The Indianapolis Star published a story today about the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) proposal to move the notices it is required to publish under the Clean Air Act from newspapers to its lightly visited website. The article by Emily Hopkins and Sarah Bowman may be the best reporting we’ve ever seen squarely addressing the subject of whether public notice belongs in newspapers or on government websites. In fact, it may be the only reporting we’ve ever seen on that issue.

The story reports the vast decline in audience IDEM’s notices will suffer if they’re moved to its website. It explains that taking notices out of newspapers will remove them from newspaper websites as well. It quotes the representatives of two environmental organizations that oppose the proposal. It discusses the recent controversy that erupted in Michigan when that state’s environmental agency posted an important notice on its website instead of in a newspaper. It puts the tiny cost savings the state would realize from eliminating newspaper notice in context. It notes that IDEM continues to move forward despite receiving 551 comments opposing the proposal and only two that support it. (PNRC filed one of those 551 comments.)

It would help to secure the future of public notice if more newspapers published stories like this.