Index-Journal files FOI suit against DPS

Transcription

JANUARY 2011
Senate votes to
override veto
of ethics bill
More than 70 members of the media attended SCPA’s annual Legislative Workshop
for the Media on Jan. 7 at the Statehouse in Columbia.
Orangeburg made the motion to amend
the resolution to change the word “may”
to “must” as it relates to the release of
documents. This motion was passed
unanimously by the rules committee.
Other amendments were passed that did
not relate to SCPA’s effort to bring open-
Index-Journal files FOI suit against DPS
By Russell Cox
Index-Journal
The Index-Journal filed a lawsuit Jan. 26
against the S.C. Department of Public Safety (DPS) in a Richland County civil court in
an effort to obtain documents relating to
the September arrest of a Greenwood City
Council member.
The case concerns a request for public records made under the FOIA, which requires
the release of public documents, to DPS
for records related to the arrest of Greenwood City Councilwoman Nicoletta “Niki”
Hutto. The request was denied because of
pending criminal charges and a jury trial
requested by Hutto, according to DPS.
Bill Rogers, executive director of the
S.C. Press Association, said the law does
not allow exemptions for these reasons,
and a greater degree of transparency is
necessary to allow the public to know law
enforcement treatment is equal.
“It’s not the Highway Patrol’s purview to
make decisions about making this kind
of information public. ... They above all
should follow the law,” Rogers said.
On Sept. 27, the Index-Journal reported
Hutto had been arrested for driving under
ness to the process.
The full Senate took the resolution
up Wednesday, Jan. 19, and passed the
committee amendments to the resolution. Hutto requested a final vote be
delayed to give him time to check the
amendments.
Annual Meeting set
March 4-5 in Columbia
You don’t want to miss out on all of the fun,
networking and educational events we have
planned for the 2011 Annual Meeting and
Awards Presentation! This year’s meeting will
again be held at the Hilton Columbia Center
with catering by Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse.
Make plans now to join us on March 4-5.
The deadline to register is Feb. 18, which
means you have less than a month to RSVP!
Festivities will kick off on Friday night with
an Opening Reception at SCPA Offices. This
Please See FOIA page 20
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e-mail when we post a new article on our website.
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Please See AWARDS page 2
INSIDE
The S.C. Senate has overridden former
Gov. Mark Sanford’s veto of a bill that mandated the release of ethics commission
investigations once probable cause had
been found or complaints were dismissed.
The House had overridden this veto in
June, but the vote to override the veto
in the Senate was delayed because of a
motion to carry it over so that a Senate
resolution could be drafted to accomplish the same openness for the Senate
Ethics Committee. This could not be
done on the last day of the session last
year, but a resolution, S. 326, was prefiled
and was considered by the Senate rules
committee last week. Sen. Brad Hutto of
8-13: PAST PRESIDENTS Find out
what our past presidents are up to
17: SOCIAL MEDIA Tactical v.
strategic thinking with Doug Fisher
21: SEO, ROS & UV Bill Rogers
shares his resolutions for 2011 and more
Page 2 • January 2011 • S.C. Press Association Bulletin
Prior Restraint in the Palmetto State
The Supreme Courts
of the United States and
of South Carolina have
said that a prior restraint
is presumed unconstitutional. Prior restraint,
commonly referred to as
“censorship,” is the government imposed prohiBy Jay
bition against publication. Bender
During the state’s Repub- SCPA Attorney
lican primary two courts
entered prior restraint orders prohibiting the
broadcast of political commercials. Neither
order addressed the First Amendment implications of prior restraint.
In the second of the two cases the campaign
of our new Attorney General obtained an order prohibiting the broadcasting of a commercial that made truthful statements regarding
the then candidate’s record. The commercial
was sponsored by a group not affiliated with
any of the candidate’s opponents. The group
sought and obtained an emergency hearing
from the South Carolina Supreme Court which
quickly struck down the restraint.
Last week the 15th Circuit Solicitor’s Office
in Horry County sought an order in a murder
case closing a hearing on the admissibility of
polygraph results and the sealing of a court
file. On the good news side of the equation,
the Solicitor gave public notice of the closure
motion in time to allow Waccamaw Publishers, Inc. to object on behalf of its papers the
Horry Independent, Carolina Forest Chronicle,
Loris Scene and Myrtle Beach Herald.
The trial judge denied the closure motion,
but ordered that “the media” not publish the
names of the defendants involved in the case,
the fact that one of the defendants had taken
a polygraph or the outcome of the polygraph.
The existence of the polygraph and the “passing” of the polygraph as well as the names of
both defendants were contained in the public
court file and the information was stated in
open court by the Solicitor’s Office in arguing
to close the hearing on the motion to suppress the polygraph testimony.
As you may recall, last Tuesday was a “snow
day” for much of the state with government offices, schools and businesses closed
because of snow and ice. Fortunately, one
person was working in the South Carolina Supreme Court that day: Chief Justice Jean Toal.
When the prior restraint order was brought
to the attention of Toal, she directed that the
attorneys involved gather for a hearing on
the newspapers’ motion to set aside the prior
restraint. The Solicitor, the Public Defender,
representing one defendant, and the private
attorney representing the defendant who
wanted the polygraph testimony admitted at
trial argued in support of the gag order. When
it was suggested that a criminal defendant’s
Awards
Continued from page 1
hour-long cocktail reception will give you the
chance to mingle with SCPA and SCNN staffers,
the Executive Committee and your newspaper friends from across the state. Also, if you
haven’t gotten a chance to see our new headquarters, we’d love to give you the grand tour!
This year’s meeting will feature educational sessions including:
• Design to Make Money: One of the
industry’s leading design experts, Ed Henninger, will get your creative juices flowing
during our first session. Ed will tell you how
to turn design elements into cold, hard cash.
If you’re a publisher, editor, ad director or
designer, you’ll want to be at this session!
• Doing More With Less: Key leaders at
S.C. daily and weekly newspapers will share
ideas that have worked recently to produce
a better paper in tough times. Panelists will
talk about exciting opportunities and the
challenges that papers must contend with
today. The audience will be encouraged to
participate so bring your own ideas to share!
•Paper v. Pixel: Paywalls and apps might
just be the hottest topics in our industry now.
Here’s your chance to find out more from two
editors who know! Join John Pittman, executive editor of The Greenville News, and Alan
English, editor of the Augusta Chronicle, as they
share their experiences on paid content strategies and using mobile platforms to deliver
news. Doug Fisher, USC instructor and technology guru, will moderate and also give insight
on what newspapers are doing (and not doing) in the wide range of new technology.
And of course, Saturday’s awards presentations are the most highly anticipated
events of the meeting. We have more than
700 awards to hand out and a great menu
from Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse.
This meeting promises to be a good one!
right to a fair trial “trumped” the First Amendment, Toal stated forcefully that decisions of the
United States Supreme Court and the Supreme
Court of South Carolina had rejected that view.
Toal, noting that alternatives other than a
prior restraint exist to protect a defendant’s
right to a fair trial, stayed the trial court’s order
allowing Waccamaw’s paper’s to publish complete accounts of the court proceedings.
DATES
TO REMEMBER
Jan. 31: Corrections due
Feb. 7: PDFs due
Feb. 11: Deadline to reserve
your room at the Hilton
at the $119 group rate
Feb. 18: Meeting
registration deadline
March 4-5: Annual Meeting
and Awards Presentation
Come and celebrate your staffers’ hard work
and dedication to newspaper journalism.
A complete schedule of events and registration form are available on pages 6-7 and
on www.scpress.org.
Get your room now!
Also, if you would like to reserve a room
at the Hilton at our highly discounted rate
of $119, do not delay! THE CUTOFF FOR
OUR GROUP BLOCK IS FEB. 11.
Because there are several other conventions taking place in Columbia during the
weekend of March 4-6, hotel rooms will be
pricier and may sell out completely. A check
of the Hilton’s website today says the best
rate currently available is $199 per night.
Go ahead and make your reservation now.
SCPA staffers will not be able to secure you a
room at the $119 rate after the Feb. 11 cutoff.
To reserve a room at the SCPA group
rate, call the Hilton at (803) 744-7800 and
mention you are part of the SC PRESS
meeting or visit: http://bit.ly/gvMil4.
January 2011 • S.C. Press Association Bulletin • Page 3
FOI Briefs
Suit against
council centers
on e-mail use
The Post and Courier recently reported
on a lawsuit that questions whether Town
Council conducts public business by email, or if it is a violation of the FOIA.
The suit alleges that a majority of the
Town of Mt. Pleasant council members
frequently communicate with one another
by e-mail on public matters. In its response
to the suit, the town denies the allegation.
A quorum of Town Council is five
members, which is necessary for official
business to occur in a public meeting. If
a quorum is present for a private discussion, then it could be considered an illegal
meeting, officials said.
SCPA Attorney Jay Bender said electronic
communication may not be used to circumvent the FOIA.
E-mails between two council members
on private computers probably would not
be considered public record, he said, but
e-mail from a council member to town
staff is considered public and the town is
required to save it, he said.
A quorum of council meeting in private
by way of electronic communication, such
as a chat room, to discuss public business
would be illegal under the FOIA, he said.
The suit asks a judge to declare that the
Town Council violated the FOIA in certain
instances described in the litigation, including the council vote on Dec. 5, 2007, to
buy Shem Creek property for $6 million.
The suit also asks a judge to issue an
injunction preventing future conduct by
Town Council that violates the FOIA.
Sumter Police withhold
records related to
alleged carjacker’s shooting
Two months after an alleged carjacker
was shot to death by a Sumter police officer, many questions remain:
- Who were the officers involved in the
shooting, and are they at risk?
- How many times was Jacobs shot? Did
he shoot at police?
- Why aren’t local officials releasing the
names of the officers involved as well as
the autopsy report?
- When will the official investigation by
the SLED and the FBI be complete?
- Is there a connection between a
16-year-old suspect police later arrested
for the carjacking and Jacobs?
These are issues SCPA Attorney Jay Bender said raise questions as to whether local
officials are properly following the FOIA.
SLED Director Reggie Lloyd said the
investigation is under review by the U.S.
Attorney’s Office.
The Item is seeking reports related to
the shooting, but Sumter’s Deputy Chief
Roark says there are no Sumter Police
Department Incident Reports related to
the incident, If so, that would suggest a
possible violation of department policies.
Roark also cited an exemption under FOIA
– that another law enforcement agency is
investigating the matter. He noted that “at
the conclusion of SLED’s investigation, the
Department will revisit the issue and determine what, if any, identifying information
will be released.”
Upon advice from Bender, The Item submitted a follow-up FOIA request seeking all
records related to the shooting.
The city’s attorney responded saying
that the matter was under investigation
and therefore couldn’t be released.
Bender cites a 2005 S.C. Supreme Court
decision whereby the parent company of
Charleston’s Post and Courier newspaper
sued the city of North Charleston, which
had refused to release 911 tapes from an
officer-involved shooting. The state’s top
court overturned a lower court ruling and
said Charleston County officials had to
release the tapes.
Bender explained that the net result of
that 2005 decision is that “It’s insufficient
under the law to say it’s under investigation. The law requires that it would harm
the agency to release that information,” to
meet the exemption.
Roark said the names of the officers involved in the shooting have been withheld
because of threats to their safety.
When asked if the Sumter Police Department is aware of any active or current
threats against the officers involved, Roark
replied, “I am not with respect to what
the (SLED) or the sheriff ’s office may be
investigating.”
Roark said the alleged Sept. 28 threats
are considered “an active threat,” noting
that more than one threat was made.
The Item asked for incident reports involving threats against any officers’ lives.
Bender said only if there’s a legitimate
risk of harm of the agency, or the life,
health or property of anyone, then the
names can be redacted under the FOIA.
If a name is redacted, law enforcement
has to explain why, he said, and that reason has to be a lawful exemption.
When The Item requested the autopsy
report earlier this month from Sumter
County Coroner Harvin Bullock an autopsy
report, the request was denied claiming
that autopsy reports are medical records.
“I’m claiming it’s a health record and
I’m not going to release it unless a court orders me to do that. It’s HIPPA law,” he said.
Bender said he’s troubled by Bullock’s
refusal to release an autopsy report.
“It’s not a health record. The coroner’s not a
health care provider and it’s not a medical record - it’s a law enforcement record,” he said.
S.C. Press Association Director Bill Rogers
agreed with Bender’s view.
“Dead people don’t have health. That is
ridiculous,” he said. “Totally ridiculous and
totally wrong.”
• • •
Earlier this month a judge ordered several Anderson County Council members
to turn over correspondence from their
personal e-mail accounts so that he can
determine whether those records qualify
as public documents.
The judge’s order said he wants “all
e-mail … that may be responsive to” 10
items included in a FOIA request made by
an Anderson county resident.
The judge’s order says he will review
those e-mails “in camera” – meaning in
chambers or privately – “to determine
based upon the content of the e-mail
whether the e-mail is a public document.”
In his order requiring the e-mails, the
judge cites a ruling by the West Virginia
Supreme Court in which the court “determined that a content-driven analysis was
‘the better approach … in determining
whether a document is a public record.’”
Media world awaits release of iPad newspaper
From Ad Age
By Michael Learmonth
In the coming weeks, News Corp. is set to
unveil one of its more audacious content
bets in recent years: The Daily, a newspaper designed for the iPad and the generation of tablet devices it inspired.
Conceived by News Corp. Chairman
Rupert Murdoch, who negotiated directly
with Apple CEO Steve Jobs, the publication
breaks new ground in a couple of ways.
First, it’s one of the biggest bets on traditional journalism in years on any platform
-- 100 writers, editors and designers have
been hired for the project -- since Conde
Nast sunk $100 million into Portfolio
magazine.
Second, it will break the logjam that has
bedeviled publishers attempting to move
their subscription models to the iPad. Thus
far, publishers have been reluctant to accept Apple’s terms: a 30% cut of subscription fees and no subscriber data. But The
Daily will sell subscriptions through Apple’s
App Store: 99¢ a day after a two-week trial,
according to people briefed on the project,
plus the ability to push new content to the
app throughout the day. In a sign of how
complex this is for Apple and for News
Corp., AllThingsD reported the planned
launch this week was delayed as the partners work out the kinks.
But one thing has fallen into place for
The Daily: an impressive array of launch
sponsors, including Macy’s, Verizon Wireless, Land Rover, Pepsi Max and Virgin
America, according to people close to
those deals. In addition to sponsoring the
project, they’ll help The Daily get off the
ground by offering incentives for their
customers to download the app, such as
frequent flyer miles from Virgin America.
Apple has an initial exclusive window for
The Daily, but over time the newspaper will
be adapted to a fast-proliferating category
of iPad-like tablet devices running Google’s
Android or operating systems from Microsoft, BlackBerry and Palm, now a division
of HP. A good portion of the Murdoch clan,
including Daily publisher Greg Clayman
and newly appointed sales chief Christine
Cook, were all at the Consumer Electronics
Show in Las Vegas this month to take in
the new devices.
Mr. Clayman was busy showing a demo
of the iPad paper to ad agency chiefs and
marketers (and spiriting it away from journalists) at a private dinner at Aureole in the
Mandalay Bay Hotel, also attended by Mr.
Murdoch, Lachlan Murdoch and Elisabeth
Murdoch. “All these new devices don’t
mean much without content, and content
doesn’t mean much without brands,” Mr.
Murdoch said in his remarks.
The Daily will have a multi-story front
page, but magazine-style layouts within,
as well as graphics that take advantage of
the iPad’s capabilities in terms of rotating,
pinching and swiping and video culled
from News Corp. outlets. A promo graphic
turned up by Damon Kiesow, digital media
fellow at the Poynter Institute, reflects
what people who have seen the prototypes say about the design: big use of
photos in magazine-style layouts.
The design capabilities will extend to the
ads. “We saw it in the development stage
and thought it was highly innovative in
terms of their use of imagery,” said Porter
Gale, VP-marketing at Virgin America. “This
will allow us to use images that can be
turned around in a 3-D motion and that’s
going to make it much more creative and
memorable.”
Verizon Wireless sees its sponsorship as
an opportunity to strengthen its position
among the Apple faithful; Verizon sells the
iPad at retail and next month will start selling Apple’s iPhone for the first time.
In part because the launch is being
stage-managed by Apple, execs close to
the deal see The Daily as possibly the best
investment in terms of PR since the launch
of the iPad itself. “For many of our clients,
being part of the first viable property built
for the iPad and not repurposed from print
is interesting,” said John Nitti, managing
director of Zenithmedia, which represents
Verizon and placed Chase Bank in The New
York Times’ iPad app last spring.
As launch partners, advertisers are paying a flat fee to be involved rather than
the cost-per-thousand they usually pay for
display media like ad pages or banner ads.
That’s to be expected: no one, not least
Mr. Murdoch or his backers, have any idea
what the size of the market for The Daily
will be. “There is some hope it will scale but
there are no expectations on the numbers
they can deliver,” said Andy Chapman,
head of digital trading at WPP’s Mindshare,
which has one client participating in the
launch and two others considering it.
The close association with Apple does
not mean The Daily will be taking iAds;
rather, all advertising on The Daily will
be sold directly and served through New
York-based mobile ad company Medialets,
which has one client participating in the
launch and two others considering it.
The close association with Apple does not
mean The Daily will be taking iAds; rather, all
advertising on The Daily will be sold directly
and served through New York-based mobile
ad company Medialets, which is providing
the technology for the ads as well as the
metrics back to advertisers.
The question for The Daily is whether
the content will be different and unique
enough to warrant paying for -- and if
enough people take the time to tell the difference. But because its content won’t be
indexed on the web and Google isn’t -- yet
-- indexing in-app content, it won’t be easy
to stumble upon content from The Daily.
Given Mr. Murdoch’s enthusiasm for the
project and his financial commitment,
marketers are willing to join him in the bet.
“This will be a good temperature check
for the marketplace for what consumers’
financial threshold is for good content,”
Mr. Chapman said. “We’re all waiting to see
where the audience gravitates.”
Contributing: Michael Bush and Edmund Lee
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People & Papers
Taylor named
ad director
at Aiken
Dee Taylor has been promoted to ad
director of Aiken Communications.
She will manage the advertising sales
for the Aiken Standard,
The Star, aikenstandard.
com, ASTV and other
Aiken Communications
products. Taylor previously
served as an advertising representative, team
Taylor
leader and sales manager.
“We are extremely
fortunate to have someone of Dee’s skills,
energy and attitude to lead our advertising
efforts,” said Scott Hunter, publisher. “She
knows our community, our advertisers and
our staff. She is a dedicated worker and
community leader. It has been a great joy
for me as publisher to watch her growth as
a leader in our operation.”
Before joining the Aiken Standard in
1995, she was employed by the Factory
Outlets in Salley. A later job as print manager - buying newspaper and radio ads led her to the Aiken Standard.
Taylor said she is interested in working
with businesses in surrounding communities, as well as Aiken. Ten years ago, she
brought to fruition her idea for the Wagener Monthly. Since then, she helped add
monthly publications for Midland Valley
and Ridge Spring.
Hartsville names
new editor
Bob Sloan, a veteran
journalist with more than
two decades of experience
in the newspaper business
has been named editor of
The Hartsville Messenger.
Sloan most recently
Sloan
worked as editor/general
manager of The Cheraw Chronicle & The
Chesterfield Advertiser.
Originally from Hampton, Va., Sloan is a
graduate of The University of Virginia at
Wise in Wise, Va., with a Bachelor’s Degree in English. Along with The Cheraw
Chronicle, he has also held positions at The
Charlotte Observer, The Robesonian in Lumberton, N.C., The Anson Record in Wadesboro, N.C., and The Daily Press-Times-Herald
in Newport News, Va.
Sloan is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps.
“I am very much looking forward to
working with Ardie Arvidson, Jim Faile and
the rest of the newspaper staff to put The
Messenger in the top echelon of community
newspapers in the state,” Sloan said. “We will
utilize our web site and whatever resources
are available to us through our sister
newspapers in the Pee Dee region and with
Media General, Inc., to provide Hartsville
with timely and accurate news coverage.”
New editor takes helm
at The News & Press
The News & Press in Darlington recently
hired Lisa Chalian-Rock as editor.
Chalian-Rock spent the
past year as editor for The
Hartsville Messenger, and
she recently won a 2010
National Science Foundation Science Journalism
fellowship.
She replaces Cathy
Chalian-Rock
Elliott.
Chalian-Rock is a graduate of Francis
Marion University with a strong base in
visual arts and creative writing. She has
previously put her skills to use at The
News & Press; during her nearly two years
as graphic design director, she garnered
more than 20 awards for page design,
advertising and reporting.
“We are most pleased that Lisa
Chalian-Rock is returning to our staff,
and look forward to her editorial and
creative talents coming back to The
News & Press,” says General Manager
Morrey Thomas.
• • •
John Sweeney, editor of The Weekly
Observer in Hemingway has moved to another Media General newspaper. Sweeney
will become content producer at the Morning News in Florence.
SCPA Executive Director Bill Rogers
holds a first edition of Knights of the
Quill by longtime SCPA members
Pat McNeely and Henry Schulte, and
Debbie van Tuyll. This book offers
a unique assessment of war correspondence in Southern newspapers
during the Civil War. It will also be
available in paperback next year.
• • •
The Island Packet and The Beaufort
Gazette have named Justin Jarrett as the
papers’ sports editor.
Jarrett has worked in the Packet’s sports
department since July 2005, starting as
a reporter covering the Bluffton High
School and Hilton Head Christian Academy beats. Upon the Packet’s merger
with the Gazette, Jarrett became the first
USC Beaufort beat writer, and in 2008, he
was promoted to assistant sports editor/
online.
He has won nine writing awards from
SCPA and five writing awards from the
AP Sports Editors, including first place
for project reporting and third place for
features in the 2008 contest.
Before moving to the Lowcountry, Jarrett spent more than a year as the sports
editor of the Parsons (Kan.) Sun.
A 2004 graduate of the University of
Missouri School of Journalism, Jarrett held
many positions at the Columbia Missourian as a student.
ANNUAL MEETING & AWARDS PRESENTATION
S.C. PRESS ASSOCIATION
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
FRIDAY, MARCH 4
3 p.m. – until
3 – 5 p.m.
6 – 7 p.m.
Winners Exhibit Open
Yellow Jessamine Ballroom, Hilton Columbia Center
Executive Committee Meeting
SCPA Offices, 106 Outlet Pointe Blvd., Columbia
Opening Reception
SCPA Offices, 106 Outlet Pointe Blvd., Columbia
Join the SCPA and SCNN staff and Executive Committee for drinks and light
hors d’oeuvres to kick off the Annual Meeting!
SATURDAY, MARCH 5
9 a.m. – until
Registration, Vendor Tables and Winners Exhibits Open
Prefunction area, Hilton Columbia Center
10 – 11 a.m.
Design to Make Money
Carolina Wren Ballroom, Hilton Columbia Center
One of the industry’s leading design experts, Ed Henninger, will get your creative
juices flowing during our first session. Ed will tell you how to turn design elements
into cold, hard cash. If you’re a publisher, editor, ad director or designer, you’ll
want to be at this session!
11:15 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Doing More With Less
Veteran editors at S.C. daily and weekly newspapers will share ideas that have
worked recently to produce a better paper in tough times. Panelists will talk
about exciting opportunities and the challenges that papers must contend with
today. The audience will be encouraged to participate so bring your own ideas
to share! This promises to be a lively exchange!
12 – 12:15 p.m. SCPA Business Meeting
12:30– 2:30 p.m.
Weekly & Associate Member Awards Luncheon and
Hall of Fame Presentation
Palmetto State Ballroom, Hilton Columbia Center
If you are a vegetarian, or have special dietary needs, please contact Jen by Feb. 18.
2:45 – 4:30 p.m.
Paper v. Pixel: What does the future hold?
Paywalls and mobile apps might just be the hottest topics in our industry now
and they’re also the subjects of much debate. Here’s your chance to find out
more from two editors who know! Join John Pittman, executive
editor of The Greenville News, and Alan English, editor of the Augusta
Chronicle, as they share their thoughts and experiences on paid content
strategies and using mobile platforms to deliver news and information. Doug
Fisher, USC instructor and technology guru, will moderate and also give insight on
what newspapers are doing (and not doing) in the wide range of new technology.
4:30 – 5:30 p.m.
Associated Press News Council Meeting
Meeting catered by:
6 – 7:30 p.m.
President’s Reception
Prefunction area and poolside outdoor patio
7:30 – 9:30 p.m.
Daily Awards Dinner
Palmetto State Ballroom, Hilton Columbia Center
Please note that this meal includes shellfish. If you have a shellfish allergy, are a
vegetarian, or have any other special dietary needs, please contact Jen by Feb. 18.
The bar and outdoor patio will stay open until 11 p.m. SCPA will also provide a list of late-night
venues within walking distance of the Hilton for those that would like to celebrate out on the town!
The deadline to reserve your
room at SCPA’s discounted rate
of $119 per night is Feb. 11, 2011.
Call (803) 744-7800 or visit
http://bit.ly/gvMil4 to reserve
your room. If calling, make sure
to mention our group code,
PRESS, to get the correct rate. Please note that several
other conventions are taking place the weekend of
March 4-6, so you must book by Feb. 11 to secure a room
at this rate. Rates will increase significantly after Feb. 11.
TOTAL PER
PERSON
TOTAL AMOUNT DUE $______________
PRESIDENT’S
RECEPTION & DAILY
AWARDS DINNER
$55
Cardholder Signature
Card Billing address with City/State/Zip Code
V-Number (3 Digit Code on Back)
Card Number
Name as it appears on card
Exp. Date
PAYMENT OPTIONS: ☐ Check Enclosed Bill my: ☐ Visa ☐ Mastercard Total Amt. $__________
AM SESSION AM PANEL WEEKLY & ASSOCIATE PM PANEL
Check here OPENING
Print v. Pixels
Doing More MEMBER AWARDS
Design to
if spouse RECEPTION
Panel
LUNCHEON
Make Money with Less
$15
or guest
Included
$35
Included
Included
IMPORTANT LODGING INFO
(As it will appear on name badge)
Type/Print Name
Saturday
3/5/11
E-Mail Address
Contact Name
Friday
3/4/11
Phone Number and Ext.
Newspaper Name
Return this form by Feb. 18 via e-mail to jmadden@scpress.org | Fax to (803) 551.0903 | Mail to PO Box 11429, Columbia, SC 29211
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Hilton Columbia Center | March 4-5, 2011
S.C. PRESS ASSOCIATION ANNUAL MEETING & AWARDS PRESENTATION
South Carolina Press Association’s
PAST PRESIDENTS SALUTE
The South Carolina Press Association is proud to salute all of
our living Past Presidents. We recognize those who dedicated
their time and efforts to serving our state’s newspaper industry.
1968
Lou Sossamon
The Gaffney Ledger, retired
For the past five years, Lou Sossamon has
resided at Still Hopes Retirement Community in West Columbia . He said he has
had the pleasure of enjoying fellowship of
former college classmates as well as making new acquaintances there.
For entertainment, he attends USC athletic events and exercises ( not too often )
in the Still Hopes Wellness Center.
Lou’s wife, Kathryn, passed away in July
2008. Lou says she was a wonderful mother
to their three children – Kit, Polly and Cody .
Kit Smith has served on the Richland
County Council for about twenty years and
is to retire this next month. Her husband
Joel has retired as Dean of the Moore Business School at USC.
Lou’s other daughter, Polly Player, and
her husband Warren reside in Mt. Pleasant.
Lou’s son is no stranger to SCPA. Cody
Sossamon and his wife Sherry are anchored in Gaffney. Lou said he’s proud of
Cody, who is the publisher of The Gaffney
Ledger. Lou’s family has owned newspapers in South Carolina for four generations.
Lou has eight grandchildren and six
great grandchildren.
If you’d like to reconnect with Lou, give
him a call to meet for lunch!
1969
Dean Livingston
The Times and Democrat, retired
After his retirement in May 1999, Dean
Livingston and his wife, Grace, moved
from Orangeburg to Lake Murray so they
could be closer to their children and
grandchildren.
After five years on the lake and the
grandchildren growing into maturity, they
decided to return to their Orangeburg roots.
“The lake setting was ideal for me to
finish a 352-page book, Yesteryears...A
newsman’s look back at the events and
people who have influenced the histories
of Orangeburg and Calhoun counties. The
book has been well received,” Dean said.
On an irregular basis, he contributes
stories to The Times and Democrat.
“Other than a motor home trip to Maine,
a boat trip to Alaska, and attending funerals by the multi-dozens, we are content
to stay at home and enjoy our children,
grandchildren and lifelong friends.”
1972
Bill Kinney Jr.
Marlboro Herald Advocate
Bill Kinney, Jr., continues as fulltime
editor-publisher of the Marlboro HeraldAdvocate and The Marlboro Shopper in
Bennettsville.
Working with him are other family
members - his wife, Peggy, is assistant
editor and writes much of the social news.
Their daughter, Elisabeth, is the company’s
comptroller and personnel manager, and
her husband, Dan McNiel, is sports editor
and general manager. The Kinneys’ oldest
grandson, Lee McNiel, a high school junior,
assists with photography and sports coverage. They have two other grandchildren
- Margaret Jane McNiel, 14; and William
Light Kinney McNiel, 8, all of Bennettsville.
All of them enjoy spending time at their
Pawleys Island home.
Current economic conditions required
that the paper temporarily cease its Monday publication last spring and Bill feels
the larger weekly edition is currently serving the Marlboro County community well.
In addition to continuing his 53-year
newspaper career in Bennettsville, Bill
continues to enjoy his main avocation,
working with historic preservation organizations. For his lifetime work, he received
an Award of Merit from the American
Association of State and Local History in
Oklahoma City in September. From there,
he and Peggy flew to the Dakotas to complete his 50-states travels.
Bill continues as vice chairman of the
S.C. Archives and History Commission,
chairman of the State Review Board for
National Register Nominations, vice
president of the South Carolina Historical
Society, and as a Trustee of the American
Folklife Center at the Library of Congress in
Washington. He also serves on the Board
of the S.C. Press Association Foundation.
1977
Hubert Osteen
The Item
Hubert Osteen serves as editor of The Item
and chairman of Osteen Publishing Co.
“I not only carry those titles but I go to work
every day, including some weekends,” he said.
Hubert has worked at The Item for 47
years, not counting the summers he worked
beginning at the age of 13 through college,
with time off for military service.
“I enjoy watching young reporters and
editors come and go, and try to help them
develop and improve upon their journalistic skills so they can become true professionals,” he said. “Once I do that, I stay out
of their way and watch them perform.”
In the meantime, Hubert enjoys watching his six grandchildren grow up.
“Retirement? What’s that?,” he said. “Old
newspapermen never retire – they just run
out of ink.”
1982
Polly Lowman
North Myrtle Beach Times
Celebrating 40 years in providing news
to the city of North Myrtle Beach, North
Myrtle Beach Times publisher Polly Lowman
continues to be a stalwart in the Grand
Strand community. Lowman started the
paper on Feb. 24, 1971. Over the years, the
Times has garnered more than 200 awards
and citations, both from South Carolina
PAST PRESIDENTS SALUTE (continued)
Lowan (cont.)
and nationally. In 2009, Lt. Gov. Andre
Bauer awarded Lowman the Senior Counts
Award for efforts in improving the lives of
senior citizens in North Myrtle Beach. In
December of 2010, Bauer presented Lowman with the Palmetto Patriot Award, the
highest honor bestowed by the Lieutenant
Governors office.
Polly was the first female president of
SCPA.
1983
Sid Crim
The State, retired
Sid Crim is living in Cayce and enjoying
his retirement from The State.
Sid retired at the end of 1994.
He is enjoying his retirement and has
done a lot of travel with his wife, Cathy, in
connection with her antique business.
1986
Glenn Tucker
Chronicle-Independent, retired
Glenn Tucker and his wife, Nancy, now
split their time between Camden and Bar
Harbor, Maine, where Glenn owns a tourism
business catering to travelers in Acadia
National Park. He sold his interest in the
Chronicle-Independent in 1997 upon buying
the business in Maine but he continues to
write columns and editorials for the paper.
“Living in two places 1,300 miles apart has
its challenges but it’s a great life for us,” he says.
He and Nancy enjoy traveling and spoiling their 2-year-old granddaughter.
“I am glad the SCPA is thriving in the
midst of the difficulties newspapers are experiencing, and despite the convenience
of the Internet, I still prefer the reality of
black ink on white paper,” he says.
1987
Bern Mebane
Formerly of The Greenville News
After a wonderful 30 years of growth in the
print side of two media companies, Multimedia and Gannett, Bern set a course to see
where he might put that experience to work.
In 2000, Bern started Crescent Publishing Company and has since bought and
sold non-daily papers in South Carolina,
Maine and in Alabama.
Crescent Publishing’s holdings today include Gulf Coast Newspapers, LLC, a cluster
of non-daily papers and websites based in
the growth market of Baldwin County, AL.
“Our focus is on content unique to us in
print and online, and that is possible when
you have titles with a geographic focus
defined by small towns,” he said. “Our only
issues right now, other than the Internet,
the occasional hurricane and cold weather,
is the lingering impact on tourism from
last summer’s oil spill. We treat our product
mix as news sources that are live and
updated 24:7 and the audience likes it. It is
a real advantage not to be daily.”
On a personal note, Bern and his wife,
Cathy, hosted the nuptials for their youngest daughter, Beverly, and groom Carter
Helms from Charleston. Before taking up
banking last month, she was the only child
from their family in the Fourth Estate, serving as an ad rep for the Charleston Mercury.
Bern and Cathy have six grandchildren –
two in Miami, two in Greenville, and two
in Brooklyn.
He says, “Life is good.”
1988
Walter Burch
The Greer Citizen, retired
After selling The Greer Citizen in 2006,
Walter Burch says he retired and never
looked back.
“The main thing I miss are the people I
worked with and my customers with whom I
had developed personal relationships,” he said.
Walter and his wife, Susan, enjoy spending time with their children and three small
grandchildren who live in Mt. Pleasant and
Florence.
Walter currently serves as Chairman of
the Board at Greer State Bank.
He and Susan are active in the First
Presbyterian Church where they work with
a young adult class on Sunday and fourth
and fifth graders on Wednesday night.
For recreation, he works out at the gym
about four times a week and usually plays
golf on Sunday afternoons.
“I no longer have a good golf game, but
I enjoy the outdoors and playing with
friends,” he said.
Since retiring from teaching high school
English, Susan has become a successful
real estate agent, “allowing” me to cook
supper most nights.
Walter reminisced about SCPA meetings.
“I fondly remember the conventions in
the ‘old days’ when there were hospitality
rooms and interesting bar conservations
that went into the wee hours. Most of those
people are gone now, but not forgotten.”
1989
Lee Harter
The Times and Democrat
Lee Harter is editor of The Times and
Democrat in Orangeburg. He has been
with the Orangeburg daily since 1978 and
has been editor since 1981.
Lee lives in Orangeburg with his wife
of 27 years, Pam. The Harters have two
sons, Austin, who attends USC-Beaufort at
Bluffton, and Andrew, a senior at Calhoun
Academy in St. Matthews.
Lee has served in a number of positions
with the SCPA, including as its president
in 1989, the year Bill Rogers assumed the
position of executive director.
Lee has been teaching courses in the
Claflin University Mass Communications
Department since 2000. Reporting, media
law, layout and design, and multimedia
reporting are among courses taught.
He advises the student newspaper, The
Panther, which has been a consistent awardwinner in the Collegiate division contest.
1990
Bill Collins
The Journal Scene, retired
Bill Collins retired in May 2007 and in
June, he and his wife, Margaret, took the
Queen Mary 2 from New York to Southampton, then flew into Ireland for a week.
He said that he didn’t adapt well to
retirement and in November 2007, he purchased Travelhost of Charleston magazine,
which is published four times a year.
“Even an old newspaperman can handle
four deadlines a year,” he said.
Bill also serves on the Roper Hospital
Board, is a Lowcountry advisor to the Donnelley Foundation, and serves as chairman
of a new group in Summerville, Ambassadors of 1847.
Bill and Margaret enjoy traveling.
“We’ve been to Italy a couple of times
and went to Israel for ten days last Spring,”
he said.
The Collins’ have six grandchildren who
live in Summerville and Tallahassee, Fla.
Bill had a total knee replacement in July
2009.
“Unfortunately it didn’t help my golf
game and I continue to play poorly a
couple of times a week.”
Bill plans to run for Mayor of Summerville in the Spring of 2011.
1992
Ollie Moye
The Newberry Observer, retired
Ollie Moye says he can claim 54.5 years
in journalism, dating back to his days at
The Anderson Independent-Mail in 1952. As
a young newspaperman there, Ollie was
promoted to sports editor at age 19.
He left Anderson for Newberry in 1957.
When the former State newspaper
bought The Newberry Observer in 1979, the
responsibilities of operational officer were
added to my duties as editor.
Ollie first retired in 1996 from The Newberry Observer, ending a 40-year career there.
After retirement, he submitted feature
articles from his house to the Lake Murray
News until 2006.
The following year he published a book
on deer hunting, one of four books now in
his computer.
Ollie and his wife of 57 years, the former
Alicia Bonds, moved to Lake Murray in 1987.
Ollie and Alicia have two sons, Michael
and Timothy. Four years ago, Mickey
fathered their first grandson, Niles. In 2010
he and his wife, Shawnna, presented them
with their second grandchild, Maddox.
Now 75 and in good health, Ollie still fishes
and hunts deer. He also piddles in woodworking shop, reads and surfs the Internet.
“And more important, I take naps during the day.”
1993
John Heath
Beaufort Gazette, retired
John Heath and his wife, Johnnie, are still
enjoying retirement in Beaufort. He misses
the many friends in the business but not
the deadlines and the pressure.
The Healths’ son, Jay, and his wife live in
Tampa. Jay is the editor of VETTE magazine, a publication for Corvette enthusiasts.
John says his health is good and life is good.
1994
Jerry Vickery
The Easley Progress, retired
Unfortunately, we could not reach
Jerry for this salute.
1995
Scott Hunter
Aiken Standard
Scott Hunter is publisher and editor of
the Aiken Standard and The Star in North
Augusta.
His interests are taking care of his daughter, Eleanor, a freshman in pre-nursing at
USC Aiken, and occasionally walking in the
woods, looking for his golf ball.
Send us your news!
jmadden@scpress.org
1996
Sudie Gambrell
Tribune-Times
Sudie Gambrell is the Director of Business
Development for The Greenville News, where
she has a staff of 26 advertising department
employees under her supervision. Sudie directs local retail sales for all of The Greenville
News media offerings – from the daily, to
online, to the non-daily publications.
Sudie says that she has “returned ‘back to
the future’ with the Tribune-Times, serving
as the advertising sales manager for this
weekly newspaper as well as for two other
weeklies in the Upstate.”
She also serves as general manager of
Upstate Parent, a monthly parenting magazine, and she manage four large events
– Camp and Education Fair, Southern Kids
Fest, Back-To-School Bash and Taste of
Home Cooking School.
Sudie is married to Bill Gambrell and
their hobby is having fun with their grandchildren, children and siblings.
In Sudie’s “spare time,” she enjoys gardening, movies, reading and cooking.
Retirement sounds like fun, but I am not
ready!”
BY THE NUMBERS
93
30
7
27
3 2 Number of presidents
SCPA has had since it was
founded in 1852
Number of living former
SCPA presidents
Number of female
presidents since the
merger of the Women’s
Division in 1980
Number of Women’s
Division presidents
Members of the Osteen
family to serve as
president
Number of Burches,
Sossamons and Kinneys
to serve as president
1997
Terry Plumb
The Herald, retired
Since his retirement in March 2007, Terry
Plumb continues to contribute his weekly
column, Plumb Line, to The Herald.
Terry has completed the master gardener course from the Clemson Extension
Service and has served as volunteer with
the Master Gardeners of York County in addition to putting his newfound knowledge
to use in his own yard.
He is also staying busy by being involved
with several nonprofit organizations,
including the local arts council and a community wide effort to deter adolescent
substance abuse.
In late 2009, Terry put his volunteer hat
on the shelf and went to work for the U.S.
Census Bureau as the media specialist for
South Carolina, operating out of the Charlotte Regional Census Center.
That gig ended at end of September and
Terry and his wife, Betty, traveled to Nambia
in summer of 2009 where they spent three
weeks with their older daughter, Emily; her
husband; and their granddaughter. Emily is
a diplomat with the State Department.
The Plumbs have also made several trips
to visit their younger daughter, Amanda,
who is site supervisor for StoryCorps in
Atlanta. She has lived in Atlanta several
times in the past and is well versed in great
brunch places, funky art galleries, etc...
“From time to time, I serve as chauffeur for
Betty, who is executive director of the S.C.
Arts Alliance, a nonprofit advocacy group
on behalf of public funding of the arts and
arts education. This summer, she was invited
to address a statewide arts group in New
Mexico, and I tagged along,” Plumb said.
1998
Steve Robertson
Waccamaw Publishers
Since serving as president of the SCPA
in 1998-99, Steve Robertson has increased
his company’s operations considerably.
In 2007, he started up a new paper, the
Carolina Forest Chronicle, to serve a rapidly
growing section of Horry County.
The Chronicle has won two General Excellence awards from the SCPA in its short
history.
In 2009, Robertson purchased the Myrtle
Beach Herald.
In 2010, he began a newspaper for tourists visiting the Grand Strand called Visit!
These papers join the Horry Independent,
the Loris Scene and the News & Shopper
as members of the Waccamaw Publishers
family of community newspapers.
In 2007, Robertson also purchased a new
printing press and the company has seen
dramatic growth in its commercial printing
division.
He continues to help lobby on behalf of
the SCPA on issues of importance to the
newspaper industry.
He was named Man of the Year by the
Conway Chamber of Commerce in 2010.
1999
Larry Tarleton
The Post and Courier, retired
Since retiring from The Post and Courier
in April 2009, Larry Tarleton has stayed
active in the community on several boards,
played a lot more golf, traveled abroad,
spent more time with his three grandchildren and generally enjoyed the good life.
“Isn’t that what retirement is all about?,”
he said.
Tarleton and his wife, Judy, spent two
weeks in Ireland last year where he played
at Doonbeg, Lahinch, Waterville and Ballybunion and he “consumed more than
[his] share of Guinness, the ‘Mother’s Milk’
of the Irish.”
In October, he and Judy spent two weeks
in Italy with three other couples, visiting
Rome, Pompeii, Amalfi Coast, Capri and
seven days in Sicily.
He said he “left [his] golf clubs at home,
but had a great time touring historical sites
and the beautiful countryside. And drinking some great Sicilian wines.”
“We’ve also thrown in a couple of trips
to the Napa Valley, the U.S. Open at Pebble
Beach where I volunteered in the media
center, and several trips to Cashiers and to
Chapel Hill for football and basketball.
“The only problem with retirement is that
even though I’m playing more, my golf
handicap isn’t improving. I think aging has
finally caught up with golf technology.
2000
Vickey Boyd
The Moultrie News
Vickey Boyd continues to work for the
Evening Post Publishing Co. She presently
has 38 years with the company.
Serving as President of Island Publications, Inc., she publishes the Moultrie
News and the Medical University of South
Carolina’s newsletter The Catalyst.
While serving as president, Vickey and
Crane’s daughters could be seen running
around the meetings as young children.
Now Laura is 21 and Taylor 18.
Laura is an aspiring artist and Taylor, a
senior at Wando High School, is looking at
colleges.
“Right now her heart is set on USC, but
we will see,” Boyd said.
Working as a community newspaper
publisher doesn’t leave much time for
travel, but Vickey says her trip to Cuba with
the SCPA was a trip of lifetime.
The Boyd family has enjoyed several
cruises, trips to New York and a two-week
stay in Alaska.
This past Christmas, the Boyd girls took
a Western Caribbean trip to celebrate
Vickey’s 55th birthday, Laura’s 21st birthday
and Taylor’s 18th birthdays.
2001
Fred Foster
Anderson Independent-Mail, retired
Lately Fred Foster has been dividing
his time between Upstate New York and
Anderson.
He serves on the boards of several nonprofit organizations in the Anderson area,
including; AnMed Health, The Salvation
Army, Foothills Community Foundation
and the Gambrill Foundation.
He also just completed one of several
terms on Clemson University’s President
Jim Barker’s Advisory Board – a group
made up of community and business leaders from around the country. The group
Foster (cont.)
offers suggestions and guidance on issues
important to Clemson University.
He also serves in an advisory capacity on
a new venture business in the Anderson
area, “C3.” The company offers services to
business and individuals in the areas of
personnel, over-all management, PR, and
opportunity analysis for new businesses
and or services.
In his spare time, Fred stays busy with
some long-delayed maintenance projects
at the family farm near Utica, NY, and his
lake home on Hartwell Lake in Anderson.
“Most importantly, Carole and I are
enjoying more time for family, especially
our two granddaughters, Elizabeth,10 and
Sarah, 7,” Fred said.
Fred also serves on the SCPA Foundation
Board.
“I do try to follow the challenges that our
newspaper industry faces. I’m very proud
of the many ways SCPA newspapers have
met the challenges and continue to lead
the way on offering interesting, useful and
important information to our readers and
on-line users,” Fred said.
2002
Jayne Speizer
Formerly of The Herald
After leaving Rock Hill in 2003, Jayne
Speizer was named publisher of Monterey County Herald in California and was
there until 2006, when she took a leave of
absence because of a heart condition. She
stepped down in 2007.
2002
David Ernest
Formerly of The Lancaster News
“First, a confession,” David Ernest said.
“I’m an errant newspaperman. Three years
ago a longtime friend asked me to join him
here in Ocala, Fla., and offered to teach
me the commercial real estate business.
Dismayed by sinking ad revenues and
circulation, I took him up.”
David sells chiefly at auction, working
with banks, Fannie Mae, and the FDIC.
“It has been an experience,” he said.
“Our business is national, and we’ve sold
apartments in Jeffrey Dahlmer’s Milwaukee
neighborhood, hurricane-flooded properties in Houston, mansions in Newport, and
lots of Florida property from the Keys to
Pensacola. We’ve also sold the occasional
odd item such as a sky box at Raymond
James Stadium, a spa at World Golf Village
resort, and a few high-value collectible
airplanes and cars.”
“I do miss the newspaper business,
especially the dedicated professionals who
labor on in these challenging times,” David
said.
“You’ll be happy to hear that we do a
great deal of marketing and newspapers
still bring some of our best results.”
David said that he and his wife Gwen are
looking ahead with uncertainty to what
grandparenting will mean. The youngest
of the Ernests’ three daughters is a junior in
high school.
David’s 84-year-old father now lives in
White Oak, S.C., which brings him up to the
Palmetto State from time to time, keeping
his ties to South Carolina strong.
2003
Cathy Hughes
The Times and Democrat
You might say Cathy Hughes is still in
her “first” job. She is publisher of The Times
and Democrat in Orangeburg, where she
started work right out of college in January
1972.
With a BA in Journalism from the USC,
she worked in most departments of the
daily newspaper, including 16 years as ad
director, then general manager, before
becoming publisher in 1999. During her
time as publisher, The Times and Democrat
was purchased by Lee Enterprises, headquartered in Davenport, IA.
The newspaper has won two President’s
Awards in Lee, one for Innovation and one
for News, and was a finalist for Enterprise
of the Year in 2006. The newspaper has
been an active member of SCPA.
Hughes is involved in numerous community activities. Besides serving as president
of SCPA, she has also served as chairman of
the board of the Regional Medical Center
Foundation and the Orangeburg County
Chamber of Commerce, as president of
the Orangeburg County Community of
Character and charter president of the
Rotary Club of Orangeburg-Morning. She
was a founding member of the Orangeburg Touchdown Club and the Community
of Character. She has served in various
capacities at SC State University, Claflin
University and Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College.
She and Randy, her husband of 39 years,
have two daughters, two sons-in-law
and three granddaughters. They reside in
North, South Carolina with their two Jack
Russell terriers.
2004
Patricia Larson
Guilfoyle
Formerly of McClatchy’s Rock Hill group
Patricia Larson Guilfoyle, formerly
director of community publications and
interactive operations for McClatchy’s Rock
Hill group, left in February to take on a new
challenge: helping to revamp her church’s
news media.
She is now editor of the Catholic News
Herald, a 58,000-circulation weekly for the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte, covering all of western North Carolina. She’s
brought on new staff and recruited more
correspondents, redesigned the paper
to focus more on local news and Church
teaching, shifted to a new production
workflow and deadlines, changed printers improved delivery times, and revised
advertising rates.
Next on her list: launching a website,
helping to create a Hispanic communications program, establishing an advisory
board, kicking off a marketing campaign
and setting up a single-copy distribution
network.
“Whew, I’m having a lot of fun sinking my
teeth into all of this!,” she joked.
Her husband Steve Guilfoyle recently
joined Media General’s new consolidated
copy desk team in Hickory, N.C.
They live in Fort Mill with their 4-year-old
son, Stephen.
2005
Steve Brandt
The Greenville News
Steve Brandt’s current role is president
and publisher of The Greenville News and
The Greenville News Media Group, which
includes three community newspapers;
greenvilleonline.com; TigersNow.com; LINK
(a publication for younger readers); TALK
Greenville Magazine; and Upstate Parent.
Steve also serves as a group vice
president for the East Newspaper Group
of Gannett’s U.S. Community Publishing
Division. In this role, he is responsible for
the Asheville (N.C.) Citizen-Times and the
Staunton (Va.) Daily News Leader.
He recently completed his year as president of the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association and now serves as the
association’s chair.
Locally, he is in his third year as board
chair for the Peace Center for the Performing Arts. The Center is in the middle of a
$21.5 million capital campaign to make
significant enhancements to the Center
and its campus.
2006
Jerry Bellune
The Lexington County Chronicle
& The Dispatch News
“Don’t let the FBI or Social Security know
but I’m still working long past the time any
sensible person would have retired,” Jerry
Bellune said.
Jerry serves as editor emeritus of The Lexington County Chronicle & The Dispatch News.
His wife, MacLeod, serves as publisher of the
paper. His son, Mark, is editor.
Jerry and MacLeod started a book publishing company four years ago and have
published 11 of his books.
“Newspaper owners and small business
owners ask me to show them how to survive.”
Jerry also has two nationally distributed
columns that appear each month in Pub Aux
and Learning More Circulation Idea Service.
If you want to receive his Million Dollar Ideas
and Advertising & Marketing newsletters, email Jerry at JerryBellune@yahoo.com.
“MacLeod takes me to the beach occasionally and Mark plays golf with me if
the temperature is under 90 degrees,” Jerry
said. “It’s a great life.”
2007
Carl Beck
Herald-Journal, retired
Carl Beck serves on the board of St.
Luke’s Free Medical Clinic and he’s also
become quite active volunteering with
the organization. He schedules and
interviews people needing medical
services.
He has also joined the board of Healthy
Smiles, a free dental clinic for children.
Carl also is the president of his homeowner’s association, which he says is a
full time job with no pay, and he serves
on the SCPA Foundation Board.
At the invitation of Mike Smith, the
Herald-Journal’s executive editor, Carl
joined the paper’s editorial board as editor emeritus to participate in the endorsement of candidates in the recent election.
“I’m so busy these days, I don’t know
how I had time to work, but I do miss the
newsroom,” Carl said. “Newspeople are
the greatest!”
2008
Harry Logan
Morning News, retired
Harry Logan retired as editor of the
Morning News in Florence and its four associated weeklies (Marion, Hemingway, Lake
City and Hartsville) in April of 2009.
In September of 2009, he began working
part-time in the office of Public and Community Affairs at Francis Marion University
where he continues today. He assists the
office with its publications, advertising and
associated duties including helping coordinate the gubernatorial debates during
the 2010 campaign.
Harry continues to serve as a board
member of the S.C. Press Association
Foundation.
He and his wife, Priscilla, continue to
reside in Florence.
2009
Tay Smith
Formerly with The Press and Standard
For the past 18 years, Tay Smith published The Press and Standard in Walterboro,
“a great town where [his] children were
raised and [he] enjoyed helping to present
the news to Colleton County.”
In October, Tay accepted a job with
Smith Newspapers, Inc., of Fort Payne, Ala.,
primarily to help the company upgrade the
editorial product at its various newspapers
around the country.
Lately, he’s been stationed in Cameron,
Mo., just north of Kansas City.
All of Tay’s children are still in South
Carolina, two attending the University of
South Carolina in Columbia, and the oldest
attending the USC School of Law.
PRESS poll gauges
what members think
SCPA’s PRESS Poll taps into the collective mind of our members to find out
your opinions on key issues.
This month we asked if you have used
Groupon, Living Social or any other
group deal website. Thirty-seven percent
of respondents did not even know what
Groupon and Social living were. Thirtythree percent said they have used Groupon, and 18 percent said they have used
Living Social. Two percent said they use a
similar program run by a local newspaper.
Last month our PRESS Poll question
asked what you thought about the release of classified diplomatic documents
by WikiLeaks. A whopping 60 percent
said it was treasonable. Twenty-five
percent said it was questionable. And 15
percent said it was a public service that
should have been done.
The current poll asks members to rate
the usefulness of webinars. So far, 58 percent of members said they are marginally
helpful, 17% said they’re helpful, 17%
said they are not satisfactory method of
training. This poll is still open for voting.
Visit www.scpress.org to weigh in.
Industry Briefs
McClatchy land and property
to change ownership
The Sun News, The Herald and The Charlotte Observer, are among
seven McClatchy owned newspapers that are transferring ownership of their headquarters to its parent company’s pension fund.
McClatchy announced that land and property at the seven papers
will now be owned by the McClatchy pension fund instead of the
newspaper. The real estate, including certain land and buildings, is
located in Bradenton, Fla.; Charlotte, N.C.; Lexington, Ky.; Macon, Ga.;
Myrtle Beach, S.C.; Olympia, Wash.; and Rock Hill, S.C., and has been
valued by independent appraisals at approximately $49.6 million in
total. The company said it chose those properties because of their
“desirable locations” and has “no plans to sell these newspapers.”
The company is leasing back the property from its pension plan
for 10 years and will pay aggregate annual rent of approximately
$4.0 million to the pension plan. The contribution of the property
will not have any impact on the company’s day-to-day operations
at its newspapers in these locations.
McClatchy’s pension fund has been hurt by the sluggish
economy, as well as the increase in employees tapping it after two
years of companywide layoffs. McClatchy said it expects to have
to contribute $50 million to the pension in 2011. By contributing
real estate, the company said, it can conserve cash and pay down
debt, as well as decrease its dependence on the stock market.
McClatchy will pay rent for the buildings to the pension plan under
a 10-year lease. When the lease expires, “we may decide to renew the
lease or we may move our newspaper operations to new facilities.”
The company’s pension plan was frozen on March 31, 2009,
but McClatchy still owes money to current and future retirees for
benefits earned before then.
Newsprint industry to keep shrinking
in North America, Abitibi CEO warns
More consolidation is on the way in the North American newsprint industry because newspaper consumption is continuing its
uninterrupted four-year decline, Richard Garneau, the new CEO of
AbitibiBowater, said. The market’s decline has slowed from almost
10% annually to 3-5%, he said.
He said the restructured Montreal-based AbitibiBowater can
manage new market shifts because its remaining mills are low-cost
producers and it has managed to grow exports to Latin America
and Asia significantly. For full story, visit: http://bit.ly/gI2fcv.
• • •
Joan Graff has been named a regional director of publisher relations for Publishing Group of America, effective Jan. 24.
Graff joins PGoA, the publisher of American Profile, Relish
and Spry magazines, with more than 16 years of experience in
newspaper relations at USA WEEKEND. Graff began her career as
east region director of newspaper relations for USA WEEKEND. Later
she advanced to director of market development, client relations and
operations for the newspaper relations department.
In addition to high-quality magazines, PGoA supports its partner
Close to 40 members of the Arkansas Press Association
convened on Jan. 13 to judge the SCPA News Contest. A
new change this year was the digital judging of photography contests, pictured above. Judges picked winners
from more than 3,100 entries. Awards will be presented on
March 5 at the Hilton Columbia Center.
newspapers with digital and syndicated content and event marketing,
such as the Relish Magazine Cooking Show. The company has grown
its newspaper base steadily since its founding in 1999 and now reaches
60 million people monthly via 1,700 newspaper partners.
• • •
AP and APME are starting a year-long project that will look at
how state and local governments will deal with the fiscal crisis and
how Americans’ lives will change because of it. Such stories in the
project can be jointly produced by the AP, its members and other
journalism organizations. If your organization has a story it wants
to contribute to the project, or an idea that can be produced
jointly, please contact your state’s AP bureau chief.
• • •
AP recently announced the development of a mobile app that will
give consumers digital access to daily and weekly ad circular inserts.
“iCircular reinterprets the best features of the print circular experience for mobile devices. It is a hyperlocal weekly marketing and
shopping tool that brings the circular into the 21st century,” said
Jeff Litvack, one of the lead executives in charge of the iCircular
development project at AP. The app gives newspapers an opportunity to hold onto circular revenue even while consumers change
the platform of where and how they get their information.
“From a newspaper perspective, the fundamental goal of iCircular is to preserve a strong relationship between newspapers and
retailers in the digital transformation through creation of an efficient system to migrate that relationship to mobile,” Litvack said.
• • •
The recent FCC ruling on net neutrality shifts billions in profits
and boils down to one fact: we will have two Internets – the fast
one, with great content, that costs more to use, and then the free
internet, which will be slow. The rules will allow carriers who create “fast lanes” on the Internet. They can charge Internet companies to ride on the faster pipes, and perhaps also charge consumers more money to get access to those speedy services.
Don’t redesign, rethink
A continued, gradual
drop in print readership
could be explained as a
natural result of technological changes. But the
dramatic drops experienced by newspapers in
recent years have been
greatly accelerated by our
own, self-inflicted wounds. By Bill
Ostendorf
We’ve mangled our
President and
print publications with
Founder of
ill-timed and executed
Creative Media
Consulting
news hole reductions,
publishing cycle changes,
staff cuts, and price increases combined with
aimless redesigns, crazy Web strategies, and
a lack of real innovation. As a result, our situation is much worse than it should have been.
Newspapers slashed their content by 15 or
25%, dramatically reduced staff, then raised
their prices. How dumb was that?
Few papers are investing in print product
improvements these days. It’s as if the industry
believes print has already died. But that would
be another mistake. Print has to remain a major contributor to our bottom lines for years
to come. We need time to transition to other
revenue streams, so it is essential that we slow
the bleeding of lost print readership.
Our newsrooms are also the foundation
of most of our other products and need
attention after years of neglect. A true
rethinking of print – one that goes well
beyond the fonts and formats of a redesign
or the musical chairs of most newsroom
reorganizations – can revitalize both our
print publications and our newsrooms.
It’s time we realize that if we don’t fix the
way our newsrooms operate, it won’t matter how effective our tablet app is or how
our next paywall works. …
Having led nearly 500 print redesigns,
I’ve read hundreds of research reports,
sat through endless focus groups, and responded to e-mails and calls from readers.
I can tell you that there are many things
we can do to improve readership and even
circulation right now, if we are willing.
We’ve had great success at actually
increasing readership, circulation, and user
satisfaction even in the face of staff and
newsprint cuts. We do that by making sure
that what we do publish is interesting,
easy-to-read, actionable, fast, and relevant.
…The tough part isn’t finding improve-
ments to make; it is getting newspaper
staffs and leadership to actually accept real
change. Most newsroom staffers are passionate and love newspapers, but they are also
in love with a set of standards that are not
based on the interests of readers. We try to
shift the focus to helping readers, motivating
them, and getting them more involved.
So if you want to help your newspaper
grow or stabilize readership, where should
you start? How can you get the biggest
impact in reshaping your newsroom culture?
Here are a few of the concepts that we focus
on to fix how newsrooms make newspapers:
It’s not one big thing; it’s hundreds of
little things
Success will not come from some big revelation or magic bullet. It’s about doing hundreds
of little things just a little bit better. …
Interesting is no longer optional
… Everything that goes into the paper has
to live up to this question: Is it interesting? If
it isn’t, we’ve got to do something else…
Stop making lists
Newsroom meetings are awful and
rarely result in the right information being
discussed. Editors report what their staffs
are doing. The focus becomes making lists
of those stories and ranking them. … News
meetings focus on what editors bring to the
meeting instead of what is important, topical, or interesting to readers. Often, what
people are talking about in your community
never comes up at the news meeting at all.
… Meetings should be about brainstorming, not reporting what you’ve done today.
Pictures are big
Photojournalism has taken a disproportionate hit in most newspapers. Editors are
generally pretty ignorant about the quality
of their photo report, how to fix it, and why
it is essential. It’s not their focus or something they are comfortable even discussing.
As a result, when news holes shrank, photos got smaller or got cut. We’re seeing more
and more pages with no visuals at all. That is
suicide. First, photos are one of the strongest
drivers of readership. … Second, there is a
societal desire for bigger, clearer imagery.
People go into debt for 60-inch Sony TVs,
and we are running smaller photos! …
Finally, photos bring life to our pages. …
Cover life, not news
There is a lot more going on in our communities than what is reflected in our pages.
Readers’ lives are defined by weddings,
funerals, graduations, birthdays, promotions,
vacations, births, TV series, work, school,
lunches with friends, and more – a whole lot
of things that we pretty much never cover.
We tell the story of our communities through
very narrow, distorted windows – meetings, elections, or fires – and through too
few sources who are in the paper again and
again. We’ve got to broaden our scope. …
Make it fast
We’ve got to respect readers’ time and understand the way they take in information.
Editors typically responded to this by
creating summaries of news on page one
or two – a “quick read” – which was a
ridiculous failure. These summaries were
time-consuming to create, took up valuable
space, and were often not very easy to read.
And just cutting the length of stories isn’t
really fast, either. Both news summaries
and story length limits were just ways to
avoid making harder and deeper changes in
newsrooms. Instead, we advocate making the
entire paper faster to read. Information has to
flow off the page. …If we make the first things
readers see more interesting, and if papers
convey twice as much information as they do
now, people will come away from the paper
feeling like the paper has more and better
content. And they will read more stories.
Training is essential
Our staffs are now underpaid, overworked, and discouraged. … As our staffers have had to take on new chores, they
are often assigned tasks they aren’t comfortable doing. This can result in a huge hit
to both productivity and morale.
The tough thing about the necessary
training is that it has to motivate people
to change and do better. Everyone is
working hard, and it’s difficult to hear that
what we’re doing isn’t enough. Or that it
isn’t good. Our early sessions with most
newsrooms are pretty tough. But if you
give newsrooms the direction and coaching they need to write better headlines,
improve photo content, and diversify
coverage and writing styles, most staffers
will step up to the challenge. …
For more of the article visit: http://bit.ly/g6LjLY.
MORE INFORMATION
BILL OSTENDORF is president and founder of Creative
Media Consulting. He has worked with more than 300
media companies as a trainer or management consultant and has led redesigns of nearly 500 publications
and about 150 websites. For more info, contact him at
bill@creativecirclemedia.com.
Make the most of networking events
Networking events
provide you with
golden opportunities
to connect with new
advertising prospects
– and strengthen
existing business
relationships. Here
are some tips to make
By John Foust
the best use of those
Foust is an
advertising
opportunities:
trainer
1. Have a plan. If the
event requires advance
registration, ask the hosting organization if
you can see a list of businesses which will
be represented. This will help you develop a
“target list” in advance. If a registration list is
not available, simply scan the room to identify
the key people you would like to meet before
the event is over.
2. Your name tag is your logo. Always
wear a name tag at networking events.
You’re not there to be an anonymous bystander. You’re there to connect.
Events generally feature two types of
name tags: (1) those provided by the host
and (2) those provided by attendees. If you
fill out a name tag at the registration table,
print your name (first and last) and the
name of your paper. An even better idea is
to order a magnetized name tag from an
office supply store. That will present a more
professional image for you and your paper.
Place the name tag on your right lapel to
make it easy for others to read when you’re
shaking hands.
3. Success is in the cards. It should not
take more than a few seconds to produce your business card. Leave the fancy,
monogrammed card case at home, and
forget about fishing around in your wallet
or purse when someone asks for your card.
The best strategy is to keep a good supply
of your cards in the outside, right pocket
of your jacket – and place the cards you
receive in the left pocket. (That eliminates
the possibility of handing another person’s
card to someone you’ve just met.)
Keep track of conversations by writing
notes on the backs of cards you receive.
This simple technique is especially helpful
if you promise to call or send information.
4. Listen first. Express genuine interest in
the people you meet, ask questions about
their businesses – and tune in to their concerns. Broadcasting legend Larry King said, “I
never learned anything while I was talking.”
5. Deliver your elevator speech. This is a
short commercial for your business that lasts
no longer than a short elevator ride. After
you’ve learned something about the other
person, you can say, “I represent The Gazette
and specialize in helping people generate
more customers for their businesses. We do
this by developing customized marketing
plans.” If the other person expresses interest,
you can tell a (brief) story of how you helped
one of your clients increase sales.
6. Watch your timing. If you linger too long
in conversation, you rob other people of their
networking time. Make contact, learn how
you can be of help to them – then move on.
7. Follow up. If you promise to send information or if you think of something your
new acquaintance will find of interest, get
back in touch right away. Don’t give that
person time to forget your conversation.
MORE INFORMATION
E-mail JOHN FOUST for information about his training
videos for ad departments: jfoust@mindspring.com.
T W O N E W WAY S T O
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CATHY AGEE AT 1.800.223.1600 FOR FURTHER INFO
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Social media: Tactical vs. strategic thinking
“Social media” is the
buzz phrase among
most news organizations I work with. There
is a pervasive “we’ve
got to do something,
even if we don’t fully
understand it” mood.
That’s no excuse,
however, for not takBy Doug Fisher
ing time to determine
USC School of
Journalism and
what you are trying to
Mass Communication
accomplish and how
you’ll get there.
Social media has
both tactical and strategic aspects, and
while related, they require different approaches, management and commitment.
At its core, social media enables sharing
and provides a two-way feedback loop. In
other words, you make it easy for readers
to share your content in some form, they
respond to you and you respond to them.
A couple of years ago, too many traditional news sites still made it hard for users
to even e-mail story links to others. Now,
except for some community newspapers
that still see online as the enemy or a
needless distraction, most newsrooms
have an e-mail link, probably a Facebook
or Twitter button, possibly a Digg button,
and maybe an “Add This” or “Shareomatic”
dropdown box that allows the user to post
a link to dozens of sites.
(Internet and journalism consultant Amy
Webb thinks those “Add This” and “Shareomatic” boxes give users too many choices
and just confuse them, however.)
Most have a Facebook page, Twitter feed
or both on which they post stories and
links. Some also use those sites to seek
story sources.
But pushing out news and finding sources are only tactical aspects. And even then,
you need to know where your audience
is and how various parts of it are getting
their information.
For instance, Web usability expert Jakob
Nielsen, in some of his latest research,
says it’s a myth that college students “are
enraptured by social media.” They associate Facebook with private discussions, and
if they want more information about an
organization they are less likely to go to its
Facebook page than its official site, he says.
Common Sense
Journalism
So tools to make sharing links through
Facebook might be more effective than
having a separate Facebook page.
The strategic side of social media is
harder. It requires committing to a longterm engagement with your audience, and
that takes planning and resources.
For instance, if you have a Facebook
page or Twitter account, your readers may
post questions.
But, remembering that the core of social
media is feedback, who will monitor that
and respond? (And who will monitor the
responses?) One organization’s Facebook
page recently had unanswered questions a
month old, a sure turn-off for readers.
And everyone isn’t on Facebook and
Twitter. There are many social networks,
and the audience you are trying to reach
may be hanging out elsewhere. What research are you doing to help find them?
Most newsrooms know the long-running
angst over comments on stories and
blogs, how much in resources to devote to
monitoring, etc. Raise that exponentially
if you really intend to use social media
effectively.
Even having a reporter’s e-mail address
listed can pose challenges.
What if the reporter writes a popular or
controversial story and suddenly finds the
inbox overflowing. How will time be set
aside to answer those e-mails? What guidance do you have to help reporters and
editors deal with such issues?
Likewise, what kind of response will there
be? Canned feedback can bring even harsher response from those who see online
communications in a more personal vein.
Then there are the “small” things, such as
who can create an account on your organization’s behalf? Who will get the e-mail
notifications such sites send out? Who will
control the passwords, especially when
people leave?
And what will you do if you find out
someone is spoofing you?
Finally, what are your goals for using
social media? Without them, how can you
manage and know if you have reached
them? How will you measure success? And
what will you do if you aren’t successful –
or if you are?
It’s easy to be overwhelmed, and I’ve
seen some publishers and editors run away
from social media as a result. Bad move.
Managers throughout the newsroom
must understand social media’s details
and be willing to monitor and engage
with it as they would any other key part of
their organization. The time for just letting
someone else do it or throwing something
out there to see what happens has passed.
(I have a one-page Microsoft Word form
to help you make such detailed decisions
and am happy to send you a copy if you
e-mail me with the subject line “digital
resources management form.”)
MORE INFORMATION
DOUG FISHER, a former AP news editor, teaches journalism at the University of South Carolina and can be
reached at fisherdj@mailbox.sc.edu or 803-777-3315.
Common Sense Journalism can be found at
http://www.jour.sc.edu/news/csj/index.html.
Come to the Annual Meeting to hear Doug share his
insights on mobile apps, paywalls and more!
do want to miss this session!
You don’t
Paper v. Pixel Panel Discussion
March 5
2:45 – 4:30 p.m.
Hilton Columbia Center
Pay
Paywalls
P
and mobile apps might just be the hottest topics in our industry now
aand
nd they’re also the subjects of much debate. Here’s your chance to find out
more from two editors who know! Join John Pittman, executive editor of The
G
reenville N
Greenville
News, and Alan English, editor of the Augusta Chronicle, as they share their
tthoughts
tho
ughts aand experiences on paid content strategies and using mobile platforms to
deliver
d
eliver news
new and information. Doug will moderate and share his thoughts on what
newspapers
n
ewspaper are doing (and not doing) in the wide range of new technology.
New hardware increases output significantly
I remember visiting
a newspaper several years ago that had
multiple workflow issues. This was a weekly
newspaper, mind you.
I’ll never forget walking into the “scanning
room” to meet the fulltime scanning person.
By Kevin Slimp
Slimp is Director
As I jotted down
of the Institute of
some notes in my noteNewspaper Techbook, she asked, “What
nology
are you writing?”
I told her I was going
to recommend some changes that would
significantly speed up the scanning operation. One of these included replacing the
ancient scanner that took what seemed
like forever to scan a photo.
Faced with that reality, she said, “No,
don’t do that.”
When I asked her why, she pulled a word
search puzzle book from her desk drawer
and said, “I can get a lot done on my puzzles
while I’m waiting on the photos to scan.”
Though it seems unrealistic, that scenario
wasn’t all that different from many I face while
visiting newspapers in my role as a consultant.
Just last week, over breakfast, I visited a publisher in New York concerning the company’s
workflow. A few hours later, after making a
recommendation that would save the newspaper several thousand dollars, I commented,
“It looks like I just paid for my visit.”
She turned to me and said, “I hadn’t planned
on mentioning this, but you way more than
paid for yourself at breakfast this morning.”
That’s the way it works. Newspapers, just
like other businesses, often keep doing
things the same way they’ve done them
for years, never considering that a few
tweaks here and there could save tens of
thousands of dollars each year.
A few days ago, I received calls from two
different newspapers within an hour of
each other. It was a crazy busy day, but I
took them both. The first was a client I had
recently visited. She asked if I could take a
few minutes to look over a contract she was
getting ready to sign for new equipment.
On the list were three MacPro computers,
totalling over $10,000. I mentioned that this
was overkill. By purchasing 27 inch iMacs,
the newspaper could save almost $6,000
and see no appreciable drop in output. In 5
minutes, the publisher saved $6,000.
Just minutes later, I received a call from
a newspaper in Tennessee. They were getting ready to sign a contract for upgrades
to their hardware and software and asked
if I could take a minute to look over the list
provided by their vendor. Within a couple
of minutes, we cut $10,000 in expenses for
items that would never have been used.
Here’s the thing. Both newspapers were
doing the right thing by upgrading hardware and software. What many publishers
don’t anticipate, however, is the money
that will be saved in improved efficiency
after purchases are made. A lesson they
learned is that by taking the proper time
to make purchasing decisions, significant
savings can be achieved.
A couple of months ago, I visited a group
of newspapers in North Carolina. The computers looked like they came right out of
the 1990s. Some designers were laying out
pages in QuarkXPress. Others were working in InDesign. I met two paginators who
were creating pages in Illustrator.
When I asked why there were so many applications being used to achieve the same
purpose, I was told, “We just use whatever
was on our computers when we got here.”
I made suggestions related to hardware
and software that should increase output by
30 percent or more. Eventually, I sent an email to a contact with the group, explaining
that what they really needed to consider was
changing their entire workflow. With new
production methods, I wouldn’t be surprised
if the staff doubled their creative output.
I’ll let you do the math. There were
at least a dozen full-time staff persons
involved in page and ad design. If they’re
spending twice as much time (and I would
guess they’re spending considerably more
than this) as necessary due to slow equipment, how long do you guess it would
take to recoup a few thousand dollars in
hardware and software purchases?
What would I suggest if I came to your
newspaper? I’d probably look around for
equipment that needs to be replaced and
production methods that would improve
efficiencies. Want the biggest bang for your
buck? Don’t keep computers that are more
than three or four years old for design,
photo editing and production purposes.
I remember reading a column in an
Australia-based industry publication a few
years back. It was about a publisher who
refused to move to computers to design
his newspapers. His reasoning? It was too
expensive to buy computers and software.
They’d just do it the “old” way.
It wasn’t long before his newspaper was
out of business.
When I read that column, I wondered
what this publisher was thinking. How
could you stay in business using methods
from the last millennium? He couldn’t.
The challenges I see at newspapers
might not be quite this daunting, but
they’re not all that dissimilar.
Keep your hardware and software
updated. Constantly look for better, more
efficient ways to produce your newspapers. Make training a regular part of your
company’s atmosphere.
Like the breakfast meeting in New York,
these steps will way more than pay for
themselves in no time.
MORE INFORMATION
KEVIN SLIMP is director of the Institute of
Newspaper Technology. He can be reached at
kslimp@newspaperintstitute.com.
Readers react positively to posed photos
Last month’s column
was “borrowed” from
friend and colleague
Ken Blum. It focused
on a defense of posed
photos. His column
drew considerable
response from his
readers and Ken has
again been gracious
By Ed Henninger
Henninger is
in letting me reprint
an independent
some of those (there
newspaper
were many!) here.
consultant
• • •
and director
of Henninger
My column defendConsulting in Rock
ing posed pictures in
Hill
hometown newspapers
drew tremendous
support from Black Inkling readers. Many of
the responses offered candid opinions and
practical advice for handling photos, and I
thought I would pass them along. – Ken
Photos are for Our Real Bosses
Jerry Bellune, co-publisher
The Lexington County Chronicle &
The Dispatch News
I agree with you on posed photos.
In community journalism we need to
separate our thinking on photos.
1. Photojournalism is dramatic, exciting and
we shoot it for ourselves and contest judges.
2. Group shots are for our readers. They
love them. They send them to relatives,
hang them on their refrigerators, paste
them in scrapbooks and slip them into
their family Bibles.
To insist that there’s no place in the community newspaper for such photos is the
height of conceit.
Insensitive and stupid, too.
Let’s not kid ourselves about who we’re
working for. A photo may be worth 1,000
words but a photo with 20 people in it is
worth 20,000.
The Award is Appreciation
From Dave Volz, editor
The Nashville (IL) News
I could not agree more with your
thoughts on group pictures and so-called
“grip and grin” check presentations. Here’s
an example from when I owned a weekly
newspaper: I was
called to shoot some
pix of kindergarten
kids visiting a petting zoo. Also there
was a photojournalist from a nearby
daily. This guy took
brilliant, compelling photos, and
I always admired
his work. On this
day, he got a shot
of the kids peering
between the slats of
a wooden fence at
the animals.
All you could see
was their eyes.
The daily ran it on page one, and I again
marveled at his expertise with a camera. I
thought it was a prizewinner.
I missed that shot, but ran two or three
photos of kids petting and feeding the
animals. Pretty standard stuff. I took the
time to identify every child in the photos,
and managed to get most of the class in
one shot or the other.
We were friends with some of the
parents of those kids, and I was pleasantly
surprised when visiting one of their homes
to find my photos prominently placed on
the refrigerator. No awards for me, except
the belief that my readers appreciated my
efforts.
Posed Photos Sell Newspapers
From Kim-Ross Polito, publisher
Crestline (OH) Advocate
We are a community weekly (2,300 circ
in a town of 5,000 people). We publish all
kinds of photos – posed, action, natural
disasters, taken by our photographers,
submitted by readers, submitted by organizations. We even print the dreaded “grip
and grin” check passing, plaque-holding
dreck. We do it because: 1. it sells papers
and 2. it’s our job to report community
events, not just the exciting and earthshaking journalistic stuff.
A posed shot of a Little League team, for
example, sells papers not only to parents, but
to the grandparents, aunts, uncles, teachers,
scrapbooks, team sponsors, etc. A posed shot
of a VFW officer presenting a check to a local
charity encourages others to give, too. It also
reminds people that the local VFW is more
than just a local watering hole.
We won’t win a Pulitzer, but we’re happy
serving our community.
What the ‘Locals’ Want
From Dianne Walker, publisher
The Dunlap (IA) Reporter
I totally agree with you about the group
pictures.
At the Reporter we call them “grip and
grins.” The people in those ribbon cuttings,
check passing, etc., are community leaders, business owners and they buy ads that
make it possible for newspapers to exist.
The “photojournalist” pictures are hard to
come by in a small town and the locals are
not that impressed. They want pictures of
their children, grandchildren, neighbors,
people who have moved away, etc.
Newspapers keep trying to be magazines. We are not magazines. We give the
local news and local human interest stories
and local sports.
Don’t forget who’s reading your paper
and who’s buying the ads!
MORE INFORMATION
ED HENNINGER is an independent newspaper
consultant and the Director of Henninger Consulting,
offering comprehensive newspaper design services,
including redesigns, staff training, workshops and
evaluations. You can reach him at: 803-327-3322.
E-mail: edh@henningerconsulting.com. On the web:
www.henningerconsulting.com
FOIA
Continued from page 1
the influence of alcohol and possessing an
open container early the previous day, citing a report from the S.C. Highway Patrol.
Hutto said she was innocent of the charges
in a Sept. 28 statement.
The newspaper made the FOIA request
Oct. 13 for documents related to the arrest,
including incident reports and arrest warrant
affidavits, as well as “the officer’s in-car video
of the arrest, or at the very least, the opportunity to view said video.” On Oct. 18, DPS
denied the request and wrote that it may be
resubmitted after the matter is resolved.
Sid Gaulden, DPS spokesman, said the
organization does not comment on active lawsuits.
“This is a very important case on a statewide
level,” Rogers said. “As the suit points out, this
is a pattern of behavior across South Carolina.”
He said he has observed a growing number
of similar cases in the last two or three years, in
which obtaining arrest-related documents on
public officials and figures has been difficult.
Columbia attorney Jay Bender, who prepared the suit, said law enforcement has
repeatedly demonstrated FOIA compliance
problems, including the S.C. Law Enforcement Division, which has been found by
the state’s Supreme Court to be withholding documents illegally.
“I think it would diminish greatly the reputation of the Highway Patrol if it always
tried to operate in secret,” Bender said.
“Clearly, the state Department of Public Safety is in violation of state law. Law
enforcement’s incident reports are public
documents,” Index-Journal Executive Editor
Richard Whiting said. “We routinely review
incident reports produced by the local police
departments and sheriff ’s offices. Reports
filed by the state Highway Patrol are no different. Once a person has been arrested and
charged, the arresting officer’s documentation, along with the jail log, become public
record. Additionally, it is not at all unusual
for additional charges to be filed against
someone after an initial arrest. That in itself
would not — and should not — preclude
the public’s access to the initial arrest report.
Holding such reports under the premise of
pending additional charges raises a number
of questions, including whether the arresting
agency is hiding some information.”
“Their case is not at all helped by the fact
that this particular arrest involves a publicly
elected official, giving merit to the question
of whether one person’s arrest report is being
treated differently than another’s because of
their status in the community,” Whiting said.
“The state Supreme Court has made it clear
that law enforcement agencies are not authorized to create their own exemption to the
law’s mandate of disclosure of public records.
But that is exactly what DPS has done in this
case – and others – by citing that a criminal
prosecution is continuing. That is not an exemption created by the General Assembly; it
is one created by DPS in violation of the law.”
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Obituaries
James A. Holland Jr.
News Editor, The Cherokee Chronicle
GAFFNEY
Veteran reporter Jim Holland, Jr., who has
served for the past 14 years as news editor for
The Cherokee Chronicle, died Dec. 20, after a
brief battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 73.
The winner of numerous awards during
a four-decade career in journalism which
spanned both newspaper and radio, Holland was widely recognized for his ability
to dig out the story.
Holland worked for the Spartanburg Herald-Journal as its Cherokee County Bureau
Chief in the 1960s and then became News
Director for Gaffney Broadcasting in 1971.
He left in 1978 to work on Max Heller’s
unsuccessful Congressional campaign, but
returned to both the Herald-Journal and
Gaffney Broadcasting in the 1980s.
Holland was appointed a Cherokee
County Magistrate in 1989 and he served in
that capacity for several years before he resigned. He came to work with The Chronicle
in 1997 and served as its news editor until
his death.
He cared so much about helping others.
It was Holland who organized the Fan Club
and Heaters For The Needy campaigns every summer and winter. The Chronicle will
continue with this philanthropy.
As a reporter in the ‘60s, Holland covered “The Gaffney Stranger, ” and even
penned a book recounting the experience. Holland also reported on the more
recent serial killings of Patrick Burris
during the summer of 2009.
Andrew Hutchinson
Former Sports Writer, The Sun News
COLUMBIA
Show them the ad dollars and options available to
them—on the spot!
309.690.5385 | recas@multiad.com
multiad.com/recas
Andrew Brooks Hutchinson died December 1, 2010.
Andy was born in Tampa, Florida on November 22, 1950, and moved to Columbia
at the age of 6.
As a sports writer, he worked for The Sun
News in Myrtle Beach in the 70s, and later
at the Asheville Citizen-Times.
He was a graduate of the University of
South Carolina.
FYI: Bill’s resolutions for newspaper industry... YWIA
It is a new year
and a time to make
resolutions. If I had
the power to make
such resolutions for
our member newspapers, here is what they
would be:
• I will think positive
By Bill Rogers
about our industry. I
Executive
Director
will project a positive
and upbeat image
about my newspaper,
and let readers know our industry is far
from dead.
• I will strive to make my newspaper
more meaningful to readers and give them
a reason to spend their dollars to subscribe
or buy it in a rack. I will protect and build
our local franchise.
• I will strive to improve the design and
copy of ads in order to offer a better service to my advertisers.
• I will become more involved in my community – not just viewing it from afar.
• I will not forsake the core product to
chase pennies on the Internet. I know pennies add up, but it takes a lot of web ads at
$3 per M to equal a full-page print ad.
• I will continue to be a watchdog in my
community, including challenging government secrecy at all levels. If the public has to
depend on TV and bloggers for hard news
reporting, our democracy is in danger.
• I will work to improve our journalistic
standards and build our creditably.
•I will lose 15 pounds…oops, wrong list.
My impression is that 2010 has been a
better year for S.C. newspapers. My wish
is that 2011 will be even better.
• • •
We are in the world of abbreviations
and acronyms now, and quite honestly I
am having a hard time keeping up.
I got an e-mail recently offering a webinar on CRM. That would be nice if I knew
what that was. Come to find out it is
Customer Relations Management, which
according to the webinar organizer is the
“backbone of all business.”
Of course, some newspaper abbreviations are fading to oblivion. Not all of us
remember what a PMT was, or an SAU for
that matter. And there is no such thing as
HTK anymore, or VDT and OCR.
Now it’s all about SEO, FTP, PPC, FB, NFC,
ROS and UV.
New to me this week is DPMs... data
management platforms for targeting audiences.
Diseases have also been shortened to abbreviations far more complex than TB or VD.
Now there is ADD, COPD, EDS, HPV, IBS,
PTSD, OCD and even ADHD.
Texting also has brought new abbreviations to learn: LOL, BFF, BRB, FYI, ROFL,
TMI, CUL8R.
But one of my favorite acronyms is Prof.
Jay Bender’s bumper sticker: BFD. He assures me it means Best Friend Daily.
• • •
I plan on writing a column on the “Top
10 Interview Questions I Would Ask
Candidates for Publisher at a Newspaper.”
Toward that end, I invite you to e-mail your
suggested questions.
Send them to brogers@scpress.org.
Thanks. TTYL. :)
USC J-School to host career fair on March 18
USC’s School of Journalism and Mass
Communications will hold its Spring Career
Fair on March 18 from 1-4 p.m. at the
Courtyard Marriott in Columbia.
More than 200 students and professionals
plan to attend. The school invites SCPA members to meet with students majoring in print,
visual communications, advertising, public
relations and broadcast. This is an interview
fair. The school expects recruiters to interview
with students for jobs and internships.
The cost to attend is $25 per recruiter.
The deadline to register is Feb. 28. To
register, click here or contact Beverly
Dominick, Career Services Director, at
bdominick@sc.edu.
Jan. 28: Collegiate Contest Entry Deadline Rules, tags and forms available
at www.scpress.org.
Jan. 31: News Contest Corrections Due E-mail all corrections for plaques
CALENDAR
and presentations to jmadden@scpress.org.
Feb. 7: PDFs of Winning Entries Due See www.scpress.org for instructions
on submitting your PDFs for display at the Annual Meeting.
Feb. 17: SCPA to judge Arkansas Advertising Contest If you’d like to help
out, e-mail jmadden@scpress.org.
Upcoming
SCPA/SNPA
Webinars:
Feb. 24: Creating “Direct
Response” Ads
Presenter: David Fowler
March 11: Qualities of the
Best Sales People
Presenter: Mike Blinder
March 4-5: SCPA Annual Meeting & Awards Presentation Hilton
Columbia Center. Get all the details and register at www.scpress.org.
April 8: SCPA Collegiate Meeting & Awards Presentation Winthrop
University. More details and registration packet coming soon!
To register visit:
onlinemediacampus.com

Index-Journal files FOI suit against DPS

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