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Your connection to industry & member news | Aug. 6, 2026
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USC student strengthens skills through SCPA Foundation internship Editor's Note: As the summer comes to a close, so does the SCPA Foundation's internship program. Let's hear from Morgan Cook of USC, who spent her summer at The Post and Courier in Charleston. Morgan is assistant news editor for The Daily Gamecock.
By Morgan Cook, University of South Carolina Junior
My experience as a trending reporter for The Post and Courier was truly one-of-a-kind. Within the first hours of my first day, I was sent out to cover a private viewing of a shadow box installation at the International African American Museum. That story ran as the centerpiece for Memorial Day and quickly set the tone for an unforgettable internship, during which I published 37 articles.
Throughout my eight weeks I covered a wide variety of stories for the trending team. I had the opportunity to board America’s Tall Ship, cover the Emanual AME Church noonday prayer, provide a behind the scenes look at a newly renovated Walmart and so much more. I had the chance to immerse myself in so many different topics such as features, business, and local news.
Linked below are just a few of my favorite articles:
Each story strengthened my skills as a journalist. I not only gained stronger reporting skills but learned how to ask more in-depth questions when interviewing, how to manage multiple assignments all at once, and how to use my surroundings to add more meaning into my articles.
My time as a trending reporter taught me more about myself than I expected. It challenged me to grow as a person and journalist, all while confirming that journalism is the career that I want to pursue. I’m so grateful I had the opportunity to learn from other journalists around me, and I can’t wait to bring the skills back to USC as I continue my undergraduate degree and later into my career as a full-time journalist.
Invest in the future of our industry
How to apply
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| South Carolina says goodbye to Lindsey Graham
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Register for Poynter's free Aug. 26 Census webinarPrepare your reporting for the 2030 Census with expert guidance on policy changes, methodology and local story opportunities during a free Poynter webinar on Aug. 26, from noon until 1:15 p.m.
By the end of this course, you will: - See how decisions taken today could systematically shape Census outcomes in 2030
- Understand the debate around Census practices and historic problems with undercounts
- Identify story opportunities tied to census policy change
- Connect 2030 Census numbers to the flow of federal dollars to states and localities
- Learn where to find reliable census experts and data
- Apply census knowledge to reporting across multiple beat
- Get access to the webinar recording, deck and tip sheet after the event
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P&C CEO P.J. Browning featured on Medill's 'State of Local News' podcast
In the seventh episode of the State of Local News Podcast, host Tim Franklin—Professor, John M. Mutz Chair in Local News, and founding director of the Medill Local News Initiative—speaks with P.J. Browning, CEO of Evening Post Publishing and president and publisher of The Post and Courier.
Browning joins Tim Franklin to discuss how The Post and Courier has become one of the country’s most innovative local news organizations by expanding to nine newsrooms across South Carolina while many news companies have downsized. She explains the organization’s strategy for building sustainable local journalism through community-focused reporting, philanthropic support, audience growth and public engagement.
The conversation explores how the family-owned company has raised more than $8 million in philanthropic funding, launched its statewide investigative journalism project “Uncovered,” to highlight local corruption and official misconduct, created Charleston Porch Talks to deepen community engagement and developed a newsroom model centred on serving local communities with local journalists. Browning also shares her leadership philosophy, discusses how artificial intelligence is improving newsroom efficiency and explains why ownership structure, innovation and execution have been central to the organization’s success.
This Q&A transcript captures their conversation about local news expansion, philanthropy, community engagement, newsroom sustainability and the role of artificial intelligence in the future of local journalism. It has been edited for brevity and clarity.
From the Local New Initiative | Read more
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Island Packet’s former building in Bluffton to be redeveloped into entertainment venue. Here’s how
Want to get a drink where the Island Packet used to print? Soon you can.
The former home of the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette at 10 Buck Island Road in Bluffton will be remodeled into an entertainment venue. The building’s new host will be The Press Room, an homage to the journalism and the printing operations once held in it. The developer, Moon King Entertainment Group, plans to honor the building’s history through its redevelopment.
The 9.08-acre property and 72,000 square-foot building at 10 Buck Island Road is now home to Side Hustle Brewing Co., a Watterson Brands company. Watterson Brands, which purchased the building in 2022, established Moon King Entertainment Group in 2023, according to the Savannah Business Journal. Moon King plans to transform the building into one of “the Lowcountry’s most unique dining, entertainment, and event venues,” the press release said.
By Hayden Davis, The Island Packet | Read more
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Council tables proposed FOI policy after Hovis raises concerns
BLYTHEWOOD – The Blythewood Town Council unanimously voted Monday night to indefinitely table a Freedom of Information (FOI) policy proposed by Town Attorney Pete Balthazor after Councilwoman Tricia Hovis argued that some provisions in the policy did not comply with the S.C. Freedom of Information Act. Hovis said Balthazor’s proposal would also make it more difficult, expensive, and intimidating for citizens to obtain public records from Blythewood Town Hall.
The proposal, drafted by Balthazor, an attorney with Riley, Pope, and Laney law firm in Columbia, was brought before council as Resolution 2026-003. It had been presented as an ordinance at the previous two council meetings. Rather than voting on adoption Monday night, Hovis moved to amend the agenda to postpone consideration of the policy indefinitely. Council unanimously approved the motion without discussion.
After making the motion, Hovis outlined what she described as fundamental problems with the proposed policy.
“Overall, I believe it’s overly punitive and restrictive to our citizens,” Hovis said. “Not within the spirit with which the law was written, which is to give access to government, access to documents and make it easy.”
By Barbara Ball, The Voice of Blythewood & Fairfield County | Read more
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SC teacher left student at farm, suit says. Now district is overcharging for records
A Richland 1 teacher allegedly left a young student on a field trip, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday. The school district allegedly overcharged for public records related to the incident.
According to the lawsuit, William Green’s son, a six-year-old student with special needs, was participating in a school-sponsored field trip to Cottle Farms. At the end of the trip, the school bus left the student behind at the farm.
It was not until the staff at Cottle Farms located the child and called the district that the school realized they had left him behind, the lawsuit said.
This failure “an unreasonable and foreseeable risk of physical harm, emotional distress, fear, trauma and psychological injury to the student,” the lawsuit said.
The district failed to perform a proper head count, roster check, roll call, bus check, or other reasonable student-accounting procedures before the school bus departed from Cottle Farms, according to the lawsuit.
Yshay Fuller was a supervising teacher on the trip. According to the lawsuit, Richland 1 knew that she was a “risk” due to other “unrelated, but substantially similar issues that she faced personally.”
By Alexa Jurado, The State | Read more
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Missing public records blamed on 'system failure'
An alleged “system failure” is the explanation being offered by the Town of Great Falls in relation to missing public records that have been requested.
At the most recent meeting of Great Falls Town Council, citizen Cindy Johnson spoke during the public forum to question why a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request she filed in 2024 had not been fulfilled. Specifically, she requested an accounting of how Great Falls spent federal ARPA funds. ...
Mayor Pro Tem Jody Knight asked Eubanks (who has returned to town government as an assistant to Mayor Keevi Worthy) and present Clerk Erica Dooley to help fulfill the request. Eubanks said they were working on the request, but “some of the information is in emails that we no longer have.” She said she would provide what information the Town has after Mayor Pro-Tem Knight urged her to “focus on what we do have before (we deal with the information we don’t have). At least that way we know what we can provide.”
The News & Reporter asked Worthy if she had some indication of how information and documents came to be missing.
“We lost a lot of emails,” Worthy said she was told. “They said something about system failure.”
By Travis Jenkins, The Lancaster News | Read more
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Local news should help Americans build healthy relationships with civic information
We wake up to notifications before our eyes focus and feet hit the floor. We move between work pings, group chats, weather alerts, school emails and endless scrolls. We’re parents; some of us are caregiving for young children, others for aging parents, or both. We’re juggling school schedules with soccer practice, work schedules with friendships, walking the dog, cooking dinner, going to the gym.
Even journalists, whose job it is to both inform and be informed, are on news diets. Still, few of us wake up trying to avoid democracy, but we do wake up drawing firmer boundaries around technology and how much we’ll be informed as we try to survive any given Tuesday without feeling constantly interrupted.
Digital wellness has become part of how many people think about work, relationships, parenting and mental health.
While digital wellness isn’t a journalism term, the concept may be pushing journalism to rediscover what it has always been for. Local media of any kind, commercial or nonprofit, cannot fulfill their public service mission simply by producing more news and distributing more information, because people are actively changing their relationship with technology and information to fit their lived needs. Instead, we must consider what — or how — local news would be if its goal were to help people become sufficiently informed, not maximally engaged.
By Samantha Ragland, American Press Institute | Read more
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Oct. 11 is deadline to apply for Rural Revenue Transformation workshop
The Reynolds Journalism Institute is hosting a Rural Revenue Transformation Workshop in Columbia, Missouri May 7-8, 2027. This event is for news, information and community leaders who are located in and serve rural, low-income and geographically dispersed communities.
This experience is two days of hands-on sessions and collaborative activities to workshop solutions for news and information leaders in rural communities. We know that the revenue tactics that may work for newsrooms who serve large populations often do not work for those who serve small, low-income, geographically dispersed communities without access to broadband and other civic infrastructure services. We want to help those serving these communities create transformative and collaborative solutions, learn from each other and build strategies that will work for their specific needs.
RJI will provide lodging, breakfast, lunch, and support following the workshop. A limited number of flight scholarships are also available.
Oct. 11 is the deadline to apply. Learn more
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Apply for Columbia Journalism School business reporting workshop by Sept. 14
Learn how to follow the money and ask the hard questions. The fully funded, five-day Nathan S. Collier Business Reporting Program at Columbia University provides the critical, in-depth skills necessary for reporters who want to cover the world of business and finance.
Participants will convene in New York City from Oct. 26-30.
The seminar includes instruction from Columbia University faculty, industry experts and accomplished journalists on best practices and essential frameworks of business, finance and economics reporting — from accounting and markets to covering the impacts of Artificial Intelligence. Participants will also have the opportunity to visit financial and journalism institutions in the city, while building their network of business journalists.
The program is designed for early to mid-career journalists who cover beats that revolve around money. This can mean local business reporting, but it also includes reporters who cover government budgets and policy, the financial side of sports, the arts, healthcare or how technology is changing the workplace.
This five-day fellowship includes all tuition and fees, airfare, lodging while in New York City and ground transportation. Breakfast and lunches on class days are also included.
The deadline to apply is Sept. 14. Learn more
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