Public Notices Matter
Public notices in newspapers are critical to public access and government accountability. Citizens want to know when government officials act behind closed doors or spend their money unwisely, but too often, their only remedy occurs months or even years later at the ballot box. Public notices are essential to knowing what government officials are planning before tax dollars are spent or ground is broken. We want to help citizens - and legislators - understand the value of printed notices in newspapers, which is easily documented in every community across
Local government officials and their multitude of lobbyists are fighting hard, with some legislative support, to take public notices out of newspapers and put them on government-run Web sites. Why? Don't they care that 30 to 40 percent of Pennsylvanians do not have Internet access? Don't they care that hardly anyone visits local government Web sites? Or is that the point? If government can hide its plans on a little-visited, hard-to-navigate, government-run Web site, we will all lose.
In contrast, if the goal is to reach as many people as possible with public notices, newspapers and their Web sites remain the only solution; they are by far the most frequented source for news. Help keep public notices in newspapers, where they will be noticed by the people who matter - citizens and taxpayers.
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As the past year's experience with the Right to Know Law illustrates, it's the public that needs access to government records, and that's what public notices are about as well. AARP Pennsylvania understands that, and recently joined colleagues in Florida and Minnesota to remind our state reps and senators of that fact as well.
See the letter they sent to Pennsylvania legislators
AARP letter (pdf)
AARP letter (doc)
More resources
Public notice talking points
Write about public notices in your newspaper
Editorial roundup
Practical ideas for enhancing and preserving public notice advertising
