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Publisher asks Caroline County to seek state authority to name its newspaper(s) of record; APG Chesapeake disputes claim county lacks local news
Summary
Publisher Debbie Bowden asked commissioners to ask the Eastern Shore delegation to amend state law so the county can designate its own newspaper(s) of record. APG Chesapeake executive editor said a University of Maryland study had erred and that APG continues to publish Caroline County public notices.
DENTON, Md. — At the July 22 meeting, publisher Debbie Bowden asked the Caroline County Board of Commissioners to request that the Eastern Shore delegation amend Annotated Code §1.113 to allow the county authority to determine what qualifies as a newspaper of record for Caroline County.
Bowden, owner of Caroline Review, said the change would allow the county to broaden competition for public notices and decide whether to recognize more than one publication as a newspaper of record. She said Caroline Review has launched carolinereview.news as an online news service and that, if the county had authority to name its own papers of record, new local outlets could compete for that designation.
"The suggestion is just that the county ask the state through legislative change to be able to make that determination itself," Bowden said.
APG Chesapeake responded at the meeting. Jim Johnson, executive editor for APG Chesapeake (publisher of the Times Record and the Star Democrat), told commissioners a University of Maryland study cited in testimony had incorrectly stated Caroline County lacked a news outlet. APG has a weekly Times Record insert included in the Star Democrat and assigns reporters who cover the county, Johnson said.
"Caroline County has a newspaper today as defined by the state of Maryland," Johnson said, and he noted APG was publishing numerous public notices online and in the Times Record section.
Why it matters: public notices—legal advertisements for hearings, tax sales, zoning and other official business—are typically required to run in a newspaper that meets statutorily defined criteria. Bowden said she wants the county to have the option to designate a newspaper or multiple newspapers of record; Johnson argued that the county already meets the state definition through APG’s Times Record insert.
Commissioners asked staff to gather follow-up information including the county’s annual cost for public notices; staff reported the county spent about $37,207 on public advertisement last fiscal year, with much of that driven by tax sale listing requirements. Commissioners said they would consider Bowden’s request and that any change likely would require a local state bill introduced by the county delegation.
