Pa. newspapers fight Senate bill on legal ads

HARRISBURG - The state Senate is poised to consider a bill that would allow local governments to place legal notices in free community papers and end a monopoly long enjoyed by the established newspaper industry.

Advocates say the bill would save tax dollars by offering a cheaper alternative to newspaper ad rates for such announcements as proposed zoning changes, bid contracts, and future public meetings.

But critics, namely daily newspapers and their lobbying arm, argue that allowing legal notices in so-called shoppers, which they say few people read or want, would shortchange the public in the end.

The issue has produced rhetoric on both sides, with newspaper representatives calling free papers "junk mail" and a consultant for free papers labeling dailies as a "cartel" bent on protecting a coveted revenue source.

Two Senate committees have endorsed the proposal, Senate Bill 428, without opposition, and the full chamber could vote on it as early as next week.

The requirement to place legal notices in newspapers dates to the 1800s, and newspapers are framing the debate as one of public access.

"The idea was that people have a right to know what their government is up to," said Deborah Musselman, director of government affairs for the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association and the point person opposing the bill.

Allowing notices in free papers, she said, would "make it a lot harder to know what your government is up to because you wouldn't know where to look to find the information."

Local governments now must place legal notices in a "newspaper of general circulation" in a county. The bill would expand that to include "community papers of mass dissemination" that are distributed free through the mail or delivered by carrier to all households in a political subdivision.

"Right now, the legal-advertising law grants an exclusive monopoly that doesn't recognize that there are other bona fide options out there," said Jim Haigh, a consultant to the Mid-Atlantic Community Papers Association, which represents 300 free papers in seven states, about half of them in Pennsylvania. "We are just looking for fair competition."

Haigh argues that community papers would do a better job of getting the word out. They are sent free to every household in a community, while newspapers require a paid subscription that not everyone has.

The bill has the support of associations representing municipalities and schools, which long for cheaper ad rates.

"We are always looking for ways to get the message out to more individuals, but at the same time to save money," said Holly M. Fishel, research director at the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors.

The bill's sponsor, Sen. Robert C. Wonderling (R., Montgomery), downplayed the controversy, saying the bill would merely provide another option for municipal leaders.

Local officials, not Harrisburg, know how to best serve their constituents, he said, and they could still choose newspapers for legal notices.

"All this legislation does is provide local governments another option to publicize information," Wonderling said, adding that he supported letting "the free market of content availability drive the decisions."

The City of Philadelphia spent more than $3 million on legal ads in newspapers in 2007, records show. But it's unclear exactly how much is at stake statewide.

Haigh said local governments in Pennsylvania spent $26 million a year on legal notices and could save up to half that by advertising in free papers. The newspaper association questions those figures, insisting that no accurate study has been done.

Regardless of the amount, the legislation could deal another blow to Pennsylvania's newspaper industry, which, like that in the rest of the nation, has suffered from declining ad revenue and profits, forcing layoffs.

Musselman acknowledged that legislation would hurt the industry financially. And that, she said, would harm everyone.

"If you hurt our revenue, you are hurting our ability to do our job under the First Amendment," Musselman said. "It sounds corny, but that is what we believe."

The industry is also trying to fend off what it views as even more troublesome legislation - a bill that would allow governments to post legal notices on the Internet, avoiding print altogether.

That measure isn't as far along. It is awaiting action in the Communications and Technology Committee, chaired by Wonderling, and he said this week that he had no immediate plans to consider it.