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Your connection to industry & member news | Feb. 6, 2025
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Congrats News Contest winners!Proof and submit corrections by Feb. 13Winners from the 2024 News Contest have been posted online for proofing.
The list includes winners from the News and Associate/Individual contests.
Eleven contests are still out for judging. Winners from these contests will be added to the Google Sheet in real-time as they come back from judging. We hope to have all results back in the next few days.
The deadline to proof your organization’s winners is Thursday, Feb. 13. Submit all corrections to Jen Madden.
Winners are not for official release in your newspaper or on your newspaper's website until April 4. Secret winners, President's Cup winners, comments for first place winners and Best of the Best will be announced at the SCPA Annual Meeting on April 4.
Please mark your calendar -- the 2025 SCPA Annual Meeting and Awards, presented by AdCellerant, will be held April 3-4 at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center in the heart of downtown Columbia. Sponsorship, schedule of events and hotel information is available. Registration will open in mid-February.
Thanks to members of the Kentucky Press Association for judging our contest!
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Editorial: Note to SC judges: Don’t try to close courtrooms. You won’t get away with it.
For decades, the S.C. Supreme Court has been rock solid on insisting — as the state constitution requires — that our courts remain open to the public.
That means at least until there’s no room left, anybody who wants to attend a hearing or a trial is allowed to attend. It also means anyone who wants to read court decisions and any of the paperwork that leads up to those decisions can do so. The court has even done an impressive job of bringing much of that paperwork to your nearest laptop or phone.
And as far as we can tell, most lower-court judges understand and abide by these requirements.
But some judges just don’t get it at all, as we were most recently reminded when Post and Courier reporter Alan Hovorka was arrested, handcuffed and detained for 30 minutes after he questioned a Berkeley County sheriff’s deputy's decision to deny him access to a courtroom to cover a hearing. Fortunately, another deputy intervened and released Mr. Hovorka, and Sheriff Duane Lewis fired the deputy, who was acting on what he had believed were the orders — illegal though such orders would be — of Magistrate Martin Housand.
Yes, yes, you know all this; we wrote about it only a month ago. What you don’t know is that the story doesn’t end here, because this case has caught the interest of S.C. Chief Justice John Kittredge, who tells us he’s trying to get a handle on how widespread such incidents are. His primary concern, like ours, is that this sort of thing could be happening to ordinary citizens when there are no reporters around to make a fuss about it.
From The Post and Courier | Read more
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SC law criminalizing release of death penalty information attacked in federal lawsuit
South Carolina’s sweeping ban on releasing information about state executions is “unconstitutional” and violates First Amendment free speech protections, according to a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday. The lawsuit seeks more transparency in the state’s execution process.
If the lawsuit attacking what it calls South Carolina’s “Secrecy Statute” succeeds in disclosing now-secret information, the state might have to halt future executions. That’s because pharmaceutical companies that supply drugs for lethal injections might refuse to do so because of fears bad publicity would hurt their image.
Such was the situation before the state enacted its execution secrecy law in 2023. ...
A motion for injunction filed with the lawsuit seeks to stop South Carolina officials from enforcing the state’s broad ban on the release of information about executions, including the kinds of drugs used to kill condemned inmates.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Columbia, attacks provisions in the state’s execution laws that make it a crime to disclose “any information even tangentially related to individuals or entities involved in executions ⎯ such as entities who manufacture, compound, distribute, supply, test, or administer lethal injection drugs, including the amount the state paid for the drugs or other equipment.”
By John Monk, The State | Read more
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Scoppe: How SC's new chief justice is making courts more open, efficient and graceful
When I first talked with S.C. Chief Justice John Kittredge in August, the thing that impressed me most was that he said he wanted to talk again in six months so I could hold him to account.
It turns out he says something along those lines to everybody.
At the new chief's ceremonial swearing-in a few days later, House Speaker Murrell Smith recounted a similar comment when they first met, when Mr. Smith wasn’t even a committee chairman. So it wasn’t a special invitation to the media, but that might make it even more impressive. In any event, I followed up this week with the chief justice who has been outspoken about his goal of increasing public confidence in our courts through a heavy dose of transparency and accountability.
By Cindi Ross Scoppe, The Post and Courier | Read more
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Editorial: We shouldn't have to praise what Charleston County Council did, but we will
Shortly after Kylon Middleton was elected as the new chair of Charleston County Council, he outlined five priorities he planned to pursue, and one in particular — a pledge to minimize council meetings taking place behind closed doors — gave us fresh hope that a local government known for its secrecy and skittishness might be on the cusp of changing its ways.
"Transparency is foundational to restoring trust in our government, and it will be a guiding principle of my leadership," Mr. Middleton said. "We will prioritize conducting the people’s business in public. Executive sessions will be rare and only used when necessary."
After watching recent council meetings, we can only conclude that so far, so good.
From The Post and Courier | Read more
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Post and Courier digital growth prompts print delivery changes
There’s an old saying in our business: The newspaper is a daily miracle.
That sentiment may be mildly inflated, but it’s meant to convey the whirring choreography that goes into gathering news, writing stories, editing, producing visuals, posting online, designing and ultimately printing newspapers to deliver to thousands of homes — all on a fierce deadline, with no day ever the same.
As the South’s oldest daily newspaper, with roots tracing to 1803, The Post and Courier has been doing some version of this act for more than 200 years. We’ve certainly evolved dramatically in that time.
Today, we reach more readers than ever. That’s largely due to our digital offerings and subscribers who have steadily and purposefully gravitated to their phones, tablets and laptops to read our journalism. Now, the forces of change have led us to a point where we’ve made a difficult but necessary decision.
On April 7, we will cease print delivery two days a week — on Mondays and Tuesdays. Nothing else will change with your home delivery. You will receive the newspaper as usual the other five days.
We know this change will pain subscribers who love to hold The Post and Courier in their hands every day of the week. It is difficult for us, too, to be candid. But it’s the responsible action to take as we work to ensure the long-term health and journalistic mission of The Post and Courier.
Although we are trimming delivery days, we are not cutting back on newsgathering, content or our commitment to local journalism. Subscribers will be able to find all of our journalism online or in the E-Paper, a digital replica of print, all seven days of the week. Plus, they will find extra new content in the Monday and Tuesday E-Papers.
By PJ Browning and Jeff Taylor, The Post and Courier | Read more
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SCPA hires USC J-School intern to help with member services
SCPA has hired USC student McKenzie Bargeron as a communications and membership intern.
Bargeron is a freshman broadcast journalism major and political science minor from Simpsonville.
While in high school she participated in Beta Club and National Honor Society, and graduated Cum Laude. During her first semester at USC, she has enjoyed meeting new people and learning how to grow as a writer in the journalism field.
She aspires one day to work as a reporter or news anchor on a news broadcast. Bargeron hopes her time at SCPA will prepare her for her future goals.
“While at SCPA, I hope to learn and grow professionally,” she said. “I am excited to work with and learn more about the SCPA members!”
In her free time, she enjoys reading, going to the movies and hanging out with friends. McKenzie will work part time Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Her email is mckenzie@scpress.org.
SCPA's senior J-School interns, Mae Giorgi and Emmy Ribero, will continue to work at SCPA this semester until graduation.
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Darla Moore Foundation gives $1 million to Post and Courier journalism fund
The Post and Courier has partnered with the Central Carolina Community Foundation to establish a sustainability fund for public service and investigative journalism across South Carolina.
And the fund already has its first $1 million donor.
The Darla Moore Foundation committed the money over five years to seed the initiative, which aims to raise $23 million to preserve essential local reporting for future generations in South Carolina.
From The Post and Courier | Read more
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Post and Courier receives $900,000 Knight Foundation grant for Columbia and Myrtle Beach newsrooms
The Post and Courier has received a $900,000 grant from the Knight Foundation aimed at expanding the journalistic mission in two of its newsrooms.
The Foundation's two-year investment is being used to add four journalists to The Post and Courier's Columbia and Myrtle Beach newsrooms and to support the newspaper's strategies to sustain local journalism. The positions are designed to engage local audiences in innovative ways and expand the reach of the news coverage produced in each market.
From The Post and Courier | Read more
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|  The People-Sentinel welcomed Stephanie Shaver to its team this week as a reporter. The Minnesota native will be covering a variety of news topics for the Barnwell community. Meet Stephanie!
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|  Post and Courier journalists Caleb Bozard (from left) and Nick Reynolds moderate a liquor liability panel featuring Transmission co-owner Josh Bumgarner, state Sen. Tameika Isaac Devine, state Sen. Russell Ott and MADD representative Laura Hudson. Read more (Photo by Perry McLeod, Special to The Post and Courier)
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|  Retired faculty and staff members of the USC J-School met for lunch last week at SCPA. A friendly reminder that SCPA offers free rental space for members to host retreats, meetings and other events.
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| Compelling Writing with Jerry Bellune
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By Jerry Bellune, Writing Coach
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| How writing by hand can benefit you
Do you take notes by hand?
Do you ever draft an article by hand?
Time and indulgent editors permitting, it’s worth considering.
If you’re like most digitally savvy editors and reporters, you rarely write by hand.
The laborious process of tracing your thoughts, letter by letter, on the page is becoming a relic of the past. Text messages and typed to do lists have replaced handwritten and sticky notes.
Electronic keyboards offer obvious efficiency that boosts productivity. Imagine having to answer all your emails by longhand.
Writing by hand during a speech, court trial or anything else you’re covering can lead to better conceptual understanding and analysis.
Gripping a pen nimbly enough to write is complicated. It requires your brain to monitor the pressure of each finger on the pen. Then your motor system has to modify that pressure to create each letter of the words in your head to paper. Read more
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