Thursday, March 11, 2010

The Public Notice Debate, Continued

Tough to make a case
for the status quo
with these numbers.

Link to "Don't send us surfing for public notices", written by Peter D. Fox, Wisconsin Newspaper Association Executive Director, which has recently been given wide distribution.

Excerpt: Possibly because they are so “wired in” at the State Capitol, many legislators advocate shifting all public notices to the Internet. Would they take that position if they were just regular members of the public who don’t have a lot of time in their personal lives to check up on what government is doing.

Let's take a look at the "regular members of the public".

According to an April 2009 survey by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, 63% of adult Americans (a.k.a. "regular members of the public") now have broadband internet connections at home, up 15% from the previous year.

What about newspaper readership?

In a 2008 Pew Research Center survey of news media consumption, 34% of responsdents said they read a newspaper on the previous day, down from 40% in 2006.

According to the Pew Research activity grid, except for the oldest Americans (the G.I. Generation), more than half of all Americans visit a government website as part of their online activities. (Click on grid to enlarge.)

Related article:

Debating How Public Notices are Published. (3/10/2010)

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