A bill that would allow local governments to opt out of the requirement to advertise public hearings in newspapers has been set aside.

In its place, Rep. Paul Stam plans to push a local bill that would allow up to 14 municipalities to be excluded from the requirement, he told a House committee Thursday. The House's rules say that any more than 14 and the bill would have to apply statewide, as Stam's earlier version did. Local bills often have an easier time getting approved on the House floor.

Stam, an Apex Republican and House minority leader said his bill is meant to save cities and towns money by allowing them to use their Web sites to announce public hearings.

"I personally read five papers and enjoy them all," Stam said. "That's not where people go to find out what's happening."

NAACP and newspapers object after the jump.

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Newspaper publishers oppose a bill to allow meeting notices be posted online.

Rep. Paul Stam, an Apex Republican, sponsored the legislation to allow certain cities and counties to stop buying classified ads to announce public hearings. 

An earlier version of the bill would have exempted all local governments, but Stam scaled it back to just towns in Wake and Mecklenburg counties after it met resistance.

Stam said the bill would give government a break on its expenses.

"Let's look for the things that would save counties and cities money while we're cutting the heart out of their budgets," he said.

Publishers and editors at the N&O and the Charlotte Observer lobbied against it, saying many people don't have Internet access. (N&O)

* Tech-oriented Greensboro blogger Ed Cone says newspapers that oppose a bill to allow online legal notices are fighting the tide of history.

* Conservative blogger Joe Guarino says Gov. Beverly Perdue may turn out to be as good as "a conservative could hope for" for her stance on raising taxes.

* Web design tip: Make sure the home page of your Constituent Services section on your Senate Web site is not blank. (Maybe move Related Links?)

* U.S. Supreme Court ruling could make it harder for some minorities in South and Southwest North Carolina to win legislative races.

Beverly Perdue made a play for the media.

Talking about the economy at an N.C. Bar Association debate today, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee went over the heads of the lawyers and judges and gave a nod to the reporters in the back row. 

"This morning's papers talked about the unemployment rate continuing to go up in North Carolina," she said. "We all know that and see that. Even the News & Observer and Charlotte Observer are having employment layoffs." 

Appropriately enough, Perdue then talked about worker retraining programs. For former reporters, those usually involve several years at a law school.

Newspapers may not get much respect these days, but the "hometown paper" still does.

On Monday, the campaigns of both U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole and state Sen. Kay Hagan used lines from each other's "hometown papers" as an attack.

Both showed the risks and rewards of that strategy. 

The quote from Dole's spokesman made it sound as though the newspaper had called North Carolina a "Mecca" for illegal immigration, when the original Greensboro News & Record article said "critics" call the state that.

The quote from Hagan's spokeswoman noted that the Salisbury Post said that Dole had "failed to fix" the illegal immigration problem, but it did not make clear that it was the Post's editorial board that had written the line, not the news staff.

As much as they bash the media, campaigns like to quote newspapers in their attacks because it lends an air of third-person impartiality. To use an opponent's "hometown" paper adds an extra layer of credibility, since the presumption is that, if anything, it would favor the opponent.

But in many cases, the original context of the quote is much different than the campaign's attack.

A new study claims North Carolina's editorial pages skew conservative.

The study by Media Matters, a left-leaning media watchdog group, is based on syndicated columns run in the state's papers.

According to the survey, the Asheboro Courier-Tribune, The Dunn Daily Record, The Shelby Star and the Wilson Daily Times have the most conservative Op-Ed pages in the state. Each runs 100 percent conservatives, by Media Matters' calculation.

On the other side, only the Laurinburg Exchange runs 100 percent progressives, the group says.

The N&O runs 44 percent conservative to 33 percent progressive, while the Charlotte Observer breaks 46 percent conservative to 38 percent progressive. (The rest are centrist.)

As Laura Leslie points out on Hunter's Tavern, however, the study has some flaws, most notably that it lists John Locke Foundation head John Hood as a centrist.

A total of 116 bills competed in the first qualifying round of Speed Week.

Among the 28 that passed a third reading in either the House or the Senate on Monday:

* The Mega Millions Internship: A House bill would have added the Lottery Commission to the places where students can intern, but it was struck after an amendment.

* Student Body Voting: A House bill lets the president of the UNC students association vote as a member of the Board of Governors. Legislators may feel differently if the Pirate Captain shows up...

* The Paperboy Protection Act: Extra! Extra! Read all about it! A Senate bill prohibits cities from restricting newspaper sales on sidewalks!

In other news, a House bill would let cities enact Fair Housing Ordinances, another would make it a misdemeanor to leave a young child alone in a car with the motor running, and a third would allow the state to revoke your drivers license for giving minors alcohol.

Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly described the bill.