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Your connection to industry & member news | Feb. 13, 2025
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Last call to submit corrections to News Contest winners
Winners from the 2024 News Contest have been posted online for proofing.
Today is the deadline to proof winners and submit corrections so please take a look and let us know if you have any corrections. We'll start creating plaques, presentations and the winners exhibit next week!
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SCNN payouts return more than $33,000 to member papers S.C. Newspaper Network (SCNN), the sales arm of SCPA, is mailing quarterly advertising network payments totaling $33,490 to SCPA member newspapers this week.
These totals include the QuarterPage+ Ad Network and Small Space Display (2x2/2x4/2x6) Ad Network payout of $16,443 and the Classified Network payout of $17,047.
“The SCNN networks are a great source of added revenue for member newspapers and the income from these networks is vital to the continuing operations of SCPA,” said Randall Savely, Co-Executive Director. “We are so thankful for the continued support of our participating newspapers. There is no state with better participation from member newspapers than South Carolina.”
Every S.C. daily newspaper and virtually every member weekly newspaper participates in SCNN's ad networks.
If your newspaper is an SCPA member and does not participate in one of the SCNN networks, contact Randall to learn how these networks can provide revenue to your newspaper.
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Editorial: A great idea for making public bodies do more business in public
One of the problems with South Carolina's open meeting law is a lack of enforcement, the absence of any effective way for voters to hold their elected officials accountable for going behind closed doors to talk about things they shouldn't talk about there. Indeed, the secretive nature of these meetings makes the law all but impossible to enforce.
And peer pressure among elected officials discourages them from rocking the boat: After all, most elected officials are smart enough to know they need support from several colleagues to accomplish those things they most want to get done. Why burn that goodwill by complaining that a discussion held in executive session should have been done in public?
State law provides several reasons public bodies may close meetings to the public, including: discussions of the hiring, firing, promotion or discipline of an employee or student; discussion of contract negotiations, including the sale of property; discussion of security personnel or devices; discussions that may lead to criminal prosecution; discussion of industrial recruitment; and receiving legal advice.
But as we've written many times, just because a public body may legally meet behind closed doors does not mean that it must.
From The Post and Courier | Read more
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White House bars AP reporter from Oval Office because of AP style policy on ‘Gulf of America’
NEW YORK (AP) — The White House blocked an Associated Press reporter from an event in the Oval Office on Tuesday after demanding the news agency alter its style on the Gulf of Mexico, which President Donald Trump has ordered renamed the Gulf of America.
The reporter, whom the AP would not identify, tried to enter the White House event as usual Tuesday afternoon and was turned away. Later, a second AP reporter was barred from a late-evening event in the White House’s Diplomatic Reception Room.
The highly unusual ban, which Trump administration officials had threatened earlier Tuesday unless the AP changed the style on the Gulf, could have constitutional free-speech implications.
Julie Pace, AP’s senior vice president and executive editor, called the administration’s move unacceptable.
“It is alarming that the Trump administration would punish AP for its independent journalism,” Pace said in a statement. “Limiting our access to the Oval Office based on the content of AP’s speech not only severely impedes the public’s access to independent news, it plainly violates the First Amendment.”
By David Bauder, Associated Press | Read more
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By St. Claire Burns Donaghy, Vice-President, staff writer, Index-Journal
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| Index-Journal owners announce commitment to local news
To our readers:
Firstly, to those of you who subscribe to and regularly read the Index-Journal, thank you. And to our loyal, local advertising partners — thank you. Without your support, we could not continue to provide local news and information to the Lakelands community, which we’ve done now for 106 years.
Throughout this century of becoming the most respected and thorough local news outlet in the Lakelands, the news media industry has seen many changes, including 24-7 television news networks. The most significant change has no doubt been the advent of the internet and, subsequently, social media.
Whereas 30 or 40 years ago, engaged citizens learned most national and global news and information from newspapers and twice-daily TV news broadcasts, today most of you likely get your non-local news anytime you want it at the tip of your fingertips on either a smartphone or television.
Chances are, by the time you opened the Index-Journal, on Wednesday, November 6, 2024, you already knew that Donald J. Trump had been elected the 47th President of the United States — you didn’t need the Index-Journal to inform you of that. The same goes for the game outcomes of professional and collegiate sports teams you follow, or any big, national, or global breaking news events – major news outlets and social media feeds almost instantaneously report on those things.
Since national and global news are so readily available to most of you via the internet and TV news networks, we’ve made the decision to no longer pay to be a member of the Associated Press, a fee that was a sizable portion of our monthly expenses here at the Index-Journal.
As a cost savings that will help us keep our doors open and keep folks employed, beginning with today’s edition, the pages of your local newspaper will be filled only with local news — produced by Index-Journal staff — who live in and care about this community. Read more
Related: Whiting's Writings: Change is inevitable, but some things remain constant (By Richard S. Whiting, Index-Journal)
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Werber joins Easley Progress as sales manager
There’s a new face in town ready to promote our local businesses.
Robert “Bob” Werber has joined The Easley Progress as our newest sales manager, replacing Jeff Holt who has transitioned into a full-time editorial position at the newspaper. Werber’s primary focus will be outside sales.
“I am really excited about my new role as sales manager of The Easley Progress,” Werber said. “I have always loved newspapers and they have been a big part of my life. On a personal level, I enjoy the sales process but even more so meeting new people and interacting with them in the community.”
Werber lived in Florida for 20 years, but has called South Carolina home for the past several years.
From The Easley Progress | Read more
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Graham
(Photo by Donaven Doughty)
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| Spartanburg writer wins $100,000 journalism prize, 'put on this earth to tell stories'
To teach her magazine writing course, Latria Graham leaves Spartanburg around 4:30 a.m. to start what ends in a five-hour round-trip commute to Augusta University — simply for the passion of community and writing.
It's that same commitment and dedication to the art form of freelance journalism that has gained her national notoriety as the Upstate native was awarded a $100,000 prize and the American Mosaic Journalism Award for her coverage of social justice, sports, southern culture, and more over the past decade.
On February 11, The Heising-Simons Foundation announced Graham and Zaydee Sanchez as the winners of America's largest journalism cash prize, celebrating their writings, which research and tell stories of underrepresented and misrepresented communities around the nation.
Latria Graham, winner of the $100,000 American Mosaic Journalism Award of 2025.
Graham's beginnings are in Spartanburg, hailing from a fifth-generation farming family. She graduated from the South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities, originally specializing as a clarinetist. However, her older family members' storytelling abilities and Southern roots gave her the confidence and charisma to pursue writing as a full-time gig.
By A.J. Jackson, Herald-Journal | Read more
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|  | USC J-School students Maya Ambuehl (left) and Eva Flowe (right) put finishing touches on the Collegiate winners exhibit in preparation for the Collegiate Meeting on Feb. 28. Next week, they'll start working on the News Contest awards presentation and winners exhibit for the Annual Meeting.
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Cyberattack disrupts publication of Lee newspapers across the US
Newspapers across the country owned by the news media company Lee Enterprises were unable to print, had problems with their websites and published smaller issues after a cyberattack last week, the company said.
In a statement emailed on Sunday, Lee Enterprises said that the company was facing disruptions to its daily operations because of a “cybersecurity event,” and that it had notified law enforcement.
Lee Enterprises is the parent company of more than 70 daily newspapers, such as The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and nearly 350 weekly and specialty publications in 25 states, including Alabama, New York and Oregon. The company did not say how the attack happened or who was behind it.
“We are now focused on determining what information — if any — may have been affected by the situation,” the company said. “We are working to complete this investigation as quickly and thoroughly as possible, but these types of investigations are complex and time-consuming, with many taking several weeks or longer to complete.”
By Amanda Holpuch, New York Times | Read more
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Friday is deadline to enter National Headliner Awards
The Press Club of Atlantic City is accepting entries for the 2025 National Headliner Awards. The journalism competition is open to all material appearing online or in publications distributed or broadcast in the United States between January 1, 2024 and Dec. 31, 2024.
All nominations must be submitted online no later than 11:59 p.m. on Friday, February 14, 2025. View categories and upload your entries.
Last year, several SCPA members won awards in this contest.
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By John Foust,
Ad Trainer
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| Coffee, televisions and response advertising
Karine, who once participated in a Zoom meeting with me, told a story about the impact of response advertising. A few days earlier, she had seen a billboard that caught her attention. It featured a large photograph of a tall coffee cup which was obviously a latte. Droplets of condensation were visible on the side of the cup and whipped cream towered over the top. The headline read “Iced Latte $1.99.” The coffee shop’s logo appeared on the right side, along with the words “Next Exit.” All of the words were large enough to be easily read at highway speed. “As soon as I saw the sign,” she said, “I started thinking about that cool and refreshing drink. So I took the exit and a few minutes later, I was enjoying an iced latte.”
I asked Karine what made that billboard’s message so effective. She said, “It proved that strong advertising is specific and communicates clearly. It offered a reason to make a purchase right away.”
The two types of advertising have been discussed in these columns before, but it bears repeating. Image advertising, sometimes called institutional advertising, is designed to portray the advertiser as dependable, caring, safety conscious – or any other description which is called for by the branding strategy. The effect is cumulative. Done properly, it works over time., They’re saying, “If we make ourselves (blank) enough, maybe you’ll decide to do business with us. Read more
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