Public notice snafu drives home point they should stay in print

By Layne Bruce

Layne Bruce

JACKSON—Anyone who’s managed a newspaper for any significant period of time knows the unique anguish of screwing up a public notice advertisement. You know, the kind of ads that are required by law and without which any number of basic of functions of government and business can’t proceed.

From the bid process for equipment to be purchased by county road departments or local police stations to the process for executing wills and foreclosure proceedings.

Or, say, putting a constitutional initiative on the ballot for voters to consider.

It should be noted that before the Mississippi Supreme Court went out of its way to upend the constitutional initiative process, we at the Press Association had already fouled up the proposed Initiative 77 issue by failing to properly advertise it in a handful of state newspapers.

To put it mildly, we goofed. Big time.

It was an honest mistake but ultimately not a harmless error, and it caused a day or two of angst at the office of the Secretary of State and heartburn in our own quarters before we did what was right — accepted blame — and got the process back on track by rescheduling the notice to run in the five newspapers where it had not been published.

As I said, anyone who’s left out a required notice knows the anxiety and frustration it causes. But, in a not insignificant way, the error points directly to a good reason why newspapers should remain the trusted third-party watchdog for public notice advertising.

Imagine if government agencies and private business were entrusted with publishing their own notices on their own obscure websites. The opportunity for errors and malfeasance to go unnoticed would grow exponentially.

So, ironically, even though newspapers — or the Association — on rare occasions do make mistakes, it underscores our importance in the process. Those errors are noticed, they are corrected, and the process continues with all parties assured the law has ultimately been followed.

ON THE SUBJECT of public notice, this is a good time to remind publishers and managers whose papers are not taking part in MPA’s statewide website now is an excellent time to join the effort.

We unveiled a refreshed website this spring in partnership with the Illinois Press Association. The redesigned public notice database is more responsive and rich in features our old platform lacked. And since this is the summer season, now is the right time to sign up your newspaper and go through the orientation process before the 2022 legislative session appears on the horizon.

I know I sound like a broken record — and I probably have repeated this as much as anything else in my 15 years with MPA, but the statewide public notice database is absolutely the greatest tool we have in helping secure our industry’s continued relevance as the trusted third-party watchdog of these important notices. When legislators argue that notices should be online (which, of course, they should), we can argue they already are. And at no added cost to taxpayers.

Public notices also represent for many papers a critical revenue source for services rendered to municipalities, counties, school districts, private attorneys and others.

In some instances, the process of uploading can be automated for newspapers with classified front-end systems. In other instances, the process of uploading your notices only takes a few minutes each edition.

Please take some time to reach out to Member Services Director Monica Gilmer for a tour of the site and to go through orientation so we can count your newspaper as a vital partner in this effort.

PUBLIC NOTICE and a host of other issues — from operations to revenue to content — will be part of wide-ranging discussions next month at the MPA Annual Meeting. This is the first time we will be together in person since the winter conference of 2020, and the MPA staff is very anxious and excited to welcome you all back.

Registration is now underway at the MPA website, and reservations are being accepted in the group block at the Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino in Biloxi through June 15. So don’t delay; get your reservations made promptly.

This year’s meeting agenda is condensed to two days, making the expense of the gathering less of a burden for everyone. But the group rate at the hotel is good from July 7-10, so you are more than encouraged to make a weekend of it.

The highlights of the event will of course be the President’s Reception and induction of a new honoree into the MPA Hall of Fame and the traditional cheering of winners in the 2020 Better Newspaper Media Contest.

We hope you’ll make plans to attend. And we’re looking forward to seeing you there!

Layne Bruce is executive director of MPA-MPS. His email address is lbruce@mspress.org.