Nov 12, 2014 3 min read

Last week, the people in Mt. Lebanon spoke. They decided – with 73.23 percent of the vote – to change the municipality’s home rule charger, making it gender-neutral by replacing male-gendered pronouns with neutral titles.

They also decided – with 79.19 percent of the vote – to change the charter to not require that legal and public notices be published in a newspaper.

This is bad, very bad, on multiple levels. First and foremost, it goes against Pennsylvania state law and the Pennsylvania Newspaper Advertising Act – a statute that supersedes the home rule charter, according to Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association attorney Melissa Melewsky.

Secondly, let us not forget that as much as we hear that newspapers are dying, they are in fact, not. According to PNA, 83 percent of adults in Pennsylvania have read a newspaper in the past week. The change in the charter does not mean that these notices won’t be available to the public – just that they will require a trip to the municipal building to see them posted, or a visit to the municipality’s website or track them down on social media. The change alienates those who don’t have Internet access and those who don’t have transportation. It alienates those who rely on their actual, physical newspaper to give them the information.

Third, it sets a dangerous precedent to other municipalities. This is not a new fight for towns across the state, and the country. However, the Newspaper Advertising Act has thankfully prevented the change. The change came about because the affluent municipality of Mt. Lebanon is trying to save $18,000 – at least, that’s their reason for wanting to halt the ads. We see nothing wrong with posting the notices at the municipal building or online – so long as they are also placed in a newspaper.

And before you jump to the conclusion that The Almanac doesn’t want to lose precious ad dollars and that is why we are taking this position – please know that as a free weekly newspaper, the Newspaper Advertising Act does not apply to us. In fact, under the act, The Almanac is not considered a newspaper – the definition of newspaper in the act reads: “A printed paper or publication, regardless of size, contents, or time of issue, or number of copies issued, distributed and circulated gratuitously, is not a newspaper.” So, we aren’t losing anything in this.

But, other newspapers – including the Post-Gazette, where most of Mt. Lebanon’s paid dollars go – and the citizens of Mt. Lebanon are losing.