Legal notices in a local newspaper. (Photo: Daniel Nee)
A New Jersey state law that requires municipalities to publish legal notices in legacy print newspapers has drawn renewed scrutiny after the Newark Star-Ledger ceased print operations last month, leaving many North Jersey towns in a lurch as to how to comply with no print newspapers still in local publication. Brick Township has joined a growing number of towns that have passed resolutions opposing continuing the practice in favor of publishing notices on official government websites.
The state has offered towns a temporary reprieve from the requirement, but the overall scenario has reinvigorated a debate as to whether it is appropriate for municipalities to continue spending thousands of dollars each year on legal ads that are often buried in the back pages of print newspapers with dwindling circulation. The state last considered removing the requirement in 2016, when a law was under consideration that would have allowed towns to publish legal notices – announcements of meeting dates and times, the introduction of ordinances, and similar materials – to be published on official government websites as opposed to print newspapers. The law did not pass following heavy lobbying from the print newspaper industry, which derives revenue from the legal notice requirement in the face of dwindling print circulation numbers.
Brick Township normally publishes its notices in the Asbury Park Press and, as a backup, the Ocean Star. According to financial records obtained by Shorebeat, Brick spent $6,548 on legal notices last year, according to Chief Financial Officer Maureen Laffey-Berg. These costs are on top of fees paid by private parties – generally home and business owners – to publish print legal notices on planning and zoning board applications and similar matters. County government also spends thousands of dollars per year on print ads announcing foreclosures and many of the same meeting schedules and ordinances as municipal governments.
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Proponents of print newspaper advertising have argued that publishing hard copies of notices make the materials easier to access for the elderly who may not own computers or smartphones. The New Jersey Press Association, a lobbying group which primarily represents print publications, also operates a central website where all of the notices across the state are published online. Those opposed to the requirement often refer to it as corporate welfare, injecting taxpayer dollars into a dying medium, with access issues that could easily be replaced by existing websites.
The resolution passed by Brick officials two weeks ago states taxpayers “should no longer be required to subsidize the newspaper industry.” It went on to state that long before the Star-Ledger ceased print publication, “local government officials found it increasingly difficult to comply with the public notice requirements under the law, as the media has become almost exclusively digitized and struggled to retain staff, resources and publications.”
In neighboring Seaside Park, council members passed a similar resolution. There, after the Star-Ledger shut down, the borough named the Ocean Star as one of its official newspapers despite the fact that the publication has never covered the town. Seaside Park also named The Press of Atlantic City as a secondary newspaper – likewise, a publication that rarely covers northern Ocean County.
In the temporary measure passed by the state legislature, municipalities were allowed to publish legal notices in digital-only publications – largely as a consequence of the Star-Ledger continuing to publish online – but government officials across the state are increasingly hoping the legislature will amend the law to allow the notices to be published on official government websites instead of private concerns.
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