06/17/2016

ONA updates our FAQ on Ohio’s public notice laws

And make time for Pew’s latest ‘state of the news media’ report

By Dennis Hetzel, Executive Director

We’ve done a comprehensive rewrite of our “frequently asked questions” on Ohio’s public notice laws. The FAQ also includes the full text of some of the key statutes.

We urge ad directors to make this readily available to those involved with notices as a handy, helpful resource.

Subjects include the qualifications for newspapers to publish notices, rates newspapers can charge, the requirement to upload to the public notice website operated by the ONA, and detail on the most common notices such as sheriff’s sales, unclaimed funds and delinquent tax lists.

There’s also a new section on the law involving public notices for the auctions of contents from self-storage units, which has been the subject of some member questions. Sadly, this is a battle that ONA lost a few years ago. Print notices became optional if other requirements are met.

If and when House Bill 390 becomes law, we will need to do another update. The bill, which Gov. Kasich is likely to sign, makes some changes to sheriff’s sale notices. The notice will get a bit longer with inclusion of the date of a second, “if needed,” sale. This can occur when there are no qualified bidders. However, because of many other changes in this large bill, print notices will not be required for the follow-up sale of that property. I expect this to take effect around Oct. 1.

Another excellent reference in the “members only” area is our “Guide to Ohio Advertising Issues” that covers much more than public notices with topics such as fair housing, political advertising, lotteries and liquor/tobacco ads.  We also have a searchable guide to the details of every public notice statute in the Ohio Revised Code that we can identify. There are so many that we sometimes find provisions that escaped our attention. (Let us know if you find something missing.)

These resources are available 7/24 in the members only area of www.ohionews.org. (If you need help with your username and password, contact Jason Sanford, jsanford@ohionews.org .)

No guide can answer every question. That’s a big reason why we’re here. We welcome legal hotline questions, including those regarding advertising matters. You can call me at 614-486-6677 or send email to dhetzel@ohionews.org to start that process.

What’s the future look like? Some articles worth reading

The annual 2016 “state of the news media” report by the Pew Research Center is out, and it’s recommended reading.

Though some of the data will sadden old newspaper guys (like me), we’ve got to get over it. The report speaks powerful truth about the importance of winning the digital battles for eyeballs and dollars. In particular, if you don’t think the mobile “small screen” platform is critically important to the future of your organization, you really need to read this report and see what your readers are doing.

What about our traditional-media competitors? The report also documents large declines in audience for local television news, particularly in the 11 p.m. slot, although TV stations’ revenue hasn’t been impacted nearly as severely as that of newspapers. The report notes that TV stations have not done a good job in moving audiences online or generating digital dollars.

If I were still an editor, I’d have everyone in my newsroom watch this slide show prepared by the excellent news website, Vox.com. Without taking sides, it clearly and factually explains the issues in the gun-control debate. This is what great explanatory journalism should be – and it also demonstrates the amazing power of the Web as a story-telling tool.

The tools to do work like this are so inexpensive and easy to use today that even the smallest papers can apply this approach to important local stories.

For those who don’t think it’s important to be the go-to place for your community online, I again urge you to read this year’s Pew report. Poynter.org has an excellent summary if you don’t have time to access the full report.