Grassroots Lobbying Kit

Talking Points: Public Notices in Newspapers vs. the Internet

• Statewide surveys consistently have shown that Iowans read public notices in newspapers. A 2006 survey* of Iowa households showed that 89.2 percent of Iowans read their local newspaper and more than half of all Iowans usually or sometimes read public notices published in their local newspaper on a continuing basis. In fact, more people read public notices than read national sports news. That same survey found that an overwhelming 77.6 percent of Iowans believe public notices should be published in newspapers. 83.6 percent believe 28E agencies like CIETC should be required to publish notices in the newspaper.

• When asked if they would look for public notices on government websites, 60.8 percent said it was not likely they would do so. Only 8.8 percent said they would be very likely to do so. In fact, over half of those surveyed said they never read information posted on local government websites or bulletin boards.

• Do we really want government in the business of having sole responsibility and control over the posting of its own public notices? When a newspaper publishes a public notice, in effect the newspaper is acting in the role of a third-party verifier or auditor of the notice. The newspaper is responsible for typesetting and preparing the notice for print and is responsible for signing a sworn affidavit of publication for every public notice published. Once the legal notice has been published in print, it’s permanent. Allowing local governments to put notices on the Web rather than publish them in the newspaper removes those critical verification and auditing roles. The stability of newspapers as a medium for public notices is unquestioned.
• What's to keep a public official from posting a legal on an obscure web site to keep the general public from seeing it?
• How can public officials prove the public notices were run on the Internet (no proof of publication, who provides the affidavit, no tearsheet, etc.)? Banks and courts prefer written proof.
• How many people have access to the Internet, especially in rural areas, minorities, and the poor? Are we going to supply computer and Internet access to everyone?
• How will government publicize the sites where public notices are to be posted and at what cost?
• Will there be one site for public notices to be posted where the general public knows to go or will there be multiple sites that become confusing to the general public?
• What's the cost of hosting the web site(s) in question and people to update and maintain the web sites?
• Isn't there going to be more perception of corruption with the government handling their own postings as opposed to involving a third party (newspapers)?
• Aren't newspapers going to be better read, since most are paid, requested products; thereby serving the public notice purpose more effectively?
• The laws for publishing public notices in newspapers are already set; start publishing them online and the legislature must develop entire new set of legislation.
• Newspapers hold much more credibility than anything on the Internet. They have been around decades longer and are still one of the most respected sources for news coverage. The Internet is used largely for entertainment value, and while the newspaper is also meant to be entertaining, it is the newspaper's purpose to provide hard core news each edition. This is where the public expects to find public notices.
• The Internet has a relatively low level of security, with hackers causing various web sites trouble on a regular basis. What's to keep hackers from eliminating or distorting the public notices posted online, thereby destroying the notice altogether?
• Newspapers have a high level of readership among those who are most likely to look for and read public notices - the Internet does not. Why change something that has worked for decades when it's not broken?
• There is no comparison to having public notices packaged in a mainstream product containing relevant, useful and timely community information (news, sports, grocery ads, classifieds, etc.) delivered to your doorstep or mailbox to trying to access public notices through a computer (turning on the computer, dialing an ISP, remembering a specific URL to find the site and scrolling through a computer screen just to see if a public notice has appeared).

• The Internet remains subject to hacking and manipulation. Internet hackers have compromised even the most secure Websites. Publication of a public notice in print is permanent – a verifiable, bonafide record of that public notice.

• Some have assumed that posting public notices on the Internet is far less costly than print advertising. The costs of running and properly maintaining and updating a reliable website costs thousands of dollars. Loading material, putting it in the right places, building in adequate security, search engines, archiving, and constant updating all cost money.

• Surveys show that publishing public notices in newspapers costs local governments in Iowa on average less than one percent of a local government’s annual budget.

*Survey conducted in December, 2006 by Newton Marketing and Research. Margin of error: +/- 4.5% at the 95% confidence level.