• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, December 15, 2016

Throughout the long-term decline that has afflicted newspapers over the last decade, publishers could still count on one traditional source of revenues: public notices from local and state governments. They are required by law to appear in newspapers to ensure the widest possible reach.

Now that newspapers have lost their monopoly on distribution, however, this once-reliable revenue stream is coming under threat.

The threat is edging toward realization in New Jersey, where Governor Chris Christie appears to be backing a new law that would waive the requirement, allowing municipal, county and the state government to post the notices online for free.

Government legal notices printed in newspapers are typically used to announce things like the tendering and granting of public contracts, hearings, invitation for comment on new laws or rules, foreclosures, unclaimed property, and the auctioning of property seized in criminal investigations, among other subjects.

Media watchers estimate that the law under consideration would cost the state’s newspapers up to $20 million per year in foregone advertising revenue.

That may not sound like a huge sum, but with newspapers already under financial pressure, it could end up costing 200-300 newspaper industry jobs, according to the New Jersey Press Association.

Moreover, some NJ publishers and politicians claim Christie is supporting the bill, which revives earlier legislation proposed in 2010, as political “revenge” against the state’s newspapers, which have been broadly critical of him over his support of president-elect Donald Trump, as well as the involvement of several of his aides in the “Bridgegate” scandal. (A town’s access to the George Washington Bridge, a major bridge between NJ and NJ was disrupted to punish the mayor for not endorsing Christie for governor).

For their part, the bill’s supporters argue that in a period of fiscal austerity, it doesn’t make sense to continue requiring local and state governments to shell out for pricey print newspaper ads. Free distribution is available online, via alternative channels, with comparable reach, including social media and government agencies’ own Web sites.