The essence of your freedom is that in America, very little government happens by decree. Most every action is open to democratic debate.
Question is: Will that debate occur before or after a decision is made?
On big issues – like, who will be mayor or governor – you have the right as a citizen to vote before an election or issue is decided.
On many other issues, you can’t influence a decision unless you find out about it before hand.
That’s where public notices protect your rights.
Since the early days of our democracy, all sorts of official alerts of public doings and legal actions have been published in newspapers that circulate among citizens in every community.
Public notices protect you from any number of things happening without first giving you a chance to influence them. Some examples:
• Your county is about to raise the property tax rate.
• Someone wants a zoning exception to build an apartment complex, a gas station, a bar, or perhaps an adult book store in your neighborhood.
• The tax collector is about to sell a tax lien on your property.
• A bank wants to foreclose on a house near you.
• A proposed ordinance would prevent you from leaving your car at the curb overnight.
• The school board will ask for bids on new computers – or sell off its surplus typewriters. You might want to sell or buy.
These are but a few examples. With some exceptions (tax rates, for instance), most public notices involve specific actions that affect relatively few people or small areas. Even in today’s world of digitally targeted audiences, it is difficult to give every interested person an opportunity to respond to public notices without mass distribution by a reliable medium. Traditionally and effectively, that has meant timely publication in established newspapers.
In most cases, these notices are simply a fair and practical means of spreading information. But they also protect us all from secret government and quietly-done favors by fiat. Public notices provide a visible step in public process. Their publication creates a trail of proof that even rarely noticed actions have occurred in public view.
Now we find this protective and useful tradition under attack. Some state legislators and local officials are proposing changes that may be well-meaning. They sound technologically smart and economical for taxpayers – but are neither.
Yes, government websites can post public notices. But how often do people go looking there? And how much does it cost to hire a government employee or a contracted service to post notices, certify their publication and provide copies when requested for proof or legal purposes.
It is the business of newspapers to serve mass, local audiences. If you’ve accepted the fading notion that newspapers are dying, you’ve missed a great revival. Still the number one collector of contemporary news and information, our newspapers dominate the Internet as well as newsstands and driveways. The same public notices that appear within their printed pages can be seen on newspaper websites. The rich and diverse content of newspapers is pouring onto computer screens, wireless devices, and smart phones.
Where newspaper content goes, public notices go as well. This is a time when newspapers are expanding their reach – making public notices more visible to more people than ever.
If you believe with us that public notices sustain democracy, this is not the time to hide them.
Henry Stokes is a retired associate publisher at The Commerical Appeal and a former Tennessee Press Association president.