Newspapers may be zombies, but in Alaska they’ll be undead for another year at least, standing up for the liberal narrative in the 49th state. A Senate bill that would have changed requirements for legal public notice by allowing an option for state bureaucrats to use the Alaska Online Public Notice System rather than a newspaper ultimately died as the House of Representatives ran out of time at the end of the 33rd legislative session Thursday morning.
Senate Bill 68, sponsored by Senators Click Bishop and Cathy Giessel provided another means to the current requirement that notices be posted in a newspaper of general circulation in an affected area for certain actions involving land and water usage notices. The bill would have updated, but not substantively changed, other requirements for notice by the appropriate commissioner to determine the rights of persons regarding related issues.
“The changes would utilize the state’s online public notice system, which is available to most Alaskans to view at no cost. Public notices posted on this system are permanently retained for future reference, whereas newspaper notices are difficult to retrieve. Utilizing the online public notice system ensures that Alaskans have equal access to public notices rather than just newspaper subscribers or residents of certain areas. Finally, online public notice would eliminate coordinating issues with newspaper publications and reduces permit processing timeframes,” the sponsors noted.
I was a cost-saving measure, but also would have provided consistent access, considering the rapid decline of newspaper circulation in Alaska and the perilous financial state of newspapers in an era of digital information. The Anchorage Daily News is down to printing 6,400 copies on Sundays, and is expected to only be printing two editions a week soon. Already other newspapers, such as the Juneau Empire, have reduced their print run to two days per week.
The issue has come up before and will no doubt be brought up again, but newspaper owners in the state oppose it because it is one of their last remaining streams of revenue. They have a lease on life for at least one year, likely two, because any similar bill will need to be introduced anew in 2025 and may take two years to pass.
ADN and Newsminer can be fleeced by their Left-wing, commie-cub reporters for a while longer.
Notice in what masquerade as a “ news paper” would be read by tens and tens of people on a good day here is Los Anchorage.
The usual suspects, Giessel and bishop.
Thought the same.
Great headline😂😂
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