Public Notice Week set for January 22-28, 2012

Tennessee Press Association has set Public Notice Week set for January 22-28, 2012. The following are editorials, cartoons and ads that may be used by member newspapers to promote the importance of public notice. We encourage you to use the materials, and to produce your own editorials, during the designated week and throughout the year.

Editorials/Columns:

Adequate Notice
By Frank Gibson, TPA Public Policy Director mug shot

When the First Congress met in New York City in 1789, the Acts of the First Session required the new government to publish all bills, orders, resolutions and congressional votes in at least three newspapers.

A few years later, Tennessee adopted its Constitution. It requires the legislature to “publish” any amendment approved by the General Assembly, giving notice that the next legislature also will have to vote on it.      Link to text file

Issuance of pardons is a very public matter
By Layne Bruce, Executive Director, Mississippi Press Association mug shot

JACKSON, Miss. — Call former Gov. Haley Barbour’s pardons of over 200 convicted felons what you want – egregious, nonsensical or — if you’re so inclined — justified. More worrisome, though, may be the volume of instances where pardons were issued but public notice requirements about them were not fulfilled. Link to text file

Not-so-public notices not in public's interest
By Jim Zachary, Editor, Grainger Today mug shot

Should government keep public notices in newspapers?
There are four words to consider:
• Government;
• Public;
• Notice; and
• Newspapers.
Only one of those words matters — Public.
The issue of whether government should require the publication of public notices in newspapers is not about anything other than what is in the public's best interest. Link to text file

Fox should not guard the henhouse
By Lynn Richardson, Publisher, Herald & Tribune, Jonesborough mug shot

During the past two years, Tennessee legislators have pounded away at the state’s newspapers, introducing bill after bill that would remove Tennessee public notices, legal ads and announcements of official government meetings from newspapers and place them, instead, on a government website.

The reason, they say, is to make government more transparent and information more accessible to the public. Link to text file

It is the Public's right to know
By Citizen Tribune, Morristown

A few of this state’s misguided local governments are attempting again to reduce the public’s right-to-know.

The legislature soundly defeated similar proposals in the previous session. The ideal was to no longer require governments to run public notice advertising in newspapers of record. Generally, the proposers of such legislation want the government to pay for the creation and maintenance of their own websites to publish notices. Link to text file

Public Notice Works
By Eric Barnes, The Daily News, Memphis mug shot
When I first became publisher of The Daily News in Memphis, I’ll admit I knew very little about public notices. I quickly learned that they are a longstanding requirement on governments, individuals and some businesses to give notice to the public when a range of critically important actions are about to be taken – the foreclosure of a home, passage of a local ordinance, the adoption of a child, and so on.

But I didn’t fully understand the importance of public notice until I started to get the calls. Phone calls, emails and letters come into our office all week long, I soon realized, from people and businesses mentioned in those same notices. Link to text file

'Adequate notice' a thing to treasure—Changing the system would be risky move
By Bill Williams, The Paris Post-Intelligencer mug shot

How much attention do you pay to public notices in newspapers? If you're like most people, the answer probably is "not much." But these ads in small-type whose content is usually less than thrilling are like the fire department that's out of mind until you need it, they fill an essential role in good government. Link to text file

Cartoons:

2012

                    
Remember the Good Ol' Days...     Color                                                                             Public Notice is hereby given...     Color      Black&White
Cartoon courtesy of Charlie Daniel, News Sentinel, Knoxville                                        Cartoon courtesy of Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press    

From the 2011 Kit   Color     Black/White            From the 2011 Kit Notice the Difference cartoons     Color     Black/White   
Cartoons are courtesy of Charlie Daniel, News Sentinel, Knoxville                                  

From the 2011 Kit    Link to Public Notice by Government     Color     Black/White                                  
Cartoon is courtesy of Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press

Ads:

link to ads This series of Public Notice Ads reinforces the importance of printed notice
The following public notice ads were adapted by Chattanooga Times Free Press from concept ads created by Pennsylvania Newspaper Publishers Association, and are available for all TPA members to use. All ads are half page ads.

link to "Hadn't you heard?"                   

Link to Get Involved ad series                                              Link to Bad Idea ad                 Link to Fox Hen House ad              Link to America Noticed! ads