The city council may require newspapers to prove they have “general circulation” in the city in order to bid on legal advertisements this year.

State law requires government bodies to advertise certain things – such as job openings, resolutions and ordinances – in newspapers with paid general circulation in their jurisdiction. In past years, Columbus and Lowndes County have taken bids from The Commercial Dispatch and The Columbus Packet to publish those legal ads, with the lowest bidder winning the contract for a year.

During Wednesday’s council work session at City Hall, City Attorney Jeff Turnage presented a plan for this year that would require those newspapers to either provide independently audited circulation information or an affidavit from an “independent journalism expert” in order for their bid to be considered. The council did not vote on the matter during the work session.

State law, as well as a pair of attorney general opinions, support the city’s right to verify a newspaper’s eligibility to bid on legals, Turnage said.

“Last time we bid, there were several questions about whether The Packet was a paper of general circulation,” Turnage told The Dispatch during an interview Wednesday afternoon. “… We’re supposed to ensure that the paper that is handling our legal ads reaches the general circulation.

“… I don’t know if they are or they’re not,” he added, referencing The Packet. “That’s the concern. They have to be in order to get the work.”

If both newspapers “meet the test,” Turnage said, the contract will go to the lowest bidder, per state law.

“It’s not like a construction job,” he said “… It’s not ‘lowest and best.’”

As to what constitutes a “journalism expert,” Turnage at first pointed to that person meeting the standard to testify as an expert in court. Then he equivocated.

“I wouldn’t make it as restrictive as admissibility of court testimony, exactly,” he said. “… Is it scientific? Has it been tested? Is it peer reviewed? No, I don’t think we’d require all that.”

If neither newspaper agrees to provide the additional information, Turnage said the city could look to other publications.

“Maybe it goes to The Clarion Ledger. I don’t know,” Turnage said. “… Why would either paper not want to prove themselves to be a paper of general circulation?”

Mayor Stephen Jones said if neither newspaper bids, the city would likely seek an attorney general’s opinion on how to proceed.

State law defines a general circulation newspaper, in part, as having numerically substantial circulation of subscribers through mail, carrier delivery or single-copy sales, is printed at least once weekly, has a known office and disseminates news of general public interest.

The Commercial Dispatch prints five days a week. The Columbus Packet prints once weekly. Both offer subscriptions as well as single-copy sales.

Neither Peter Imes, publisher for The Commercial Dispatch, nor Justin Shelton, owner of The Packet, would comment on the record about the potential new requirements for bidding for city legal ads. But Shelton defended his newspaper’s status as a general circulation newspaper.

Content objections?

Last year, amid a municipal election campaign, several council members – including Jones, who then represented Ward 5 – publicly criticized The Packet’s coverage of them and of city issues. Those complaints called into question the accuracy of The Packet’s reporting, as well as dissatisfaction its reporters did not call them for comment when covering issues that involved them.

In an April meeting, then-Ward 4 Councilman Pierre Beard made similar complaints about The Packet’s coverage of flooding issues in the city, later moving to reject The Packet’s bid for legal ads even though it was the lowest.

Turnage advised against that, and the council instead rejected all bids and elected to advertise again for the service. The Packet submitted the lowest bid again, and the council reluctantly accepted.

Speaking to The Dispatch on Wednesday, Jones acknowledged the decision to rebid last year could have been related to The Packet’s content. However, he denied the new proposal had anything to do with that, though he still has plenty of his own problems with what The Packet prints.

“Whether it’s an employee, whether it’s the paper, you don’t get to tell lies, you don’t get to talk about somebody you’re making money from if it’s not true … and then still expect to be rewarded,” Jones said. “… With all respect to The Packet, they’ve asked questions and we’ve given them details, then they still get it wrong. … So either you’re flat out lying and you don’t care, or you have an ax to grind. That’s why, during my campaign, I didn’t advertise in The Packet because I’m not going to spend money with you if you’re writing all this negative about me that’s not true.

“… (But that) is not driving this decision at all,” he added twice, pointing instead to an ongoing state auditor’s office investigation of the city that has not, to date, touched on the city’s legal ad bidding process. “… My concern is making sure we do everything right.”

Turnage, for his part, said he does not recall content objections to any publication driving last year’s discussions on legal ads nor has he had any conversations of that nature with officials since.

“The questions put to me were, ‘I don’t want to award it to (The Packet). Do we have to?’” Turnage said. “My answer was, if it’s a paper of general circulation, we have to go with the lowest bid. … I think we can do better by making sure.”

Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.