What is Column?

Column is a Public Benefit Corporation that builds technology to improve the public distribution of important information. Setting out with our original goal of revolutionizing the public notice process, Column has developed strong relationships with hundreds of newspapers across the country as we have worked alongside them to facilitate a more streamlined public notice system that benefits publishers and their clientele alike. With over 50% of the top ten newspaper companies as clients, Column has continued to further develop our system that prioritizes the accessibility of public information while providing a modernized essential service to publishers, government officials, and legal services professionals.

Our category-leading software tool makes it easier than ever to place and publish public notices in local newspapers for both newspaper staff and advertisers. When using Column, advertisers are able to place their legal notice within minutes by using Column’s step-by-step placement flow: filling in relevant information to build out their notice content, tailoring their formatting, and customizing their billing and affidavit requests/preferences. On the publishers’ side, Column centralizes the intake of public notices from advertisers, converting all submissions into a single dashboard. Column also streamlines the billing & affidavit process by storing all of these relevant documents in one easy-to-navigate platform.

The company was founded by Jake Seaton, a former paperboy turned software engineer whose family owns and operates Seaton Media Group, a four-generation local news company across the Midwest. Jake and the Column team are currently based out of Washington, D.C., and Miami, FL. Learn more about our story here.