Bibb County designates Macon Reporter as legal organ

Bibb County’s constitutional officers have selected the Macon Reporter as the county’s new official legal organ, denying an application submitted by The Macon Melody, The Houston Home Journal and their parent organization, the Georgia Trust for Local News.

The change is set to take effect Jan. 1, 2026, according to a notice published Dec. 10 in The Telegraph’s legal notices section. The notice states that the county’s constitutional officers — the judge of probate court, sheriff, clerk of superior court and tax commissioner — voted to change the newspaper in which legal advertisements are published, as permitted under Georgia law.

Which publication was selected

The published notice designates the Macon Reporter as Bibb County’s new legal organ. However, no standalone publication by that name appears to exist.

The application submitted to the county was filed by the Monroe County/Macon Reporter, a newspaper founded in 1972 in Forsyth in Monroe County. That newspaper opened a Macon office on Bass Road on March 27, 2025, according to its website. County correspondence related to the legal organ selection was addressed to the Monroe County/Macon Reporter, with the Georgia Trust also copied, confirming the identity of the applicant.

How the decision was made

The decision follows a June 27 notice from the Bibb County Constitutional Officers Association announcing its intent to designate a new legal organ and inviting eligible newspapers to apply by July 15. County officials said at the time they were seeking alternatives to The Telegraph, the county’s longtime legal organ, citing ongoing customer service issues with the nearly 200-year-old publication.

Founded in June 2024, The Macon Melody publishes weekly and is headquartered in Mercer Village on Montpelier Avenue. The newspaper applied to become Bibb County’s legal organ along with the Monroe County/Macon Reporter. The Georgia Trust owns The Macon Melody and 19 other community newspapers in Middle and South Georgia, including The Houston Home Journal in neighboring Houston County.

Under Georgia law, a newspaper must be published within the county and continuously at least weekly for a period of two years to qualify as an official legal organ. Because The Macon Melody has not yet reached that two-year threshold, it does not currently meet the statutory requirements outlined in Georgia law.

In its application, the Georgia Trust stated that once The Macon Melody reaches its two-year mark in June 2026, it will meet the legal definition of a newspaper “published” in Bibb County — a key statutory requirement for designation as legal organ. The Georgia Trust contends that at that point, The Macon Melody would be the only newspaper clearly meeting that requirement based on its continuous weekly publication and physical newsroom presence in the county.

To address the interim period, the Georgia Trust proposed a transitional arrangement that would have placed legal notices in The Houston Home Journal, which is the legal organ in Houston County, while also publishing those notices in The Macon Melody at no cost until The Macon Melody becomes statutorily eligible.

As part of the application process, the constitutional officers on Sept. 11 requested an independent circulation audit to verify compliance with state law, which requires newspapers seeking legal organ status to maintain at least 75% paid circulation “for a period of two years prior to designation and thereafter.”

The officers set an Oct. 13 deadline for completion. In a letter dated Oct. 8, the Georgia Trust informed county officials that it believed The Houston Home Journal already met the statutory requirements for consideration and noted that the newspaper has served as the legal organ of Houston County since 1870.

The Georgia Trust also stated that an independent circulation audit would take “much longer” than the period allowed by the constitutional officers and argued that such an audit was not required. Attached to the letter was an affidavit from Houston County’s constitutional officers affirming The Houston Home Journal’s status as that county’s legal organ.

Georgia Trust officials did commission the circulation audit, hiring an independent auditor, Nichols, Cauley & Associates, to conduct it at a cost of $8,000. The audit was completed and delivered to Bibb County officials on Dec. 3. It found that The Houston Home Journal met the statutory paid circulation requirements.

Georgia Trust warns of potential legal issues

Georgia law allows constitutional officers to designate an interim legal organ when no newspaper published in the county fully meets statutory requirements. DuBose Porter, executive director of the Georgia Trust, said that under state law, only two publications qualified to serve as an interim legal organ once county officials decided to replace The Telegraph: The Houston Home Journal and the Monroe County Reporter.

“The Georgia Trust for Local News offered that if The Houston Home Journal was selected, we would run the legal ads for free in The Macon Melody until this June, when The Macon Melody would qualify to be designated as Bibb County’s legal organ on its own,” Porter said. “The Macon Reporter cited in the notice being run to replace The Telegraph, in my opinion, does not exist, much less meet the minimum requirements to be Bibb County’s legal organ. If that is the case, every ad placed could be vulnerable to challenge and possibly set aside as invalid — including tax sales and foreclosures.”

Porter said the Georgia Trust was “disappointed and concerned” by the actions of the county’s constitutional officers.

“This could be remedied by designating The Houston Home Journal as Bibb County’s legal organ now,” he said.

Porter also hand-delivered a letter to each of Bibb County’s constitutional officers on Dec. 16 outlining the Georgia Trust’s position.

In the letter, the Georgia Trust stated that once The Macon Melody meets the statutory requirements to qualify as a legal organ in June 2026, it intends to pursue “all available options, including legal action,” to protect what it described as The Macon Melody’s lawful status as the only statutorily qualified legal organ for Macon-Bibb County.

What questions remain

The Macon Melody has contacted the county’s constitutional officers seeking clarification on the decision, including whether they believe the county will be required to designate The Macon Melody as the legal organ once it meets statutory requirements in 2026 and whether doing so would be disruptive so soon after selecting another publication.

As of publication, no responses had been received. This story will be updated if and when officials respond.

Why it matters

Legal notices are official public announcements required by Georgia law to inform residents about government actions, court proceedings and property matters such as tax sales, estate filings and foreclosures. State law requires those notices to be published in a county’s designated “legal organ” — a print newspaper of general circulation — to ensure the information is publicly accessible, independently distributed and permanently archived rather than controlled solely by the government agency issuing the notice.

For residents, the designation determines where legally required information must be published and which newspaper people need to check to see notices that affect their lives. That includes situations such as settling an estate, foreclosing on property, forming a business or certain divorce cases.

A change in legal organ can affect how easily residents come across notices tied to major legal and financial decisions.

The designation also carries significant financial implications for local news organizations. Legal advertising is a major revenue source for community newspapers and helps support coverage of courts, government and public safety. In Bibb County, legal notices have historically generated hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. Industry groups such as the Georgia Press Association, along with journalism think tanks like the Local News Initiative at Northwestern University in Illinois, have long argued that legal advertising plays a key role in sustaining independent local journalism while ensuring public notices remain broadly accessible and accountable to the public.

Editor’s note: This story, originally published on Dec. 9, was updated on Dec. 16 to clarify the timeline and context surrounding a circulation audit requested by Bibb County’s constitutional officers, including correspondence sent by the Georgia Trust for Local News and the date the audit was completed and delivered. The story has also been updated to include reporting on a Dec. 16 letter hand-delivered by Georgia Trust Executive Director DuBose Porter to the county’s constitutional officers outlining the organization’s position.