By Shane Goodman shane@dmcityview.com

Subsidizing paid newspapers

Better options exist to keep taxpayers notified

Iowa is known for many things, including having more newspapers per capita than any state in the nation. This is a fact that many Iowans take pride in, attributing it to the quality of education that Iowans receive. Most Iowans don’t truly understand how their tax dollars are subsidizing these paid circulation newspapers. Most newspaper employees don’t either.

Editor Michael Swanger tells the story of public notices in this week’s cover, which explains the Iowa law that requires cities, counties and schools to publish their minutes and expenditures, among other things, in paid circulation newspapers.

Paid newspapers were once the most sensible place for these public notices to publish in order to allow taxpayers to know how and why their tax dollars were being spent. But are the 400,000 residents of Polk County best served today by having these notices published in a 3,431 paid circulation business journal? Or are the 55,000 residents of Dallas County best served with notices publishing in a 2,282 paid weekly newspaper that fails to reach even two in 10 households in the county seat? There are other choices today that would reach more people, and, possibly, at a lower cost to taxpayers. But, as the law stands, options with free papers, the Internet or cable TV don’t qualify. The current revenue that is paid to publications that meet the requirements is substantial, and many newspapers across this state would be forced to close their doors immediately if this revenue went away. I know this as fact because, in a previous job, I managed several of them. Don’t expect these paid newspapers to tell this story. But we will.

Thanks for reading.

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