Hartford Courant Charges More For Public Notice Ads Than LA Times Does, Lawyer Says

Revelations about The Hartford Courant’s high rate structure for mandatory public advertisements continue, with an East Hartford lawyer claiming that he had to pay a higher fee for a Courant legal notice than for any other newspaper – including the Courant’s sister paper – The Los Angeles Times.

You can read attorney Ryan McKeen’s blog, which states that he was required two years ago to print identical legal notices in six newspapers and that he paid the following in each:

San Francisco Chronicle : $355.00

Los Angeles Times : $403.20

The Press Enterprise : $244.40

Escalon Times : $328.20

The Hartford Courant : $919.00

Sheridan County News : $96.00

“You’d expect to see a range of prices given the size of the publication and the region in which the paper is published. It’s logical that it would cost more to publish notice in the San Francisco Chronicle than the Sheridan County News, a small weekly newspaper in Montana. I get that,” he wrote.

“I also understand the Courant needs to turn a profit on advertising. I don’t begrudge them that at all. They’re a business and in order to survive they need to make money.

“However, the Courant was over 125% more expensive than the next most expensive newspaper, The Los Angeles Times. I can’t think of a good reason as to why that is.

“My client was left with no choice but to publish the notice in the Courant because there is no other game in town.”

Well, actually The Courant is not the only game in town. Keeping in mind that each year The Courant’s circulation is declining, there are other choices. For instance, there are several weekly papers (for full disclosure my Sunday column may be soon published in some for FREE) that charge little compared to The Courant, yet are delivered TO EVERY HOUSEHOLD in their region.

There are also small daily newspapers in central Connecticut that charge much more reasonable rates.

And there are Internet sites. In my case I AM WILLING TO PUBLISH ALL CONNECTICUT PUBLIC NOTICE ADS INCLUDING FORECLOSURE ADS FOR FREE. Other Internet sites would probably agree to do the same. Why? Simple.

We in the Internet business understand who are customers are. They are the readers. The more traffic we receive, the more we can charge advertisers. The more legal notices we carry, the more reader traffic we will receive.

The Courant has had a state-sanctioned monopoly over mandated public notices. Instead of treating it as a public service and charging reasonable rates for those and for foreclosure ads, The Courant took  advantage of municipalities and those who lose their homes to foreclosure.

And now it is running full-page scare advertising warning that democracy will end if it loses that public mandate and the golden goose is killed.

That tactic will lead to further erosion of the Courant’s tenuous credibility as its unethical behavior continues to be examined in legal courts and in the court of public opinion.