Obscene Obituary Rates

The Kansas City Star still provides the first 7 lines for free. Just enough for the name, services, survivors. Anything else, including photo, is extra. Let's hope they continue this policy.

 

Oh hell yes!!

That is the Press Association's primary lobbying function" maintain the need to keep the public informed of government notices.
The state legislature has tried for a few years to upend this requirement, but the PA argues too many areas of our state are rural and lack internet access and availabililty and many cities and counties lack websites and social media sources.

One little county, with 3 governments (two small cities and a county government) and a twice weekly paper. Editor told me if they lost public notices, they would have to cut at least 2 positions, immediately.

 

FWIW, this varies from place to place. At the weekly I used to work for, the managing editor told me that they usually broke even on the legals. Then again, there was another weekly in town, so they had someone to bid against.

 

If they laid a person off because that person’s position was no longer necessary, then they can’t refill that unnecessary position for 2 years without first trying to bring back the laid-off person at the same rate. Even the Lee cannibals get that part right.

(Yes, I am aware that in comparing Lee bean-counters to cannibals I have in fact slandered cannibals.)

 

I've seen both. At a certain point in life, many people quit fighting the battles and just resign themselves to what their situation is. Or, and just as bad if not worse, they change sides in an effort to extend their own livelihood over what they once stood for.

 

Bid?
Are you sure?
I thought In most states, governments are required to run legal notices in all publications in the affected area. Never heard of a bid for legal and public notices.

 

Nope - In Rhode Island, they only had to run it in one. We were a weekly, and our rates were cheaper than the statewide daily, so if they had a meeting that was first scheduled after our advertising deadline but before the next issue, they'd have to take out an ad in the big paper.

 

I have always been very skeptical of claims that someone just "breaks even" when offering a service, whether it be publishing legals, selling tickets to NFL games or accepting Medicare.

 

I would think that very few governments do not have a website. But politicians are not very brave people. They are worried about not receiving the editorial endorsements in the next election.

 

Not in the rural parts of my states. I'll bet 1/4 to a 1/3 of the counties and there county seats lack even so mush as a FB page, muchless a website.

 

You might be surprised. The county with the smallest population in the mainland United States is Loving County, Texas (population 134). They have a website.

 

In California, all public agencies are mandated to have websites