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The world of politics is a wild and crazy space, and one in which I try my best to stay out of, at least as far as my outward and public persona. Those that love me and know me well are aware of my viewpoints, but as a journalist, I seldom present them on a public forum.
Primarily, it is my job, as a neutral and unbiased editor and reporter, that keeps me from loudly voicing my opinions. Firstly, those should be kept to the appropriate space: an OPINION page, which is where you will always find my weekly column. But secondly, I think that, especially in today’s climate, having fair and trusted news sources is a rarity, yet one that I strongly feel should be preserved.
With the dawning of the world wide web and its ever-increasing accessibility, I have watched both my personal and professional life drastically change. I began a career typing out stories, clipping the paper they were typed on out with scissors, and carefully waxing them to the layout page. I would attempt to neither slice my fingers on those damn Exacto knives, nor burn myself on the hot wax as I laid out pages, rearranged designs, and made it all fit to the page.
We are a long, long way from these practices today. Almost everyone gets their news online. Few print products have remained on the market, most struggling to make ends meet after the internet. Giving away free news and somehow never managing to charge quite enough to survive, print edition newspapers have gone the way of the dinosaur. Sure, there are a few ancestors struggling through, but for the most part, let’s be real. When was the last time your fingers touched newsprint?
When the world carries access to the universe right in their pockets each day, online news is just a sign of the times. From social media to community journalism, you can find any assortment of news online. Yet, there is one aspect of newspapers that the government has left in the dark ages.
If you are at all familiar with local government, court proceedings, and legal notices, you’ve likely seen that column in newspapers’ Classified sections. Folks like your township supervisors, borough councils, zoning hearing boards … they all have one thing in common. In order to create transparency in their actions, they must advertise their meetings and movements.
Government laws surrounding this practice are very clear and very strict. Certain meetings cannot even be scheduled until they are clearly advertised in local newspapers.
Yes, you read that right. In NEWSPAPERS! The law, presently, requires the notices to be published in the area’s Paper of Record, or that with “general circulation” in the area, meaning one generally accepted as “THE” local news source. In many communities, especially in 2025, that publication is likely a local, online news source.
However, Pennsylvania’s state government is currently considering House Bill 1291, aimed a “amending” Title 45 for Legal Notices. Introduced and sponsored by Rep. Robert Freeman (a rep of Pennsylvania’s District 136), the new seems, on its face, to bring laws more into the present, allowing the option for online news sources to be considered for Legal Notice publication.
Presently, only a printed, hard-copy newspaper can “count” as a space to publish Legal Notices. With the bill, the printed edition of a newspaper is still the primary choice. However, the legislation notes that “if such a newspaper doesn’t exist, the notice could be published in a digital newspaper of general circulation,” writes Freeman in his memo about his bill.
“Under the bill, a ‘digital newspaper’ would be an online newspaper formatted similarly to a printed newspaper which must meet specific statutory criteria regarding its purpose and its ties to the community or be a digital descendant of a printed newspaper,” wrote Freeman. “Print and free newspapers would also have to maintain a website and post public notices online contemporaneously and in front of a paywall.”
A Berks Weekly op-ed piece caught my eye and brought the details to my attention, much like I hope my sharing of this news will do for you. According to this opinion column, bylined only with “Berks Weekly,” published on May 14, 2025, the bill could prevent newer, digital-only news outlets from participating in the process.
The Berks Weekly op-ed notes that the limitations, including a minimum of a two-year publishing history, content primarily focused on news and community issues, regular updates and archived content, as well as adherence to traditional journalism standards, may cut out the newer outlets.
Online-only newspapers have even stricter requirements, including daily content updates, a business registration, and specific editorial content ratios, making it even harder for local sources to benefit from this potential revenue source. In addition, the new bill proposes to grandfather in “legacy newspapers” with a print history allowing them to transition to an online presence, but still maintain the EXCLUSIVE rights to publish the area’s Public Notices.
For news outlets like our own Access Network, this is an unfair bill. It limits our access or ability to bring important notices to our readership. Financially, it excludes our publications from being legacy news sources, as well. While many of our sites meet the publication requirements (only a handful that are simply younger than the two-year threshold), we would have to wait for an area’s print paper of record to go under entirely, or fail to suddenly meet the bill’s criteria somehow, in order to be considered.
It may not sound like much, but these Legal Notices come with hefty price tags. Local government, school districts, and courts must budget money each year simply to pay these required notice fees. Limiting who is allowed to publish them means limiting who can earn that income.
Additionally, and far more important to a wider population, restricting the Legal Notice business to print editions in a community, regardless of how popular or well-read it may be, means that the government is not focusing on your best interests and instead is trying to dictate where such notices will be published. I would challenge any print editions’ distribution numbers against our monthly readership any day. Far more readers turn to an online news outlet every single day. It is where the eyes are, so why wouldn’t the government want the most transparency, the utmost opportunity to reach the very most possible eyes?
I’d argue that many local newspapers print editions struggle to make any ends meet. Most are bare-bones with one or two reporters tasked with covering a far-too-large geography with limited to no budget. I’ve been there. Often. It isn’t pretty, and it isn’t fair. And I could go on and on about the demise of the industry as a whole.
But in my opinion, online news is that silver lining. It is the good news in a sea of bad. Community news resources, like our Access Network publications of North Penn Now, Perk Valley Now, Central Bucks Now, Wiss Now, Willow Grove Now, Horsham Now, and Delco Now encompass a large portion of the Philadelphia suburbs. We are the local news you turn to, with trusted and unbiased coverage of local government, school news, community events, and police updates. We are where the eyes are. Why would we not be permitted to showcase Legal Notices?
I find there is something amiss in this legislation which was introduced in April 2025. The simple and fair method should simply be the area’s product with the most readership, which should abide of course by journalistic practices. But simply deferring to an archaic print product simply because … I’m honestly not sure … because they were first? Makes no sense to me…
In an effort of complete transparency, open disclosure of all notices, our government should be striving to reach the most readers as possible. Their job is not to preserve print editions of news, but rather distribute the message far and wide. The times, they may be a’changing, but our government seems destined to stay in the past.
Preserving our news, a record of our history, especially locally, is a task we do not take lightly at Access Network. Just because we opt to be convenient to our readership, increasing accessibility by offering free, online news, should not limit our ability to print important local Legal Notices.
While it may sound like it sometimes, I promise these are simply the opinions of one writer. I do not speak for our company as a whole, nor do I express the opinions or position of our business in any way, shape, or form. Remember: This is the op-ed page.
