Public Notice
Public notices in newspapers are part of the three-legged stool of government accountability. Public notices help to inform the public on activities by the government and other public entities. Public notices have been included in newspapers from the beginning of the Republic. Now they are also on many newspapers’ websites.
A valid public notice should have four key elements:
- It should be published in a medium independent of the government or other entity compelled to provide notice.
- It should be verifiable so that citizens can satisfy themselves that notice was properly given. An affidavit from the newspaper attesting to the type and date of publication is the typical verification, and these are often used in litigation to demonstrate that due process requirements were met.
- It should be archivable so that future generations can retrieve it.
- It should be accessible to a broad range of people. Surveys demonstrate that a wide majority of citizens believe public notices should be in newspapers.
Public notice resources
The public notices in most newspapers appear in the classified section. In some states, that is because state law considers them classified ads. In others, it's simply tradition. They've been there for all of our lives. Lewis and Clark used public notices. Most state constitutions were drawn up with the help of public notices.
Newspapers, NC state Senate battle over public notice
May 3, 2013
As if a state Senate committee hearing in Raleigh, NC, was not already tense, it grew downright contentious after legislators narrowly voted to approve a bill that would allow local governments in a dozen counties to place legal notices on their own, government-controlled websites instead of in newspapers.
Public notice on the list of state legislatures
February 1, 2013
State legislatures all around America are coming into session this winter and many will face pressure from local governments to permit them to eliminate public notice in newspapers and instead post information on their own proprietary websites.
Public notices—a good place to find story ideas
June 5, 2012
Sometimes the best story ideas are already in your newspaper. It just takes a second look to find them.
TX paper is dedicated to public notice
June 5, 2012
Tiffany Waddell, co-owner and publisher of The Western Observer, a small community newspaper covering Jones County, TX, has developed eye-catching public notice ads to help alert the community about local government activities.
