N. Dakota Bill Could Crush Newspapers

By: Mark Fitzgerald Legislation that would force a merger of North Dakota's many virtually empty rural counties also could push as many as 20 newspapers out of business, publishers warn.

Arguing the state has too much duplicated government, North Dakota's big-city legislators have been trying for most of a decade to force counties to consolidate. Their latest bill would combine 39 of the state's 53 counties into "multicounty districts" of two or three counties each. The effect would be to eliminate 20 county seats and their courthouses -- and the need to designate each of 20 newspapers as a county's "official" paper for public notices.

North Dakota publishers say these mostly small and financially struggling newspapers would be hurt not only by losing government advertising but also by the economic trauma their towns are sure to experience when the courthouses and other county offices are abandoned. "We don't want our towns to just dry up," said Kristi Bohl, owner and publisher of the weekly Burke County Tribune. "The heart of a viable community can be the newspaper, the courthouse, and the schools. Well, all three of them are threatened by this proposal."

Located in the county seat of Bowbells with a sworn circulation of 1,363, the Tribune is a good example of the kind of paper that could be threatened by county mergers. While Burke County sprawls over 1,104 square miles, its entire population of 2,242 could fit comfortably in a single Manhattan high-rise apartment building. The legislation would force Burke into a district with Divide, a county that, according to the 2000 U.S. Census, has 41 more people and is served by The Journal, a weekly with a sworn circulation of 2,600 located in the county seat of Crosby.

The legislation took a blow Jan. 30 when, after testimony against the bill by Bohl and Roger Bailey, executive director of the North Dakota Newspaper Association, a state House committee voted 10-4 to send it to the full House with a "Do Not Pass" recommendation. "It probably won't pass this year," said Bohl, "but it probably won't go away as an issue, either."