80 percent of North Carolinians have Internet access
Legacy newspapers lead attack on government transparency
I almost thought the Richmond County Daily Journal had seen the light. Nope. The light’s still out. At this point, I’m not even sure if anyone there can find the light switch.
Let me explain. This isn’t about character or personal relationships. This is completely and only about two things: A government body’s ability to choose and save money, and the public’s access to government information.
In an editorial published online Sunday and shared on Facebook, the Daily Journal writes about Sunshine Week, “a nationwide initiative to promote and advance the cause of open government.” The week is celebrated this year from March 15 to March 21.
The editorial, presumably written by Content Manager Corey Friedman, is meant to represent the Daily Journal and, just as likely, the views of parent company Civitas Media. Friedman gets it right with this statement:
“Transparency is under attack in North Carolina.”
On this point, the editor is absolutely right. What he doesn’t reveal, however, is that the attack is being led by the very type of newspaper for which he toils.
I’ll use the issue of legally required public notices as an example. The Pee Dee Post wrote an editorial on the issue on March 7. There, it blasted the Daily Journal‘s position that Senate Bill 129 is anything but bad. Here’s why: SB 129 protects nobody but the legacy media and the attorneys who wrote it.
SB 129, filed by Sen. Norman Sanderson and crossfiled in the House by Rep. Marilyn Avila, continues the mandate that legally required public notices must be published in the local print newspaper. It’s an antiquated law — written some 70-plus years ago — that fails on a ridiculous level to take into consideration how people today consume news and information.
There are a couple of problems here. First, newspapers like the Daily Journal aren’t local — they’re owned by media corporations and controlled by people who likely have never stepped foot in Richmond County. Further, policies for “your local newspaper” are made in far-off places such as Dayton, Ohio and Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
New media outlets such as The Pee Dee Post, Bladen Online, AberdeenTimes.com and DavidsonNews.net are owned and operated by people who live in the communities (a reasonable commute is taken into consideration, of course – I’m not trying to tell people where they should live).
Second, SB 129 doesn’t take into consideration the ever-declining number of paid subscriptions to legacy media that plague newspapers like the Daily Journal. Meanwhile, in his editorial, Friedman acknowledges that “one in five North Carolina residents (are) without home Internet access.”
The flipside, of course, is that 80 percent of residents do have reliable access to the Internet. And you can bet your bottom dollar that 80 percent of any jurisdiction does not subscribe to the corporate-controlled newspaper of record. What’s more, visit your local library and you’re lucky to find one copy of an intact newspaper. But one can easily find several computer stations by which users can access whatever information they seek.
“Why,” Friedman asks, “make important information so hard to find?”
Exactly! If newspapers’ intent is to keep public notices on the front burner, then why not put them on the front page? They are buried in newspapers like the Daily Journal — hard to find, tiny print — but legal notices are published on the home page at PeeDeePost.com — the most visited section of PeeDeePost.com. Already, municipalities such as Hamlet and Ellerbe already are publishing legal notices on PeeDeePost.com even though they are not legally required to do so. Why?
“You have the readers,” said one elected official of The Pee Dee Post and its monthly average of 40,094 unique visitors in a county with a population of about 46,000 people.
Officials in Hamlet and Ellerbe have paid much less on PeeDeePost.com than in the Daily Journal, but let’s use another example — perhaps the best one. Of the $50,000 that Richmond County government will spend with the Daily Journal this fiscal year, nearly 60 percent of it — roughly $30,000 — will come in one fell swoop with the publication of tax delinquency notices. That’s for only one day of publication.
If the ad is prepared by county staff, The Pee Dee Post could publish that same ad for $185 for seven days — or only $26.42 for a single day. The PDP, readers, isn’t looking for a government handout. That would transfer the burden of taxpayers from legacy media to new media. The goal here is to save you money. A lot of it. With today’s news media, there’s a better way of disseminating information and legacy media is not it.
What elected official or public servant charged with minding the store that is taxpayer dollars would not choose saving more than $29,800 in a single publication of legal notices? The answer is simple: Sanderson and Avila, along with anyone else funded in whole or in part by the North Carolina Press Association.
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;
* Supporting locally owned and operated businesses;
* 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.
The North Carolina Press Association is not tasked with looking out for you. The organization looks out for its members (read: print newspapers). Don’t believe me? Here’s what Laura Nakoneczny, NCPA member services director, told The Pee Dee Post:
“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.”
You see, she doesn’t mention the needs or interests of readers. Not even once.
I realize this argument won’t gain traction this legislative session. Probably not next year, either. Sooner rather than later, though, it’s going to be awfully difficult for lawmakers to ignore their constituents about this issue. And legacy media knows it.
Kevin Spradlin is managing editor of The Pee Dee Post. He can be reached at 910-331-4130 or peedeepost@gmail.com.