Mainstream Papers Go All Out To Maintain Monopoly Rhino Times

http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/481138-march-19-2015/10

Article in this weeks Rhino Times titled Mainstream Papers Go All Out to Maintain Monopoly.

HERE

The Pee Dee Post Editorial on Public Notice Issue Continues To Evolve

HAT TIP: THE PEE DEE POST and permission granted to repost this editorial in regards to Public Notice laws in the State of North Carolina

Our Turn: Public notice issue continues to evolve

A PeeDeePost.com editorial

The Richmond County Daily Journal lauded Sen. Tom McInnis in its weekend edition for signing on to co-sponsor SB 129.
And no wonder, as traditional print newspapers like the Daily Journal — and not the public — will benefit most. How? Senate Bill 129 protects traditional print newspapers’ monopoly on where public notices are legally required to be published.

The bill, as drafted, would place a cap on what print newspapers could charge for second-run legal ads and mandate that such legally required public notice advertisements be placed online for free. If the newspaper in question doesn’t have a website, then the ad would be placed on the North Carolina Press Association website. Even papers like the Daily Journal acknowledge readers don’t flock to local government websites; in all likelihood, the general public traffic to the NCPA site is even lower.

For far too long, newspaper associations have successfully lobbied lawmakers for what amounts to hefty government subsidies — read: your taxpayer dollars — in order to make ends meet. The compromise that Sen. Norman Sanderson has drafted would save taxpayer precious little money but continues to reinforce traditional print newspapers’ unconstitutional expectation of a free lunch.
In this fiscal year that ends June 30 alone, Richmond County and the city of Rockingham governments will spend nearly $57,000 in legal advertising with the Daily Journal — every penny of that required by law. The Pee Dee Post could offer a better service (read: higher visibility and increased readership) for a much better price — less than half that, in fact. But if local governments want to place those legal notices on PeeDeePost.com, someone has to approve spending even more of your hard-earned dollars. Local officials have no good choice.
It’s time the law that requires  seldom-read, back-page buried, black-and-white notices that offer readers no engagement (and barely a font that can be read without a magnifying glass) catches up with technology.

A true compromise would change SB 129 to enabling legislation to allow local governments in jurisdiction which enjoy digital-only newspapers the option of choosing to place legal ads in either the traditional print newspaper or the digital newspaper. This would have the effect of:

* Forcing all newspapers, in print and digital, to offer a competitive rate;

* Give the local governments the ability to choose where they get the most bang for (your) buck; and

* Save taxpayers a whole lot of money

One thing neither the NC Press Association nor any publisher of traditional print newspapers want to dwell on is the declining number of paid subscribers. With few rare exceptions across America, the number of people paying to read the print newspaper is on the decline. So forcing governments to spend your money on that is nothing more than legacy media grasping at a final chance to hang on. Well let’s make one thing clear: The news is not only for the elite, not only for people who generally forget they have a print newspaper delivered to their frontyard flower bush until it’s time to dig it out each morning.

It’s time for the law to consider new media, such as digital newspapers like The Pee Dee Post, Bladen Online, AberdeenTimes.com and DavidsonNews.net  and give them the attention they deserve. Unlike traditional print newspapers in their corresponding communities, these on-the-rise digital media outlets offer more affordable rates, top-notch reader engagement and by and large a much wider audience. Each has become an information platform with which, simply put, their traditional-print counterparts can not keep up.

If the effort is to increase public awareness of the issue of individual legal notices, SB 129 isn’t the answer. Even McInnis knows that. He told The Pee Dee Post on Friday that SB 129 will do … “for now.”

“I support Senate Bill 129 because it gives a starting point to allow local newspapers to publish legal notices on line in addition to printed version,” McInnis said.” This is a compromise to several requests to go digital only for such notices.  I hope that this will be a start to legal notices being published not only in local newspapers but also in a digital format which will create savings for local tax payers.”

Laura Nakoneczny, NCPA member services director, told The Pee Dee Post that its charge is not to look out for readers.

“The bottom line is that NCPA remains primarily a newspaper organization — dedicated to the needs of the ‘print’ press,” Nakoneczny wrote to the Post. “We don’t claim to be an organization that represents all news media, and we only pursue the legislative agenda and other interests of (print) newspapers.”

Well, thank you, Ms. Nakoneczny, for your honesty. Truly.

SB 129 is not the right choice for you, for Richmond County or for North Carolina. It’ll likely get through the General Assembly, but stay tuned. There’s much work to be done. We look forward to working with lawmakers across NC to truly serve the public.

Each PeeDeePost.com editorial is an opinion piece that aims to serve the greater good. It’s message does not necessarily reflect the opinion of any individual who works with The Pee Dee Post.

N.C. Press Assoc. Editorial Boards Starting Their Campaign To Keep The Monopoly on Public Notice in N.C.

Since the start of the 2015 North Carolina General Assembly we have seen 2 award winning head cheerleaders for the N.C. Press Association file bills in both houses to keep the Monopoly Paid Paper public notice laws stay the way they have been on the books since 1940's. Here is the post about this CLICKHERE

It is always great to see the N.C. Press Association come out with talking points for their constituents to editorialize in their own papers about this bill and how it is not about the money but we all know it is all about the money.For example here are some links to what I have been talking about
The Robesonian HERE
Hendersonville Lightning HERE

but the best post this past week from the N.C. Press Association Public Notice Monopoly goes to the Richmond County Daily Journal with a editorial from March 7, 2015 titled OUR VIEW: McInnis shows leadership on public notices CLICKHERE

Here is what was said in editorial
"The latest U.S. Census Bureau figures estimate that roughly a fifth of North Carolinians don’t have home Internet access. Taking legals out of the local newspaper would leave about 2 million Tar Heels in the dark."

So let's take what was said and turn it upside down for a minute. the census bureau is stating that 80% of North Carolinians have access to the internet. But we need to still have a state law that makes cities and counties have to spend money to publish in a dwindling customer base called a paid paper maybe only getting to 20% of the population in North Carolina as a yearly subscriber to a paid paper in their community.

This public notice law was put into the books on the 1940's well before the computer or the internet ever came into existence. Now in 2015 we have according to the Census Bureau 80% of population have home internet access in North Carolina. Let's save time and money and allow cities and counties all over the state of North Carolina use their own web sites to publish public notices.

It would be great to see our state representatives understand that wasting taxpayer money with a state law to a dwindling customer base is not the way public notices need to be delivered in the State of North Carolina just ask the triad business journal HERE with a title"Triad daily newspapers see continued circulation declines". they had that to report last year.

Public Notice laws should be the best way to get your message out to the biggest percentage of the population and as we see from the Census Bureau it is through the internet just like classifieds have practically left the papers for Craiglist. This is 2015 let's act like we know that a computer was invented and time to update these laws to allow this information to be made available online and not in a Paid Paper.

N.C. Press Association Monopoly Protection Act Bill Has Been Filed by Award Winning Reps

The 2014 winner of the N.C Press Association Lassiter Award N.C. Senator Norman Sanderson has now filed a bill S#129 titled Legal Notices/Require Internet Publication. which needs to have a new title " N.C. Press Association Monopoly Protection Act.

When will our North Carolina General Assembly start to understand that this is the year 2015 not 1949 it is time to revamp all public notices save taxpayer money and let local and county government put these notices on their own web sites. Having a state law which states that public notices have to go through "paid subscribers" which means paid papers is ludicrous.

Let me give you an example right here in Guilford County. We have a weekly publication which is free not a paid paper like the local Greensboro News and Record called the North West Observer. This weekly has 100% distribution to every household in Oak Ridge, Summerfield and Stokesdale. By law we make these 3 cities have to go through the Greensboro News and Record which has only a 20% distribution. So as you can see a weekly paper with 100% distribution should be the best place to have public notices to their constituents but by law they have to use the Greensboro News and Record at 20%, this makes no sense.

Hopefully we will se some drastic changes on the state level in regards to Public Notices but as we see from this past week with N.C. Senator Sanderson filed the bill above, we also have on the N.C. House side Rep. Marilyn Avila. She filed the same bill in the house side in H#156

 

 

 

a quote from Wilson Times on award

Rep. Marilyn Avila, a Wake County Republican, accepted the William C. Lassiter First Amendment award during the North Carolina Press Association's annual meeting last month

"The award -- which is among the highest honors the press association bestows -- is named for William C. Lassiter, an open-government attorney and former general counsel for the newspaper trade group.

"We don't give the William C. Lassiter First Amendment Award every year, and there's a reason for that," High said. "A true champion for the right to know doesn't come along every year. When someone does rise above the fray, we honor and celebrate that.""

So for the past 2 years the N.C. Press Association has bestowed this award to the 2 State Representatives who filed a bill which should be titled N.C. Press Association Monopoly Protection Act.

Time for drastic changes in our Public Notice laws and hopefully will see these 2 bills collect dust and never see the light of day.