A little over three years ago when the Herald showed up in the majority of mailboxes in the Oshkosh Area School District, we shared our goal of reaching 100% of the homes in Oshkosh. And today we are a little closer to that goal as 1,600 more households are receiving the Herald in today’s mail and our pending list of 11 postal routes is down to eight. This brings our total mailed distribution to over 30,000 homes and businesses.

We continually work on establishing value and trust in the Oshkosh community every week and we ask that if you are a current subscriber in the new areas that you support us with a membership at your renewal. For those in the eight routes still on our list please be patient. We need your support as we continue our efforts on changing the state statute to be able to compete for the honor of being your Newspaper of Record.

However, there is quite a bit happening right now to change how government keeps its constituents informed.

Late last week Wisconsin Newspapers Association (WNA) sent out an urgent plea for supporters to contact their representatives regarding SB55 that is being pushed to the floor this week.

Julia Hunger of WNA states, “The Wisconsin legislature is currently considering a bill that would give local governments the option to stop publishing a summary of their actions in local newspapers. Senate Bill 55 would allow local municipalities to post meeting minutes on their websites instead.

Supporters of Senate Bill 55 suggest local government websites are sufficient to notify the public of their actions and that publishing meeting minutes in the newspaper limits access only to newspaper subscribers. However, all legal notices published in the State of Wisconsin are available and accessible for free to the public through WisconsinPublicNotices.org.

Removing existing publication requirements would remove important, third-party oversight of government, as well as create holes in this invaluable statewide database while also neglecting the needs of those who lack adequate computer and internet access.”

This bill is sponsored and co-sponsored by our local representatives, Dan Feyen and Michael Schraa.

The irony of this is there is a WNA sponsored bill working its way through the legislative process as well. These changes are sponsored by Rep. Joel Kitchens (Sturgeon Bay) and Sen. Robert Cowles (Green Bay). WNA is asking that bill LRB-1157 change the Newspaper of Record ordinance 985.03 qualifications be decreased from the current minimum of 50% paid circulation for cities with population of 39,000 to 150,000 to be not less than 1,000 paid copies.

At first glance I was excited about this as reaching 1,000 subscribers is a much easier goal than the 15,000 we currently need. But this also means that a city of 150,000 may get to the point where their Newspaper of Record is only reaching 1% of its population in print. How are either of these options offering transparency in government?

In a January 11, 2021 press release Rep. Kitchens states, “Because of the internet, people’s reading habits have changed over the past several decades, with most readers now going online to get their news,” Rep. Kitchens said. “Because of this transformation, we must also adapt to make sure the public can better follow along with what their elected officials are doing. We believe a more transparent government is a better government.”

Some may say WNA you can’t have their cake and eat it too. I would agree if most people regularly visited their local government websites or www.wisconsinpublicnotice.org, but we do not.

In fact, this is posted on the home page of the www.wisconsinpublicnotice.org site:

Why Newspapers?

“Governments have relied on newspapers to publish public notices since the birth of the nation. Local newspapers remain the most trusted source of public notice information today. Additionally, by publishing notices in newspapers, they remain permanent records that cannot be altered or deleted, and the printed version provides a permanent archive and third-party verification of authenticity.”

Public notices are published to inform the public as we “don’t know what we don’t know.” I have contacted our local representatives and the sponsors of this bill by email because I believe it would be beneficial for a more informed electorate if chapter 985 were updated to reflect changes in the industry and not just watered down to protect a revenue stream for a certain set of newspapers.

SB 55 should be shut down and it is time to change the language in the 985.03 bill to include an audited market reach of at least 50% OR a minimum paid subscription to give municipalities a choice. Several paid newspapers have the benefit of applying to be the Newspaper of Record as both a paid and a free publication. The municipality, your government, then has a choice of what they deem the best vehicle to inform their community.

After all, it creates fair competition for municipalities to have choices. They know better than any legislator where their citizens are receiving their news.

Let your representatives know that transparency in government is supported by print newspapers and that with changing industry trends the Newspaper of Record qualifications need to be expanded on, not contracted, to include free community newspapers like your Oshkosh Herald.

Rep. Gordon Hintz (608) 266-2254,  Rep.Hintz@legis.wisconsin.gov

Rep. Michael Schraa (608) 267-7990 Rep.Schraa@legis.wisconsin.gov

Sen. Dan Feyen  (608) 266-5300             SEN.FEYEN@LEGIS.WI.GOV