Newspapers in Colorado have a long, historic role in providing a watchdog role over government. It’s been our job to observe, report and print the activities of the public governments doing the public’s business.
As a part of that role, Colorado newspapers, including Mile High Newspapers, print legal notices that let our community know how money is being spent, land use is being changed and even how much some officials are being paid.
Unfortunately, there are some in the Legislature who want to take that role away. Two bills working their way through the process are House Bill 1098 and Senate Bill 97. HB 1098 would allow county governments in Colorado to publish monthly expenditure reports and semi-annual financial statements on county websites instead of publishing them in a newspaper of general circulation.
SB 97 would allow any governmental entity in Colorado to post legal notices on its website instead of publishing in a newspaper of general circulation.
While we have a financial stake in the continuation of publishing these notices, we also have a responsibility to point out that people look to the papers for the notices, and in fact read them on a regular basis.
We’re not alone in that assessment. In the January 2011, edition of the “Publisher’s Auxiliary,” a survey of newspaper readers said, “75 percent think governments should be required to publish public notices in newspapers …”
Our arguments against online publishing aren’t new, but they’re still valid. First, newspapers provide a third-person verification that the required reports are available to the public. We also provide an independent archive of the activities. Advertising rates for government legals are at the lowest rate, and the cost of printing the legals represents a miniscule portion of any government budget. Plus, all government legals are already online, either through the Colorado Press Association or through the local newspapers themselves.
Finally, and most importantly, the timing to change the process is wrong. People want more accountability in their government, not less. Publishing legal notices offers that accountability. Shame on the Legislature for trying to take it away.