Tennessean guest editorial: Right to know under attack

This session, the state legislature will consider a bill that will remove the requirement that a sample ballot shall be published in the newspaper five days before an election. Frustration over budget problems is leading some legislators down a path that I believe is destructive to a civil society. Some 10 different proposals would delete the necessity for public notice or allow notice to be on websites instead of in newspapers of general circulation.


These bills are truly the slippery slope, and we must urge the legislature to resist such ideas. The public-notice requirement is both constitutional and in state law. It is built upon an important principle: If the government intends to take some action that will limit or change our rights, or that may take our property, then government must provide public notice to the community.

Access to the Internet is still limited in Tennessee, but even of those who do have access, government websites are not exactly popular URLs. It is doubtful that people would pursue investigating the vast variety of notices on the Web.

Notice has always been in a newspaper of general circulation for a very important reason: Community notification creates an essential dialogue on policy issues and problems. The effects of community publication are no small thing to consider. As a society, we discuss what we believe, how we shall live. And we ask, is this just? Notices spur us to action — corporately or as just one lone, principled believer.

Third-party involvement is vital

Inside the halls of government has never been enough to constitute public notice — too few enter through the doors to constitute an informed citizenry. Placing the notice in the hands of a third party for publication ensures that the rights of the second party are protected, and that the intent of the first party is clearly set forth. This is not possible with a government website — traffic is infrequent, information is notoriously difficult to find and often out of date, links break, information can be edited or even deleted. Public notice is not merely a simple posting but a precise legally worded document.

Publication of government's intent to take some action in the place where the community looks to learn of the local happenings — news, sports, births, deaths, opinions and local events — is not a trivial expense to be done away with in lean budget years but rather an essential price of democracy. Rate increases, ballots for elections, meeting notices, annexations and zoning changes, financial reports, constitutional amendments and many other important notices should not exit the public forum and instead be tucked away on a web site where they will rarely be viewed in a regular and timely manner … surely, many will never look at them at all.

Most newspapers of general circulation post the notices on their websites but it is the printing — creation of a permanent record — and the circulation of the notice in the community where all can see it and decide upon its fate that serves to secure our republic.