Legal Notices & Digital Age: Shifting Landscape of Public Transparency

The imminent closure of the Jersey Journal, a longstanding print publication designated for municipal legal advertisements in the Town of Harrison, underscores a broader challenge facing municipalities across New Jersey. With its last print run scheduled for February 1, 2024, the Jersey Journal's cessation raises urgent questions about the future of public notices, which are vital for ensuring governmental transparency. The Mayor & Council of Harrison have issues with transparency. Recently a Special Mayor & Council meeting was scheduled on short notice not for its regularly scheduled weekday and time (Tuesdays at 6:15 p.m.) but for a Monday at 1 p.m. It was a Zoom meeting not because the Administration wanted to make the meeting convenient to the public but because without a Zoom meeting, there would not have been enough Council members to make a quorum.

A Shift On How People Get Their News

Historically, municipalities have relied on local newspapers to disseminate information about government actions such as meeting agendas, budgets, and surplus municipal property auctions. These publications have served as a bridge between the government and the public, fulfilling legal requirements to inform citizens about official actions. The cost for these ads is calculated based on circulation numbers and the space the advertisement occupies. It is not exactly cheap.

However, the viability of this system is in jeopardy as newspaper circulation dwindles. For instance, the Star Ledger and the Daily Record, two major players in New Jersey's media landscape, are experiencing significant declines in print circulation, with the Daily Record's print distribution sinking to under 2,000 copies a day. This drop in readership not only impacts the newspapers' reach but also poses a conundrum for fulfilling legal advertisement requirements.

Suing Because You Are Not Getting What You Are Paying For

In response to these challenges, Joe Bell, counsel for the Warren County Commissioners, initiated a lawsuit seeking permission to transition from publishing legal notices in print to posting them on a dedicated government website. This move, aimed at cost reduction and adapting to the digital shift, sparked legislative responses that permitted legal notices to be published on newspaper websites temporarily.

This interim solution, while a stopgap, highlights the need for a more permanent resolution. The debate revolves around the necessity to maintain public trust through transparency while acknowledging the changing dynamics of how people access information. Newspapers argue that moving legal notices exclusively to government-operated websites could introduce conflicts of interest and reduce accountability. They contend that despite reduced print circulation, their online platforms still command substantial reach and maintain the integrity required for such publications.

As this issue unfolds, the New Jersey Legislature faces the task of potentially redefining what constitutes a legal publication for public notices. The ongoing legislative discussions and the scheduled court hearing on February 26, 2025, could lead to a pivotal shift in how legal notices are disseminated, balancing modernity with the traditional safeguarding of public trust.

Maintaining Transparency / Public Awareness

As municipalities like Harrison navigate these changes, the core question remains: How can we best maintain transparency and public awareness in the digital age? The evolving landscape of media and government communication calls for innovative solutions that uphold the fundamental principles of open government, even as the platforms for such openness continue to transform.

Truth be told one of the official newspapers of the Town of Harrison, the Jersey Journal did not have a reporter cover the Town of Harrison’s Mayor & Council meeting or other meetings held by the Harrison Redevelopment Agency or the Zoning and Planning Boards for several years.  The Jersey Journal did not send a reporter to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) meeting held in August of 2024 where it was known that the EPA planned to put a Toxic Sludge Plant and Construction Staging facility in the Town of Harrison. 

The local newspaper The Observer sent a reporter and recorded the entire meeting and put it online for the public to view. New Jersey Spotlight News sent a reporter, Michael Warren, and published an article on the EPA’s Plan for Harrison. Your Harrison was at the meeting and reported about the meeting before and after the meeting on the cover-up by the Town of Harrison Mayor James Fife of EPA’s Toxic Sludge plant for over two years and Councilman James Doran, as a co-conspirator in the cover-up which including defaming persons who raised the alarm about EPA’s toxic sludge plant in 2022.

The New Jersey Legislature should require that to qualify for a designation as a Legal Ad newspaper (online or otherwise), you have to send a reporter to Town meetings and write an article about the meeting including quotes from residents who speak at public meetings.  If government money is going to support a “newspaper” then the alleged “newspaper” must provide coverage of the municipality it is getting Legal Advertisements from. In the last few years, The Observer newspaper which does not under current state law qualify as a “Legal Ad paper” has covered the Town of Harrison in its print and online newspaper more than the official Legal Advertisement newspaper the Jersey Journal has.  The Observer is a free publication.  The Jersey Journal is not free and distribution in Harrison is limited.

If the newspaper publishers are looking for financial support in the form of Legal Advertisements, then they have to invest in covering the towns that they are getting Legal Advertisement notices from.  The Jersey Journal went under because its owners decided to stop reporting the local town meetings it was supposedly covering.  You can’t increase your readership unless you give the newspaper reader local news to read consistently.  So what are your thoughts on who should be entitled to publishing Legal Notices?

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