Yesterday NJ.com ran an article, Bill opponents called ‘vendetta against newspapers’ stalls in Assembly committee, which reported on a bill which would allow the auction of sheriff’s sales of foreclosed homes to be done online. The concern was not on-line auctions, but with a recently added feature that would allow county sheriffs (the officers who conduct such sales) to provide notice of the sales on their websites in lieu of advertising in a newspaper.
The article is mostly concerned about this feature, not because of detailed concerns regarding which method will provide the greatest exposure of the sale, but because it would have an economic impact on newspapers.
Although I appreciate the importance of old-fashioned printed newspapers to an informed citizenry (and I subscribe to several), I cannot agree with the position that legal advertising should be mandated for the purpose of their economic support. Legal advertising, whether of sheriff’s sales, land use applications or ordinances, is required to provide notice to the public, not as a tax to support print newspapers. Where there is a proposal to provide notice by a different means, it should be evaluated on its effectiveness as a tool for notice, not its economic impact on newspapers.
Jay Bohn
June 17, 2021