most days you will find notices just like these — announcements for upcoming government hearings and workshops, requests for proposal for upcoming government projects, postings for open seats on political boards and so on and so forth. 

Public notices have long been published in newspapers (and of late, duplicated on news websites) as a way to ensure that a government is being held accountable for informing its constituents of key developments. It makes perfect sense that news agencies would be responsible for disseminating this information, because newspapers were created to establish a system of checks and balances — to hold officials accountable and to communicate information to the masses.

A 2017 Nielsen Scarborough study found that more than 169 million adults in the U.S. read a newspaper in a month. Some read that newspaper in print — others online or on a mobile app. As such, newspapers across the state of Michigan (Leader Publications’ included), publish these public notices not only in the printed newspaper, but also online.

Previous laws have proposed that instead of newspapers publishing this information, local governments would be left to their own devices — responsible for sharing public notices via their own websites and marketing tools.

For sake of transparency on our part — we do make money on these notices, and taking public notices out of newspapers would be detrimental to our business, but the journalist in me takes issue with this proposal for many other reasons.

How would constituents know when to look on these government websites to find information? If left to government officials to post notices, who would regulate them, ensuring that they have been properly shared in a timely fashion? Who ensures the permanence of these notices? Would taxpayer dollars not be simply shifted from paying for newspapers to prepare these notices, to paying for a government employee to do the same?

I have much respect for our local governments, and greatly enjoy working with them, but, as the Washington Post shares time and time again through its slogan, “democracy dies in darkness.”

When newspapers publish public notices, local governments are held accountable for legal standards set forth to be sure constituents have been properly informed.

Without this process, who will hold them accountable? Better yet, what is the cost of government transparency?

If you support a fair, balanced and accountable government please contact your legislators and ask them these questions.