Maine Newspapers Violations -- Antitrust Laws‏

State and Local Freedom of Information Issues (FOI-L@listserv.syr.edu)

Please suggest references, cites, cases, or informal or unpublished AG opinions -- state and federal and administrative -- on newspapers being the required sole publisher of legal notices in your state or country. Off-- or on--list.

I'm preparing a formal complaint for the U.S. Attorney General, Antitrust Division, against the State of Maine law that requires state and local legal notices to be published in the newspaper for that area or region (excellent speech by Deputy AAG Hesse, "At the Intersection of Antitrust and High Tech: Opportunities for Constructive Engagement",

Jan 22, 2014, Sanford, CA, <http://www.justice.gov/atr/public/speeches/303152.pdf>, prepared for Conference on Competition and IP Policy in High-Technology Industries). 

Given that more people get their news from the net than from newspapers, and given that Maine has provided their students for over 6 years with their own laptop computers and so are computer literate, and given that the First Amendment is still in effect and that a Nash equilibrium and other arguments would strongly suggest, if not prove, that subsidizing newspapers  (especially as their circulations decline) would be harmful to the newspapers, it is also time to file a formal complaint in civil court to block this law.  

We have support at the local town level where advertising for bids is way too expensive so the towns are left with simply calling local providers to get someone to do the work.  Indeed, one Selectman told me at the last board meeting to "pursue this with a passion." Not a single Board member objected to his statement.

We also have data now on five towns on the quality of local newspaper coverage -- and, as predicted by antitrust theory -- the quality of coverage of local government activities by the newspaper, compared to videotapes of the governing board meetings, is unacceptably low.  There are more legal and empirical grounds for demonstrating newspaper antitrust violations, without being in conflict with precedents (Associated Press v. United States; Tribune  Company v. United States; United States v. Associated Press, Citations 326 U.S. 1 (https://supreme.justia.com/us/326/1/case.html), or Noerr-Pennington Doctrine, or the Parker Immunity Doctrine (Parker, Director of Agriculture, et al. v. Brown, 317 U.S. 341 (https://supreme.justia.com/us/317/341/case.html)63 S. Ct. 307; 87 L. Ed. 315; 1943 U.S. LEXIS 1263; 1943 Trade Cas. (CCH) P56,250).

Dwight Hines

IndyMedia

Maine