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Your connection to industry & member news | March 6, 2025
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SCPA honors collegiate journalists on Feb. 28More than 90 college journalists from across the Palmetto State attended SCPA's Collegiate Meeting & Awards Presentation at SCPA Offices last Friday.
Students attended training and roundtables, networked and celebrated during the Awards Presentation.
Thanks to our panelists and presenters: Matt Hall of The State, The Island Packet, Beaufort Gazette and The Sun News; Caleb Bozard of The Post and Courier Columbia; Bryn Eddy of the Lexington County Chronicle; Skylar Laird of SC Daily Gazette; Alaysha Maple of The Sumter Item; and Hannah Wade of The State.
SCPA presented awards from the 2024 Collegiate Contest, including General Excellence winners: - The Johnsonian, Winthrop University (Under 10,000 division)
- The Daily Gamecock, University of South Carolina (Over 10,000 division)
SCPA also renamed and dedicated our top collegiate award to honor the lifetime achievements and service of Lee Harter, who retired from The Times and Democrat last fall after serving as editor for 43 years. Harter has also served as advisor of The Panther at Claflin University for more than two decades. Students winning the Lee Harter Collegiate Journalist of the Year award should be proud to display an award bearing the name of this South Carolina journalism legend. Our 2025 Lee Harter Collegiate Journalist of the Year winners are:
- Clark Vilardebo, The Johnsonian, Winthrop University (Under 10,000 Division)
- Madison Sharrock, The Chanticleer, Coastal Carolina University (Over 10,000 division)
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Last call for SCPA Annual Meeting hotel roomsIt's last call if you need a hotel room for the Annual Meeting!
Monday, March 10, is the last day to get a room at our discounted group rate of $157.
A limited number of rooms are available Thursday and Friday nights.
Aloft Columbia Downtown is located at 823 Lady St., Columbia, SC 29201. This property is a two-block walk to the Annual Meeting venue.
If this property sells out, there are plenty of other hotels in the Vista/downtown area.
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Deadline to place Annual Meeting program ads coming soonJoin us in celebrating the best in S.C. journalism and congratulate your staffers who have made extraordinary contributions to our industry over the past year!
SCPA is offering limited space in the Annual Meeting program for congratulatory ads. Our program is distributed to roughly 200 Annual Meeting attendees and is posted online for viewing after the meeting.
Full page color ads are $60 and half page color ads are $40.
Camera-ready ads will be accepted through March 14.
If you need SCPA to design your ad, the deadline is March 7.
Email us to reserve your space today.
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Anti-SLAPP bill gets approval from House Judiciary, heads to floor H. 3305, the South Carolina Public Expression Protection Act, received a favorable report in House Judiciary on Tuesday and now heads to the House floor.
The bill is sponsored by Rep. Weston Newton.
More than 30 states have enacted anti-SLAPP (short for strategic lawsuits against public participation) statutes, which allow courts to dismiss meritless lawsuits designed to silence criticism or speech on issues of public interest. These laws also protect the public from being intimidated into silence when criticizing public officials. The S.C. bill uses model language developed at the Duke University School of Law First Amendment Clinic.
Here are two good columns by Dr. Eric P. Robinson on the need for an anti-SLAPP law in South Carolina.
A similar bill passed the House unanimously last year but was not taken up by the Senate.
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U.S. Post Office threatens future delivery of McCormick newspaper McCormick Postmaster Evelyn Case on Feb. 25 demanded the county’s local newspaper be removed from her loading dock, then threatened to have Publisher John Stone arrested for trespassing when he arrived to discuss the situation.
Stone called law enforcement to the scene to monitor the situation to which McCormick Police Chief Bo Willis responded.
Stone declined to press charges against Case.
The incident is the latest in ongoing disputes over questionable activities and calls by the McCormick postmaster over mail service in the county, including the post office’s refusal to provide home delivery to new residents of the Savannah Lakes Village community.
Decades of newspaper delivery ignored
The McCormick Post Office has delivered the McCormick Messenger to all McCormick, Troy and Bradley residents for decades, with the former owners delivering the papers to the post office loading dock on Wednesday afternoons. The current Journal Messenger & Reporter has followed the same procedures since the papers were combined in 2022. The delivery goal for the papers has always remained to be in subscribers mailboxes by Thursday in all three counties.
Due to persistent complaints from subscribers over papers not arriving by Thursday or at all in McCormick, The Journal Messenger & Reporter moved printing up by a day to allow delivery to the post offices as early as Tuesday morning.
By John Stone, The Journal Messenger & Reporter | Read more
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|  | We are so thankful for all of the hardworking journalists working to cover the Carolina Forest wildfires and others happening across the state this week. We've heard from several SCPA members in the Grand Strand and though they're exhausted, they're OK. Photo above by Janet Morgan of The Post and Courier Myrtle Beach shows firefighters assessing a wildfire in the Carolina Forest on March 2.
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Editorial: Make third time the charm for SC school livestream mandate
It used to be hard to keep up with what our government was doing. You had to drive to the city council or county council or school board meeting or to the Statehouse — those first ones often at night — and find a place to park, then maybe get a seat and maybe have to stand along the wall throughout a too-long meeting that seemed to be devoted mainly to stuff you weren’t interested in.
That had changed for most larger governments even before the COVID-19 pandemic, but during the brief period when Gov. Henry McMaster ordered us to stay home and then during the much longer period when a lot of people chose to stay home, more governments started livestreaming their meetings. So did churches and civic groups and friend groups, and we all learned that really all you needed to livestream anything is a cellphone; and even if you don’t have Wi-Fi at the meeting location, you can video a meeting and post it online right afterward.
This new awareness came nearly five years ago — yet still there are holdouts.
We apologize if we sound like a livestream on auto replay, but we keep writing about this because an effort that started in the S.C. Senate back in 2022 to require school boards to livestream their meetings still has not made it to the governor’s desk. This year needs to be different.
From The Post and Courier | Read more
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A contentious hiring process of an Isle of Palms official has some calling on the mayor to resign
ISLE OF PALMS — Douglas Kerr will serve as city administrator after a contentious hiring process that drew anger from sitting council members as well as residents.
Isle of Palms city council appointed Kerr in a 6-3 decision on Feb. 26 after an hour-long executive session.
Kerr has served as the city's deputy administrator for nearly three years. Before that, he was the director of planning, building and licensing.
"All of (the candidates) are perfectly capable of growing into the job. I would be satisfied with any of them, even if they were not my first choice," Councilwoman Jan Anderson said before voting to hire Kerr.
Councilmembers John Bogosian, Katie Miars and Scott Pierce voted against hiring Kerr.
Kerr's confirmation concludes a hiring process that was heavily criticized for a lack of transparency and alleged back-door dealings, with some residents even calling for the resignation of the city's mayor.
By Anna Sharpe, The Post and Courier | Read more
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Post and Courier, League of Women Voters hosting panel for Sunshine Week
In partnership with the League of Women Voters, The Post and Courier will host a special panel discussion, "How to Know What's True," on Tuesday, March 18, at the Dorchester County Library. The event, which begins at 5:30 p.m. with doors opening at 5 p.m., celebrates Sunshine Week, a national initiative promoting government transparency and public access to information.
Four distinguished Post and Courier journalists will share insights into verifying facts, using public records laws and determining what's true in today's complex information landscape. Panelists include watchdog editor Glenn Smith, senior projects reporter Tony Bartelme, investigative reporter Jocelyn Grzeszczak and managing editor for digital news Cal Lundmark. Executive Editor Jeff Taylor will moderate the discussion.
Sunshine Week (March 16-22) commemorates the public's right to information through laws such as the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The event is free and open to the public, though RSVP is required.
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Offices near USC stadium owned for decades by The State eyed for apartments
The ball is rolling on potential new housing at the Shop Road site previously owned for decades by The State newspaper.
The longtime industrial site, where a massive printing press once whirred to life each day to print copies of the paper, has been empty since The State staff moved from that building in 2020.
Now, the nearly 23-acre property about a half mile from Williams-Brice Stadium could soon be repurposed.
The Richland County Planning Commission moved forward with a recommendation Monday to rezone the site, currently zoned for industrial uses, to allow for high density multi-family housing projects, like a large apartment building.
The exact details of the new housing project were not immediately available Monday. The State has contacted the project developer Landmark Properties for more information. The Shop Road site would be able to have 402 housing units under the new zoning, according to an estimate from the county.
By Morgan Hughes, The State | Read more
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Munnerlyn recognized by General Assembly
The South Carolina House of Representatives recently passed a resolution to honor the retirement of Helen Munnerlyn from her role as executive director of Leadership South Carolina. Munnerlyn formerly worked at SCPA and SC Press Services, creating and operating the profit-making branch of the association.
In 1983, Munnerlyn was instrumental in creating the classified advertising network.
A graduate of the University of South Carolina's School of Journalism, she began her career working for The Associated Press.
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Administration commences tariffs on Canadian products including newsprint
Editor's Note: The Washington Post reported Wednesday that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the Trump administration could exempt some segments of the market from tariffs. At eBulletin press time, the only tariff reprieve issued was aimed at helping U.S. automakers.
On March 3, President Donald Trump announced the implementation of a 25% tariff on products from Canada and Mexico effective March 4. The justification for this action remains inadequate border security allowing the illegal smuggling of Fentanyl; however, recent comments have also referenced Canadian auto manufacturing and its tariff policy regarding China.
This will continue to be a fluid situation for whatever period of time they are in force; they will have the effect of increasing the cost for newsprint sourced from Canadian mills and will likely result in higher prices for newsprint produced domestically. The de minimis exemption for products valued under $800 will remain in effect until a process for collecting the duties can be implemented. It is uncertain how long that may take.
From National Newspaper Association | Read more
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Childhood vaccines: What research shows about their safety and potential side effects
In this piece, The Journalist's Resource shares reporting tips, explains how vaccine side effects are tracked in the U.S., and discusses research on the safety of childhood vaccines.
Dr. Sean O’Leary, chair of the Committee on Infectious Diseases at the American Academy of Pediatrics, studies vaccines and immunization for a living. And if you ask him to summarize what we know about vaccines, he’ll tell you, without hesitation, that vaccines work.
“The science behind vaccines is very clear,” says O’Leary, a professor of pediatrics and infectious diseases at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and Children’s Hospital Colorado. “The benefits outweigh the risks.”
By Naseem S. Miller, The Journalist's Resource | Read more
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| Compelling Writing with Jerry Bellune
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By Jerry Bellune, Writing Coach
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| Always look for the hidden motive
“Everybody who talks to a newspaper has a motive,” Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee said. “That’s just a given. Good reporters always, repeat always, probe to find out what that motive is.”
Much of what the Post published on the Watergate cover-up was based on a secret source called Deep Throat. Former FBI assistant director Mark Felt later admitted – and reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein confirmed – he was Deep Throat.
Why Felt leaked to the press may have been because he had been passed over for the FBI director’s job.
When you’re taking on the President of the United States, you better be sure that what you publish is accurate and stands up in court.
He’s got more lawyers than most of us can afford.
Often a source’s motive is simply publicity. Sometimes the motive is to embarrass enemies or rival political candidates to damage their reputations or make them look bad to voters.
You might ask, “Why are you telling me this?”
Be careful who and what you expose. Always give the accused a chance to defend themselves. Read more
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