The Sarasota Herald Tribune reported that Sarasota County will no longer publish all of its legal advertisements, including those about hearings where the public can speak on new developments and re-zonings, in local newspapers.
The county has for decades posted notices in the Herald-Tribune and other newspapers to alert residents about certain upcoming public hearings. The county will soon start posting many of these notices on its own website instead of in news outlets.
County staff argued at a recent meeting that performing the service in-house will save the county money.
Leaders of local newspapers opposed the proposal and contended that their publications have a wider reach than the county website.
Shop Talk is a weekly panel discussion about journalism issues. This week’s program featured Will Buss, who teaches in the Department of Broadcasting and Journalism at Western Illinois University and advises the student editors at the Western Courier and the students at student radio station The Dog: Jessica Martin, who teaches in the Department of Broadcasting and Journalism at Western Illinois University and is news director of NEWS3-TV at WIU; and TSPR News Director Rich Egger.
