A hyperlocal news website founder has called for a law change to allow local authorities to publish public notices online only.
Daniel Ionescu, left, who edits Lincoln-based site The Lincolnite, has criticised what he calls “subsidies” regional newspapers receive from councils for featuring the announcements in their print products.
Daniel instead says that, instead, authorities should be free to publish such notices in digital publications, or even on their own websites.
He has called for the Independent Community News Network, the recently founded trade body for hyperlocal publishers, to lobby ministers on the issue.
Interviewed in a piece written by former Society of Editors president Nick Turner for InPublishing magazine, Daniel said: “I would like to see action to end the subsidies printed papers receive from local authorities in terms of the public notices.
“In my view, legislation should be amended to reflect the modern landscape in which councils would be allowed to put them in digital publications as well or their own website should they wish to. It’s millions of pounds that is basically a government subsidy to papers across the country.”
Speaking to HTFP, he added: “I think technology has caught up with the idea behind compulsory public notices in print.
“A suggestion would be for more councils to publish the ‘public notices’ prominently on their sites, so they are able to compare the reach between the two. This way either sides of the debate would be able to make their case better.”
For his piece, Nick also spoke to Cardiff University’s Emma Meese, who was involved in the founding of ICNN.
She said: “At the moment, [statutory notice advertising] is a closed door for a substantial number of the members in our sector and we strongly believe that’s not fair.
“Just because you are a traditional newspaper publisher, it should not mean that you get access to public notices when some of our publishers have much wider reach and audience. We should stop thinking in terms of newspapers and start thinking in terms of news publishers.”
Ian Murray, deputy executive director of the Society of Editors, told Nick: “There is widespread recognition across the media industry of the contribution being made by hyperlocal publishers, but I would hope that we can find ways to work together through the Society and other bodies on issues such as section 40, press freedom and lobbying for a fair deal from digital platforms such as Facebook.
“We have many common problems and shared foes so it is important that the industry is united. The Society wants to embrace all forms of media output which includes hyperlocals.”
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He’s absolutelty spot on, The lazy newspaper barons have pocketed billions from council and government notices. If they are so keen on moving all their eggs to digital, the system should change.
As an aside, I was told of a friend’s bill for a death notice in my paper, Hundreds of pounds. Traditionalists, they paid it, but..in this day and age?
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Councils have a communications challenge. Most people who take any interest in public notices are of an age where they don’t sit glued to a screen all-day so won’t see them online.
They still read newspapers. But most local papers have such a poor reach now with sales falling so dramatically that millions must be missing the message. For example my daily (ex evening) plunged from 110,000 to 10,000 average a day and my weekly from 22,000 peak to about 4,000.
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From a journalist’s viewpoint, this would be another massive blow to newspapers that have already been badly treated and neglected. But objectively, the argument for keeping the old system has been considerably undermined by the circulation declines, and if this sort of preferential treatment was happening in any other industry, we’d probably all be saying it was wrong.
I think there needs to be an obligation for notices to be published externally, rather than only on councils’ websites though, to maintain accountability.
Perhaps an alternative would be a national website where all public notices from around the country had to be placed, like a broader and centralised version of councils’ online planning portals. That could save public money, enable people to search in their areas and register for alerts, and also create a level (though cashless) playing field for all media.
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Lincolnlite’s right of course but the logical step is for councils to self-publish and pay no-one – so all the media loses!
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It is crackpot that councils have to spend good money on notices that cost much more than other display ads the same size. Even though hardly anyone reads the papers anymore.
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