Legal ads
Public notices are an especially rich source for you beat reporters. Since governments must by law advertise what they do, including ordinances, public hearings, property transfers, elections processes, bond sales, budgets, etc., public notices are a kind of list of potential story topics. They are in our newspapers, of course, but you cannot always get to them on the day of publication.
The NJ Press Association has started a web site that lists all public notices for three months or so back, from state to county to local governments and agencies.
The site, which I’ve had the chance to visit, is www.njpublicnotices.com. [Other states can also be found here: www.publicnoticeads.com]
It has a search tool to target particular notices, such as “sheriff’s sale” or “chancery” or “Paterson” or “Board of Education.”
A good way to use the NJPA service: visit the list every week before doing your weekbooks. Do a manual search to show a list of notices relevant to your beat. Then see if there’s something you missed recently or should write on in the coming week.
- Jonathan Maslow, Herald News, Jan. 2006
