Blogger Conference Today
Today at 4:00, I will hold a blogger conference on my SB 208 (Utah Public Notice Website Amendments).
Ric Cantrell provides details here.
I have to take exception to Ric's comment that I am "the oldest living politician who blogs." I'm increasingly feeling that way. But, I think it might be more accurate to say that I have been blogging longer than any elected officeholder in the US.
You can tune in here.
Ric Cantrell provides details here.
I have to take exception to Ric's comment that I am "the oldest living politician who blogs." I'm increasingly feeling that way. But, I think it might be more accurate to say that I have been blogging longer than any elected officeholder in the US.
You can tune in here.
posted by steve u. at 2/10/2009
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15 Comments:
You know Ric was just trying to generate interest by making this sound like it could double as a museum exhibit.
lol
Dial-in number: 1-800-511-7983
Access code: 740434
Call Laura if you have any problems: 801-201-3813
Does this bill exist? All I see is this:
http://le.utah.gov/~2009/bills/sbillint/sb0208.pdf
JHP,
No bill yet. Legislative Research and General Counsel is doing battle with lots of code sections to get this drafted.
Awesome conference. I was impressed with the good questions from the blogger...brigade (as opposed to press corps? Just saying.).
Hope it lived up to your expectations.
Heads up. Senator Urquhart will be on KSL's Nightside Project tonight at 10:00 p.m.
Thanks for the Press Conference, It was great to be apart of it. I was on I-84 when I called in and then go to my office and watched from there. Very cool setup!
Also, just FYI not texting or emailing was done while drive and I was on a bluetooth headset.
The truth is that newspapers get it. If Sen. Urquhart had made a simple phone call or questions of legislators who are familiar with the idea would have shown that the Utah Press Association agrees on the the need to expand the reach and accessibility of use of public notice.
However, we believe that public notice should be both in newspapers and on the Web. For the past two years, with the agreement of former Senate President John Valentine and Sen. Dennis Stowell, R-Parowan, Utah's newspapers have developed a new centralized Web site that is now in beta testing. Also, for several years we have maintained and continue to maintain, utahlegalnotices.com. Both of these Web sites have been searchable by key words. The new
Web site will be RSS feed capable and a fully searchable database of statewide public notices. One will also be able to subscribe to e-mail feeds on a particular key word. We believe that we have developed one of the most sophisticated legal notice Web sites in the United States.
The Utah Press Association has also pledged to create an advertising campaign that would help citizens better understand and access public notices. As has been the case for centuries, public notice is best served by a third-party, independent source. There should be a be check and balance on government power. In other words, should the fox be watching the henhouse when it comes to legal notices? Also, should the government be in the business of creating its own communications bureaucracy?
Also, there are real costs associated with creating and maintaining a public notice Web site. Currently, along with the initial startup costs, the Utah Public Meeting Notice Web site has at least one full-time staff and ongoing costs through the Utah Department of Archives.
I am more than willing to sit down with Sen. Urquhart and let him know about the time, effort and innovative ideas we have been putting into this project. We believe a public-private partnership on this issue is a much better approach.
Joel Campbell
Utah Press Association
Legislative Monitor
foiguy@gmail.com
Who is going to watch the government when they post their own public notices? Who will verify a legal notice when it was run incorrectly? Nobody! That's the role of newspapers in this country. We are the watchdog who keeps an eye on the government. It's not about dollars and cents with newspapers, it's about a third party publishing notices and keeping the government's fingers out of the pie (watchdog).
The state's newspapers already do offer a website, it is active at: utahlegalnotices.com -- also, the state's newspapers are developing a searchable website that will be available at no cost to these agencies when they run their notices.
As to your comments about newspapers raising the cap on rates, the legal line rate has not been increased in 20+ years. I would guess your hourly wage has increased in 20 years?
Keep these legals in newspapers of general circulation where they belong so that we know there is no corruption involved.
Sen. Urquhart, I urge you to investigate the options available before you sink more taxpayer monies into this project.
Beware someone who says "it isn't about the money"....
It is.
I like this idea.
So, you are okay with a government who has nobody to watch over them, incorrectly publishing a notice of foreclosure on your home or an imminent domain claim on your property, and you have nothing to prove it was incorrect because they "fixed" the notice on line the next day? That's a scary thought! Whereas if it is in print, on hard copy if you will, you could fight that injustice. Government agencies should not be allowed such power.
After listening to Mr. Urquharts podcast I was stunned at how uninformed he was with his comments. I would think that an elected official would get his facts straight before gathering a group together and than push this agenda. If this is about money, than fine, let that be the conversation. But Mr. Urquhart is saying over and over it is about the fact that newspapers dont reach the audience and this searchable site will be the answer. He says his goal is to have better notice for the public and make notices more visible to the public. Mr. Urqhuart, please share with us the reach of the state website for public notice traffic. As far as your claims of decreasing readership and raising prices, again you didnt do your homework. Lets talk about the paper in your own home town. Did you call the paper to ask about readership numbers? Did you ask about pricing? Did you call and ask anything? No you didn't do that at all. If you would have we would have been able to show you Independant research that shows we reach 89% of adults 18+ in any 30 day period in southern Utah. Does that sound like a diminshing audience Mr. Urquhart? How about the fact we havent raised legal rates in years. Between our paid paper and our website we are stronger than ever before. If you would do your homework you would find that most newspapers, especially ones in the state of Utah, are stronger than ever in readership. To continue to say readers are diminishing and than say we are charging more is an unsubstantiated claim that any elected official who says he represents the interest of the general public should be ashamed of making without facts to back it up.
Donnie Welch
President and Publsiher
The Spectrum
St. George, Utah
I'm not sure what 89% of 18 and older The Spectrum reaches, but I'd assume an informal poll of the people working in my office might find one. But it didn't.
Only one neighbor on my cul-de-sac gets the Spectrum. That is 1 in 6, slightly less than 89%. Again, not proof that 89% isn't right, but it does make me a touch skeptical.
But hey... I'm just a citizen and blogger with degrees in Mathematics and Computer Science. Clearly, I'm unqualified to do fancy math like percentages. (-:
And the statistic, even if true, doesn't mean that newspaper notices are better. A website reaches 100% of those interested in legal notices and offers easy access to past ones. It solves the problem better.
The way forward for newspapers is to see if they can use their websites to host these notices, for free, but continue to try and sell ads around them.
Technology marches on. The Utah Legislature isn't there to keep a particular business model alive. It is there to serve the people.
Rep Urquhart's idea may be painful to your industry but it seems useful to the citizens he serves. I'm glad he proposed it.
Thanks for the comments, all.
Donnie, the bill to raise legal notice rates is SB 161 -- Repeal of Maximum Charge to Publish Legal Notice. Also, explain to me what you mean about the nefarious possibilities that exist with government controlling the website.
I'm starting to see editorials against SB 208 (surprise, surprise) I thought I would share an idea here that I had after reading the Deseret News Editorial on the subject.
If the papers really are not afraid of the competition - if they honestly believe their are opposing this on public service grounds - they should simply offer to post any legal notices they receive on the state website so that their service complies with the new law (assuming it passes). If the bill were amended to stipulate that the legal notices website allow bulk uploads of legal notices from entities such as newspapers (at bulk rates), and also allow a feed or other source for newspapers to print or otherwise republish the notices on that site (if they so choose) then I can see no reason for newspapers to object - besides the revenue competition.
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