1. Treat Cedartown and Polk County as separate coverage decisions
Cedartown is a municipality in Polk County. Those labels are not interchangeable, and neither one automatically describes a judicial circuit, court class or metropolitan area. Georgia Courts publishes official court-system resources for citizens and legal professionals, but a news page should not turn a city, county, court or circuit into the same geographic category. A Cedartown firm should therefore decide whether a story is relevant because it affects people in Cedartown, because it concerns Polk County, or because it is a Georgia-wide legal development. The page should say which relationship is actually supported. Population identifies the place and its size; it does not establish that residents are searching for a particular legal issue.
Recommended approach
Build geographic review around the firm’s actual service definition. Review proposed coverage separately for Cedartown, Polk County and Georgia-wide subjects. Do not use the ACS estimate to select topics or claim local demand. If a story concerns another county, city or court, require a reason to include it rather than treating proximity as proof of relevance.
