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Your connection to industry & member news | May 9, 2025
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 | Photo by Travis Bell,
Statehouse Carolina
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SC Legislature concludes 2025 session
Yesterday was the final day of the legislative session in South Carolina.
H. 3305, the South Carolina Public Expression Protection Act (anti-SLAPP), was carried over on third reading in the Senate yesterday afternoon. This bill, which passed the House unanimously in March, will stay on the calendar when Senators return in January.
In other news: - S. 77 (Streaming of School Board Meetings), a bill to make school board meetings more accessible by requiring school boards to record and post videos of their meetings heads to Gov. McMaster's desk after the Senate concurred with a House amendment.
- Sweeping energy bill gets blessing of SC Senate, despite concerns about rate increases By Sammy Fretwell, The State (On Wednesday, the Senate voted to concur with House amendments on H. 3309 by a vote of 35-11. Part of the House amendments dropped a requirement for improved public notice. It now heads to Gov. McMaster.)
- S. 454, the Charter School Accountability bill, stalled on the Senate's contested calendar.
Since this is the first year of a two-year session, bills that didn’t pass this year remain in play for the 2026 session.
Special thanks to SCPA member journalists and news organizations for their in-depth coverage of the 2025 legislative session and impact on S.C. communities.
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SCPA Foundation awards 2025 summer internshipsThe SCPA Foundation’s internship program provides a meaningful, hands-on training experience for college students interested in journalism or advertising. Each internship is eight weeks long and pays $4,480. Meet the Foundation's 2025 internship recipients:
Cassie Cornwell, USCCassie Cornwell of the University of South Carolina will spend her summer at The Post and Courier Columbia.
Cornwell is a journalism major and creative writing minor.
A native of Gilbert, she is the daughter of Frances Bickley and Charles Cornwell.
Cornwell has spent two semesters as a news reporter and writer for The Daily Gamecock. She also spent a semester writing for the Carolina News and Reporter.
Cornwell is a member of her church’s college leadership team and serve team. She enjoys reading and pickleball in her free time.
“I look forward to working at The Post and Courier Columbia this summer,” Cornwell said. “I can’t wait to work on my skills as a reporter and writer. I know my time at The Post and Courier Columbia will teach me to be a stronger journalist.”
Colin Elam, USCColin Elam is a third-year journalism student at the University of South Carolina and serves as News Editor at The Daily Gamecock, USC’s student-run newspaper.
He will complete a summer internship at The State in Columbia.
Originally a business student, Elam began to pursue journalism in spring 2024. It was at that time that he joined The Daily Gamecock and began writing his first stories. After one semester in the newspaper, he was hired as an Assistant News Editor.
Elam is also a DJ at WUSC-FM and previously served as an officer in the Carolina Mountaineering and Whitewater Club.
In the future, Elam hopes to work at a local newspaper, covering infrastructure, growth and development.
“I’m looking forward to learning from some great people at The State,” Elam said. “This is going to be an amazing opportunity to grow as a journalist while applying the skills I’ve developed in my time at The Daily Gamecock.”
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SCPA members invited to virtual FOI & libel training on June 12Join Attorney Taylor Smith on Thursday, June 12, from 2-3:15 p.m. for a refresher on the S.C. Freedom of Information Act and libel.
If you are new to the Palmetto State or just need a refresher, sign up for this helpful session.
This session is only open to SCPA members and is free to attend. If you have specific questions or topics that you'd like Taylor to address, you are welcome to email us in advance.
Please RSVP to attend.
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Clemson is keeping athletes' NIL contracts under wraps, claiming they're 'trade secrets'
CLEMSON — Clemson has signed student-athletes to revenue-sharing contracts, which will take effect in July if the NCAA's settlement of antitrust lawsuits is approved in the coming days.
But unlike most contracts executed by a public institution, Clemson claims its agreements with athletes aren't a public record.
The contracts, as well as figures on how many agreements have been signed per sport and at what value, are "proprietary" in nature, according to the university's response to a Post and Courier public records request.
Release of that information, Clemson's legal counsel said, would put the university at a "competitive disadvantage." Even a "boilerplate" copy of Clemson's revenue-sharing contract, unsigned and without contract terms, is "work product of legal counsel" and confidential.
The university's "trade secret" argument was a shift from its first response to The Post and Courier's request for revenue-sharing deals in January. Clemson initially said the contracts were educational records exempt under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
"All of the claimed exemptions, in my view, are nonsense," said Jay Bender, an attorney with the South Carolina Press Association.
"I don't think there's anything educational about paying someone to play football," Bender added. "They're making this up as they go along."
By Jon Blau, The Post and Courier | Read more
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Could HIPAA be the reason for not releasing shooting details? What Myrtle Beach said
The City of Myrtle Beach cited HIPAA as a reason for why they are unable to give some additional details about Saturday’s shooting that killed 18-year-old Jerrius Davis, and left 11 others with injuries. As of Thursday afternoon, the city had not released specific ages or genders for the 11 people who were injured, or the extent of each person’s injury.
During a press conference the prior day, Myrtle Beach’s Police Chief Amy Prock said the ages of those injured ranged from 13 to 43 years-old, and that they suffered from life-threatening injuries after being shot. Her statement was later clarified by city spokesperson Meredith Denari after the press conference.
By Elizabeth Brewer, The Sun News | Read more
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|  Longtime Kingstree News publisher and advertising director Tami Rodgers (second from left) celebrated her retirement with friends and colleagues earlier this week at Brown's Bar-B-Que. For 32 years of “making a difference one week at a time," Rodgers has been dedicated to serving her hometown by leading The News, helping local businesses with their advertising needs and keeping the community informed through the newspaper’s fair and impactful coverage. As an award-winning publisher since 2004, Rodgers and her staff have taken home hundreds of SCPA News Contest and Advertising Contest awards. (Pictured with present and former employees of The News including Patricia McCrea, Melissa Ward, Vickey Boyd, Michele Duke and Samantha Lee.)
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News & Observer, Charlotte Observer named Pulitzer Prize finalists for Helene coverage
Editor's Note: Mary Ramsey is part of The Charlotte Observer's team named a Pulitzer finalist. Ramsey is the local government accountability reporter for The Charlotte Observer. A native of Myrtle Beach, she studied journalism at the University of South Carolina and served as a South Carolina Press Association Foundation intern at The Sun News in 2018. She has also worked in Phoenix, Arizona and Louisville, Kentucky.
The News & Observer and The Charlotte Observer were named finalists for the Pulitzer Prize Monday, a top journalism honor given for their joint coverage of Hurricane Helene’s destruction across Western North Carolina.
The winners were announced from Columbia University in New York, with The N&O and The Charlotte Observer recognized in the breaking news category.
The Pulitzer for breaking news went to The Washington Post for its coverage of the July attempt to assassinate then-presidential candidate Donald Trump.
By Josh Shaffer, The Charlotte Observer | Read more
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|  | SCPA's senior interns, Emmy Ribero (left) and Mae Giorgi (right), will graduate from the USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications tomorrow!
Later this month, Mae will head back to her hometown of Philadelphia to pursue a career in PR for pharmaceuticals.
Wednesday was Emmy's last day as she plans to spend some time traveling with her triplet sisters before she starts an internship at The Island Packet.
We're so proud of Mae and Emmy, an all they've done to serve the association and our members!
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|  Earlier this week, multimedia journalism students from the Carolina News & Reporter at the University of South Carolina School of Journalism and Mass Communications showcased the work they created this semester. Juniors, seniors and grad students worked 9-to-5 daily to create market-competitive news for Columbia during this capstone experience. (Photo by J. Scott Parker)
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DOL easing up on independent contractor misclassification enforcement
Businesses that rely on freelancers or the “gig economy” have cause for optimism now that the Department of Labor just announced it will no longer enforce a Biden-era final rule that made it harder to classify workers as independent contractors. While the DOL has not yet rescinded the 2024 rule, the agency said that it continues to work toward returning to a simpler standard for determining whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor under federal wage and hour rules. In the meantime, the 2024 rule, which is currently under challenge in federal courts, remains in effect for private litigation purposes. Here are a few key points you need to know about this latest development.
From Fisher & Phillips | Read more
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By Jim Pumarlo, Newspaper Consultant
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| Producing relevant content requires knowing your community
Editors are regularly challenged: What mix of stories and photos will collectively make this edition a “must see” for readers and advertisers? There is no universal formula.
The first step in any market, however, is to know your community. Fundamental to providing pertinent coverage is living in the neighborhoods where your readers work and play.
That’s common sense for newspapers to truly have a pulse of their markets. Yet, as simplistic as it sounds, it’s distressing to see newsrooms relying more and more on remote reporting, and to see staff living miles away from the communities they are charged with chronicling everyday happenings.
I was fortunate to guide a staff when community newspapers were flourishing. As a bonus, the hometown owners recognized the value of and dedicated extra resources to the news product. The landscape admittedly is far different today. Newspapers are no longer the primary avenue to deliver news and spread advertising messages.
Shortcuts in gathering news have become standard, almost essential. Reporters record meetings from online viewing, only occasionally attending in person. Press releases are accepted with minimal follow-up, often printed verbatim with PR language suited for internal newsletters. Read more
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