Super Bowl stories available on News Exchange site
2/3/12
Three undergraduate students from Indiana University-Bloomington and four graduate students from the IU National Sports Journalism Center at IUPUI have written Super Bowl stories that are available for SCPA member use at SCNewsExchange.com.
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Lawmakers propose changes for Freedom of Information requests
2/3/12
WLTX.com
 Getting information from a local government or agency could soon get a bit easier. Lawmakers are looking at a bill to change the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act.
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Visitors stay longer on newspaper websites in 2011
2/3/12
Arlington, Va. – Newspaper websites in the fourth quarter of 2011 averaged more than 111 million monthly unique visitors, an increase of more than 6 million compared with the same period a year ago. The analysis, performed by the Newspaper Association of America based on data provided by comScore, also indicates continuing strong performance in other key engagement and demographic metrics important to advertisers, with 63 percent of all adult Internet users visiting newspaper websites.
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FMPD reviews public information policies
2/2/12
Fort Mill Times
Staff Report
The Fort Mill Police Department has reviewed its public information policies after a January incident left the public without access to police files. On Jan. 22, a reporter who contributes as an independent contractor to the Fort Mill Times requested to view police incident reports for the month of January. Such documents give specific details of crimes and other police activity.
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Column: What's point of hiding crime info?
2/2/12
The Post and Courier
By Melanie Balog
At the same time Charleston police were working out new ways to keep the public in the dark about important details in crimes, they also were announcing that rapes have increased in the city.
2011 saw violent crime decrease in Charleston, with a few exceptions, including sexual assaults, which rose to 30 from 26 in 2010, according to a Jan. 20 Charleston Police press release.
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Police chief says report will be available
2/1/12
The Daily Gamecock
By Cassie Cope
Columbia Police Chief Randy Scott said a redacted police report will finally be made available today, five days after police responded to an early morning sexual assault allegation on Greene Street.
Bill Rogers, executive director of the South Carolina Press Association, said by not providing the incident report upon The Daily Gamecock’s initial request Monday, the police department broke the law. The public is entitled to know the crime occurred as well as its details, Rogers said.
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Treasurer worries about pension fund risks, urges transparency
2/1/12
The Greenville News
By Tim Smith
COLUMBIA — State Treasurer Curtis Loftis says the state’s $26 billion pension fund is at “excessive risk,” pays too much in fees and isn’t transparent or accountable enough to the hundreds of thousands of state employees and teachers who pay into it.
Loftis also alleges that contrary to state law, 70 percent of the pension fund’s assets aren’t in the custody of the Treasurer’s Office.
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Opinion: Openness applies to police, too
1/31/12
The Post and Courier
It is getting more difficult to trust that the Charleston Police Department is sincerely trying to abide by the state's Freedom of Information law.
Each time reporter Glenn Smith is assured the department just goofed -- nothing intentional -- another way of hiding information seems to surface.
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Memo told police officers to hide key crime details
1/28/12
The Post and Courier
By Glenn Smith
While Charleston's police chief was pledging to be more open with the public about crime details this month, a top commander was at work instructing officers how to hide that information from reports available to residents.
The strategy is outlined in an internal memo obtained Friday by The Post and Courier. The Jan. 12 memo, sent to patrol supervisors by Capt. Kevin Boyd, explains that "sensitive information" about crimes should be kept from incident reports available to the media and public.
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PRC supports NNA recommendations for better selection criteria for post office closings
1/27/12
 WASHINGTON—The Postal Regulatory Commission has recommended that the U.S. Postal Service take another look at its approach to closing post offices, supporting many criticisms made by National Newspaper Association in its fall 2011 testimony.
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Lee to exit bankruptcy Jan. 30
1/27/12
Lee Enterprises Inc. recently announced that it will exit its prepackaged bankruptcy Jan. 30 after a federal bankruptcy judge OKd a plan that restructures almost $1 billion in debt.
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NAA Foundation merges with API
1/27/12
The American Press Institute and the Newspaper Association of America Foundation are joining forces, the two organizations announced recently.
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Skimpy police reports disputed
1/22/12
The Post and Courier
By Glenn Smith
On the night of Jan. 8, a trio of robbers burst into a popular supermarket in suburban West Ashley and held terrified employees at gunpoint while they plundered cash from the store's safe.
But you'd never know that from reading the public report Charleston police completed on the holdup.
The official police report -- which the public can obtain at the police records office -- offers just a one-line summary stating that an officer was sent to Publix in reference to a robbery. No details at all on the suspects, what they did or even how many robbers were involved.
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Opinion: Discuss, approve new fire deal — in the open
1/22/12
The State
While it's a relief that Richland County finally came to its senses and is seeking to continue its long-standing fire agreement with Columbia, it’s also troubling that county officials crafted their proposal in secret.
Instead of discussing this matter publicly, an ad hoc committee of County Council met behind closed doors to draft the proposed agreement, and the full council discussed it in executive session before approving it and sending it to City Council for consideration.
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New ownership team greets Herald-Journal staff, shares its vision
1/18/12
Herald-Journal
By Trevor Anderson
Executives for the Spartanburg Herald-Journal's new parent company, Halifax Media Holdings LLC, made a stop at the newspaper's downtown headquarters on Wednesday.
Michael Redding, CEO for Halifax Media, officially welcomed Herald-Journal employees into the fold during a town hall meeting. He was accompanied by Lori Catron, Kathleen Mayes and John Kirkman, fellow officials in the newly formed company.
Redding shared his company's vision for the future, insisting that newspapers are still a viable business and the strategy of sacrificing print for digital products is fundamentally flawed.
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The role that community newspapers play
1/18/12
By Richard Eckstrom
State Comptroller
In Pickens County, the local “Meals on Wheels” program announced in early January that it’s teaming up with another organization to prepare emergency food packages for homebound people in case inclement weather creates hazardous driving conditions which prevent Meals on Wheels volunteers from being able to deliver food, according to the Pickens Sentinel.
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The Item declares a new birthday: 1850
1/17/12
The Item
By Graham Osteen
When I ran our newspaper in Hartsville from 1997-2008, I became friends with a great character named Hugh Gibson, who was from Sumter.
Hugh died in June 2010 at age 96, and was preceded in death by his sister, Lila Gibson Boyce, who was 76 when she passed in 2005. She was the widow of W. Norwood Boyce, and Dr. Allan Bruner's nurse for many years.
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Newsmedia executives cautious about 2012
1/17/12
NetNewsCheck
By Ed Strapagiel
Newspapers — and many other industries — expected at least some economic recovery in 2011. This simply did not happen. Perhaps as a result, newspaper executives and managers are adopting a cautious mindset going into 2012. There is nevertheless widespread optimism in digital as a source of revenue going forward, and many newspapers are putting plans in place to improve both Web site and mobile advertising products.
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Get ahead with the new schedule of free training in business journalism
1/17/12
Jump-start your business coverage and career with free training in business journalism this spring from the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism.  Journalists can learn at their desks with the center’s free, live Webinars on topics such as investigating private companies and nonprofits and using LinkedIn to find sources, plus understanding local economic studies, municipal bonds, business editing, financial statements and economics.
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Opinion: Pardon furor shows importance of public notice
1/13/11
By Layne Bruce
Mississippi Press Association
JACKSON, Miss. — Call former Gov. Haley Barbour’s pardons of over 200 convicted felons what you want – egregious, nonsensical or — if you’re so inclined — justified. More worrisome, though, may be the volume of instances where pardons were issued but public notice requirements about them were not fulfilled. It’s a bizarre turn of events that has led to a court order to halt the release of some prisoners, the potential rounding up of others and wiping the slate clean for scores of people long out of jail.
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Gannett adding paywalls to 6 dailies
1/13/12
Digital subscription plans limiting non-subscribers' access to online content will go into operation at six additional Gannett Co. Inc. U.S. Community Publishing papers.
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Six-day mail delivery saved for now
1/12/11
Special from Arkansas Press Association
Last minute legislation pushed through the Congress before the holidays will ensure that six day postal delivery will continue through at least most of 2012, according to the National Newspaper Association (NNA).
The six-day delivery will continue at least through Sept. 30, 2012. The legislation also included new restrictions on closing small and rural post offices in the New Year.
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Sale finalized as Halifax Media buys Herald-Journal
1/7/12
Herald-Journal
The New York Times Co. and Halifax Media Holdings LLC announced on Friday the finalization of the sale of 16 newspapers, including the Spartanburg Herald-Journal.
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Collins retires after 3 decades at
Index-Journal of Greenwood
1/2/12
Index-Journal
By Russell Cox
Wrapping up a 32-year career as an Index-Journal editor, Editorial Editor William A. "Bill" Collins received a retirement reception Thursday attended by family, friends and staff.
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This one’s for you, William A. Collins
1/2/12
Index-Journal
By Richard S. Whiting
This space often contained kind words about various Lakelands residents, written in tribute to lives that touched other lives in many positive ways.
Such tributes were dutifully written by longtime Index-Journal editor William A. “Bill” Collins. They were, to coin a phrase, eulotorials; that is, they were editorials that eulogized lives lived well.
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Bill Collins: My respected friend
1/2/12
Index-Journal
By Judith M. Burns, publisher/president
The Index-Journal was founded in 1919, and has had only four editors during all those years. Bill Collins served as editor for 32 of them.
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Retired, but it ’s not -30- for Bill Collins
1/2/12
Index-Journal
By Richard Whiting
Some retirements come with little fanfare. Truth be told, Bill Collins would probably like it that way. Truth also is, the fanfare is well deserved; after all, 61 of his 78 years have been spent at work in one way or another. That it has taken Bill the better part of the fourth quarter to sort through all the shelves, drawers and stacks of paper in his office tells you he is either a packrat or has amassed a menagerie of substantive and sometimes quirky mementos reflective of an extensive and full career.
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Ode to a newspaperman
1/2/12
Index-Journal
By Chris Trainor
Bill Collins is a newspaperman.
He also could certainly, and justifiably, be labeled a “journalist,” a “military veteran,” a “community watchdog” and a “patriot.”
But, to me, Bill Collins, who retired last week after serving more than 30 years as an editor at the Index-Journal, is and always has been the quintessential newspaperman.
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Saying farewell is just the flip side
of hello
1/2/12
Index-Journal
By Bill Collins, Editorial Editor
Everyone has dreams, those nocturnal journeys into the uncharted reaches of the subliminal mind. There are other dreams, though, dreams that turn drab surroundings into living rainbows.
Those are the dreams that give the human soul a reason to keep going when it seems life is too difficult and, on occasion, too depressing to face. Some of those dreams might be mundane and ephemeral. Nevertheless, they help you persevere when all else might seem hopeless.
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SOPA denounced by newspaper journalists, too
1/2/12
Washington Post
By Elizabeth Flock
As the Stop Online Piracy Act heads to a vote in the House Judiciary Committee tomorrow morning, its opponents are lining up to stop it. The bill’s newest foe? Journalists.
First came the critiques of civil liberties and human rights groups. Then came the slams from Internet engineers and Web giants, including Facebook, Twitter, and Google. Wednesday, the American Society of News Editors (ASNE) piled on by sending Congress a letter to ask that it stop the bill. ASNE represents newspaper editors, editors of wire services and online-only news organizations, and other journalists.
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NY Times sells regional newspaper group, including Herald-Journal
12/28/11
Herald-Journal
The New York Times Co. has agreed to sell 16 regional newspapers, including the Herald-Journal, to a Florida-based company for $143 million. The Times announced the pending sale to Halifax Media Holdings LLC in a written statement Tuesday evening - roughly a week after confirming that both parties were in advanced talks.
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Thomas Langford, journalist and T&D columnist, dies
12/28/11
The Times and Democrat
Funeral services for Thomas Clifton Langford Jr., Orangeburg, will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011, at St. Paul's Methodist Church, with the Rev. Kristen Richardson-Frick officiating. Following the ceremony, the family will receive visitors at their home.
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Opinion: A victory for FOIA law
12/27/11
The Post and Courier
Keeping government honest depends on an informed public, and that depends on a strong Freedom of Information Act. Keeping the FOIA viable is a work in progress.
That's because some government officials are willing to ignore the law to exclude the public, even when the FOIA demands transparency.
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Former SC governor deleted
thousands of emails
12/27/11
Herald-Journal
By Stephen Largen
Editor's note: This is the first in an occasional series examining how and whether elected officials and public bodies comply with South Carolina's Freedom of Information Act.
In a possible violation of state law, former Gov. Mark Sanford's administration deleted a massive trove of emails from state-provided accounts during the administration's final days and turned over only a small amount of the emails from the administration's eight years in office.
Such emails historically have provided valuable insight into how administrations set public policy.
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Haley to retain all emails following controversy
12/22/11
The Post and Courier
By Renee Dudley
Gov. Nikki Haley has decided all of her emails actually are part of the public record.
In the wake of criticism over some of Haley’s messages being deleted, her office changed course Wednesday and said that it is drafting a policy that requires keeping all of the governor’s emails.
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Columbia police prepare to enforce
anti-cussing law
12/21/20
Associated Press
Police in South Carolina’s capital city say they’ve decided it’s time to enforce an ordinance that outlaws profane language within city limits
WIS-TV 10 reports that blue signs with the words “No Profanity” written on them could be coming to parks in Columbia.
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NY Times Co. confirms talks to sell Regional Media Group that includes Spartanburg Herald-Journal
12/19/11
Herald-Journal
From wire reports
The New York Times Co. announced today that it is in advanced discussions to sell its Regional Media Group, consisting of 16 regional newspapers, including the Spartanburg Herald-Journal, to Halifax Media Holdings LLC.
The potential deal includes other print publications and related businesses.
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Editorial: Step One toward transparency
12/19/11
The Post and Courier
Gov. Nikki Haley has adopted a policy of deleting email that is akin to burning public documents. To comply with state law on the preservation of public records, the governor should reverse her directive regarding electronic communication.
The Post and Courier has come up dry on several requests for emails under the state Freedom of Information Act. That law requires the governor's office to produce public records upon request.
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Editorial: Lexington administrator search must be open
12/19/11
The State
As Lexington County Council searches for a new administrator to oversee day-to-day activities, it must reject the secretive process it used to select outgoing executive Katherine Hubbard.
While Ms. Hubbard proved to be a capable and respected administrator, County Council did the public a disservice by conducting the search almost exclusively behind closed doors. It willfully ignored the S.C. Freedom of Information Act, trampling on the public’s right to know what its government is doing.
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Former backer slams Haley:
Operative says deleting emails
shows lack of transparency
12/16/11
The Post and Courier
By Renee Dudley
COLUMBIA -- Gov. Nikki Haley drew criticism Thursday from an influential member of her own party and former ally, who came down on the governor's policy of deleting certain email exchanges with staff members.
Ashley Landess, a conservative political operative, pointed out that Haley promised voters her administration would "fight for accountability and transparency."
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Column: So much for campaign
of transparency
12/16/11
The Post and Courier
By Brian Hicks
So this is what transparency looks like in Nikki Haley's world.
On Thursday, the governor refused to answer questions from our own Renee Dudley -- wouldn't even look her in the eye -- as she was asked for the third day in a row why she withheld documents that show she wasted taxpayer money and hosed the uninsured for the tea party.
Bill Rogers of the South Carolina Press Association compared her to a "deer in headlights," which may be an insult to deer. They aren't the sharpest critters in the woods, but at least they aren't ethically challenged.
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SC Gov. Haley refuses to answer questions about public documents request
12/15/11
The Post and Courier
By Renee Dudley
COLUMBIA — Gov. Nikki Haley today refused during a public appearance to answer a reporter's questions about public documents her administration has failed to provide.
Today's appearance was the time her spokesman said the governor would be available to discuss a possible violation of the state public records law and other recent criticism of her influence over an independent health panel.
Haley presided over a 20-minute meeting of the state Budget and Control Board. Haley routinely makes herself available for media inquiries after such meetings.
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Health care exchange panel says
Haley emails didn't matter
12/15/11
The Post and Courier
By Renee Dudley
Members of a planning committee dominated by the governor's appointees insisted Wednesday they reached their own conclusions about how the state should implement federal health care reform.
One Democrat on the committee, though, said the panel's November report drew foregone conclusions.
The comments follow a story Wednesday in The Post and Courier detailing newly released emails that show Gov. Nikki Haley ordered the panel's findings in March, before the group met for the first time.
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City delays response to request for records in Lamar Jack case
12/14/11
Independent Mail
By Nikie Mayo
ANDERSON — City leaders in Anderson refused again Wednesday to release an email detailing steps the police department has taken in handling the death of college basketball player Lamar Jack.
Jack, a sophomore at Anderson University, died Oct. 4, four days after collapsing during a preseason warm-up at the school.
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Where people get information about restaurants and local businesses
12/15/11
Pew Research
People looking for information about local restaurants and other businesses say they rely on the internet, especially search engines, ahead of any other source.
Newspapers, both printed copies and the websites of newspaper companies, run second behind the internet as the source that people rely on for news and information about local businesses, including restaurants and bars.
And word of mouth, particularly among non-internet users, is also an important source of information about local businesses. 
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Request brought irrelevant material
12/14/11
The Post and Courier
By Renee Dudley
Gov. Nikki Haley's office did not release emails exposing its influence over a nonpartisan health care committee, instead releasing innocuous materials when The Post and Courier asked in May for documents related to the panel.
Revelatory emails surfaced Friday after a separate state agency responded to a different request for documents under the South Carolina public records law.
The two requests are nearly identical.
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Bills would preserve public officials’ emails
12/12/11
The State
By Gina Smith
Two House members want to stop the deletion of emails sent and received by public officials.
State Reps. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg, and Mia Butler Garrick, D-Richland, filed separate bills this week to require the preservation of those records, which some say help the public and the news media better understand the inner workings of government. The documents also aid historians’ efforts to piece together S.C. history.
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Opinion: Public entitled to written record of evaluation
12/12/11
The Times and Democrat
THE ISSUE: School superintendent's performance;
OUR OPINION: Regardless of how trustees conduct evaluation, their assessment is important to public
The performance evaluation of the superintendent of Orangeburg Consolidated School District 5 is a matter of keen interest to the public. Recent issues over the evaluation and how it was performed are secondary to the necessity of full disclosure of how trustees rate the performance of the district's CEO.
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Publicly funded organizations should operate in the open
12 /12/11
By Richard Eckstrom
Entities that spend taxpayer dollars should show taxpayers how that money is used. That's true for government entities -- like your local town, county and school district -- and for nonprofit groups that accept government grants.
Transparency shows respect for the public, which in turn encourages the trust of the citizens. And when that happens, we all win. Unfortunately, the cause of government transparency suffered a setback a few weeks ago.
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In $2.5 million judgment, court finds blogger is not a journalist
12/9/11
New York Times
By David Carr
Academics and Web thinkers have spent a lot of time jawboning about whether a blogger fits the definition of a journalist. It’s an endless discussion, but this week in Oregon, the debate turned costly for one blogger.
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