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Honors for features section

Members of our features staff are some of the hardest-working journalists in the newsroom. We gather news and features for seven sections a week, write stories for our front page, and attend countless openings, concerts and events so that you can keep up with life in the Midlands.
Our designers, who make the pages pretty, and our copy editors, who make our stories readable, are constantly under deadline pressure. And our photographers set the visual tone for our food, fashion, home and arts coverage. The editors put it all together, in daily Life&Style, Weekend, Home&Garden and Life&Arts.
So it was nice to get some love from folks who work in the same profession.
Last week, our features staff was honored by the American Association of Sunday and Features Editors, as The State was named one of the country’s top 10 features sections.
This is the third year in a row the staff has been recognized.
It’s a tribute to this staff, who work above and beyond their responsibilities because of their passion for serving you, the reader. We’re also excited about the efforts we do online: showing you how a conductor conducts (see the video here) or even letting columnist Neil White make a fool of himself.
It’s not the only honor the features staff has gotten lately:
— Arts writer Jeffey Day is about to embark on an 11-day National Endowment for the Arts program in classical music and opera at Columbia University, for reporters and editors.
— Allison Askins was honored with the newspaper’s Ambrose E. Gonzalez award for her hard work as the staff’s food and dining writer.
— Health writer Czerne Reid is spending six months exploring the toll of HIV/AIDS on South Carolina.
We hope that our honors make our staff better for you. And we welcome your suggestions on coverage and changes in the features sections. E-mail us at statefeatures@thestate.com.

-- Betsey Guzior
Features editor

Posted on October 1 at 12:34 PM | Add / Read Comments

A YEARLONG LOOK AT DRUGS

This week’s series on methamphetamine is the third installment in The State’s yearlong look at the pervasiveness of illegal drugs in South Carolina.

Our goal was to tell you about the drugs being sold and used most frequently, how drugs are coming into the state and the dangers of the homemade variety.

Along the way, we also learned how local agencies are combating the drugs’ distribution and the spinoff crimes that accompany them.

If you missed it, go to thestate.com to read this week’s series on meth as well as earlier installments of the project, listed below.

And let us know if you think we’re missing something important.

February: Gangs and drugs
How a highly organized national gang moved in on Columbia’s drug-trafficking scene. Meet the Gangsta Killer Bloods.

April: The Mexican connection
Tighter port security means most of the drugs streaming into South Carolina are entering the United States from Mexico.

September: Savage meth
How one man introduced a vicious homemade drug to the Midlands. Also, S.C. health and child care officials are scrambling to address the poisons meth cooks leave behind.

Coming in October: Prescription drug abuse

— Eileen Waddell, Assistant Managing Editor

Posted on September 28 at 10:11 AM | Add / Read Comments

History, numbers mean race is a factor in politics

How the issue of race is affecting the presidential campaign of  U.S. Sen. Barack Obama is the subject of a front-page story in today’s State. But race affects more than Obama.

Readers occasionally ask why race is an element in our political coverage. The answer is that — when you look at the numbers and understand the history — race is often a defining political issue.

First, the numbers. South Carolina is by far the most racially diverse of the early presidential primary states, which also include Iowa and New Hampshire. African Americans are 2.3 percent of Iowa’s residents and 1 percent of New Hampshire’s residents.

Twenty-nine percent of South Carolina’s population is African American, according to the most recent Census figures. What those voters care about is hugely important, especially in the Democratic race for president, where African Americans will cast roughly half the votes.

Winning the African American vote is key to winning South Carolina. Obama, who is African American, leads among black voters, according to recent polling. But his lead is not large, and certainly not large enough to overcome U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, who consistently has led among likely Democratic voters of all races.

Then there’s the history. Across the nation, black candidates rarely win election unless they run in a largely black district. Here in S.C., every African American in the state Legislature is elected from either a majority black district or a district where black voters make up nearly half the voters.

So if Obama wins in nearly all-white Iowa or New Hampshire, it would be historic. If that carries over to S.C., it would mean he  could be on his way to to winning a major party nomination, which is unprecedented. 

It would mean race is indeed less of a factor in American politics.

That’s a big story.

— Leroy Chapman Jr. Government editor

Posted on September 26 at 12:41 PM | Add / Read Comments

Responding to a classless response

If you have watched “SportsCenter” or visited You Tube lately, you probably have seen video of the tirade delivered Saturday by Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy. If not, to review: Gundy used his news conference after his team’s victory against Texas Tech to lash out at the Oklahoman’s Jenni Carlson and the column she wrote regarding the benching of Cowboys quarterback Bobby Reid. Carlson wrote that Reid’s demotion was a result of his attitude more than his ineffective play. It also called Reid the "most talented quarterback" on the team and indicated Reid was "nicked in some games and sat it out instead of gutting it out." Gundy stated that three-fourths of the column was “fiction,” and much of what he stated centered on his belief that the attack was made on a “kid.” Carlson and the Oklahoman stand by their reporting. But let’s not get into the facts of the column. I don’t know diddly about the Oklahoma State football program. What I do know is the manner in which Gundy delivered his message was absurd. To attack Carlson in front of her peers — seemingly staring at her during most of the news conference — and in a setting that ensured national media coverage, Gundy showed a lack of class. What was he trying to prove — his toughness? That he was better than the media? Why not approach Carlson privately to discuss the column? Or sit down with the newspaper’s editors to air his beefs? Instead, Gundy lost his cool and belittled Carlson in an environment that gave her no recourse for an immediate response. "I thought it was more important that somebody stand up for a player who couldn't stand up for himself," Gundy told The Associated Press. Good idea. Wrong approach. The Association for Women in Sports Media said Monday night that Gundy handled the situation in an "unprofessional manner," according to the AP, and while he has a right to his opinion, "his decision to air his objections in the form of a personal attack shows a lack of respect for all journalists." Agreed. As a fellow journalist, I support Carlson — not necessarily what she wrote, but her right to express her opinion. And I don’t care if she had written that it was fun to harm puppies. She didn’t deserve Gundy’s response. To use the closing statement from Gundy's tirade: “It made me want to puke.” — Craig McHugh, deputy sports editor

Posted on September 25 at 02:48 PM | Add / Read Comments

Copeland joins Lexington County reporting team

The Lexington County team welcomes Devon Copeland, who will cover Lexington School Districts 1 and 3 and Lexington-Richland 5.

Copeland will replace Bill Robinson, who will cover Richland 1.

Copeland joined The State newspaper in July 2005. She has covered Lexington districts 3 and 4 and most recently covered Richland 2.

Copeland hopes to focus her coverage on what students are doing in the classroom and out.

The Lexington County reporting team was created in January in an effort to provide more consistent coverage to the fast-growing county.

Other team members are Clif LeBlanc, who covers countywide issues, Tim Flach, who covers Irmo, the town of Lexington and the area surrounding Lake Murray, and Lezlie Patterson, who writes a lifestyles column.

Shalama C. Jackson covers Cayce and West Columbia.

If you have any suggestions about what we should be covering in Lexington County, please contact Shelley Hill, assistant metro editor for Lexington County, at (803) 771-8498 or sehill@thestate.com.

Posted on September 25 at 11:07 AM | Add / Read Comments

I can't bear to watch

Our story in today’s paper about game-day rituals (Dress the dog and don’t wear orange) had me reflecting on my own superstition when it comes to the Gamecocks.

I don’t dress my dog in USC gear, but I do make a habit of turning off the TV once the Gamecocks are ahead.

If that never happens—if the team is behind the entire game—then it’s not an issue because, hey, we’re probably going to lose. And there’s nothing heartbreaking about a match-up that never came close.

But if the Chickens grab the upper hand for a moment, I usually can’t bear to watch for much longer. I’ve been a fan long enough to know that no lead is safe for the Gamecocks, and there’s always time to blow it.

And that’s heartbreaking.

-- Kenley Young
Night city editor

Posted on September 20 at 02:18 PM | Add / Read Comments

A night on the copy desk

What do our copy editors do and how do they do it?

Copy editors are entrusted with catching errors in stories and on pages and with writing headlines that accurately reflect what the stories are about. The headlines should at the same time be interesting enough to catch readers’ attention.

How to accomplish this?

Rule 1 on our copy desk is, Do No Harm. We tell our copy editors not to make a change unless they are sure that it’s an improvement. They can’t simply assume they’ve caught an error; they have to be sure. They must double-check the facts. Smith sometimes really is spelled Smythe. Editors cannot assume something they believe is unusual is automatically incorrect.

We instruct our editors to read or skim the story first to get an idea of what it’s about before tackling any serious editing. Then, on the second read, we look for spelling, grammar and style errors as well as readability issues. We also look for clarity, consistency and cohesiveness -- does the story all flow in the same direction?

We look for factual errors, unsupported statements, lack of attribution, holes in content, bias, etc. If we encounter major issues that we can’t resolve, we call the reporter or the assigning editor.

Next comes the headline. We look for what’s new in the story and what is the most interesting and focus on those points. We ask the copy editors to try different approaches -- the straight, factual approach and something a little more offbeat that might grab your interest.

We then run a spell check and move the story along to the designer.

The keys to effective copy-editing? Check everything. Assume nothing. Trust no one.

Following these simple yet critical rules is essential to minimizing errors and presenting you with the best product we can.

- Bob Venturella, copy desk chief
   

Posted on September 14 at 01:00 AM | Add / Read Comments

Football and visual storytelling

We're now knee deep into the 2007 football season. By now you've noticed a bolder presentation on the Sunday Gamecocks and Clemson football fronts. You've seen expanded photo coverage from Ffriday night preps games. The Carolina Friday Nights feature has returned and our gogamecocks.com and midlandspreps.com sites have been serving up plenty of scores and analysis of local preps and Gamecocks football.

The reason? Folks in the Midlands have a huge appetite for local football news. And to help keep you feeling full, our comprehensive coverage includes the freshest and most innovative visual content.

Along with the excellent photography in the print edition, take the opportunity to look at the photos, galleries, audio slideshows and videos we're putting up every week on gogamecocks.com, midlandspreps.com and thestate.com. You'll see football coverage presented like you've never seen it before. To keep the coverage fresh and the visual storytelling unique, we look for the stories behind the story. The people behind the scenes. The dedicated folks who make the Friday nights and Saturday afternoons happen, but are rarely recognized for their efforts. The trends in sports from the perspective of players and fans.

So watch for fresh, new and creative visual storytelling to continue in print and online. And share with us your thoughts on the people and trends you see helping to shape and promote football in the Midlands.

-- Al Anderson, Director of Photography

Posted on September 13 at 12:29 PM | Add / Read Comments

How much is too much?

What you see vs. what you don't see.

As a newspaper, we make decisions about that every day. Sometimes we show you more than you might want to see. Other times, we leave you wanting more.

During our coverage of the murder trial of Ron Finklea, who was sentenced to death last week for shooting and setting afire security guard Walter Sykes during a botched ATM robbery in Lexington County in 2004, we made a decision to show you one piece of evidence, but not another.

We posted at thestate.com security camera footage that showed Sykes letting Finklea in at the Solectron electronics manufacturing plant near Springdale to use the ATM, a common practice for employees. Finklea once worked at the plant.

The video shows Sykes returning to his post off-camera and Finklea watching him out of the corner of his eye, then following him into the security office. Finklea then lets in an accomplice before returning to the security office to set fire to Sykes, who runs out of the building, his entire upper body engulfed in flames.

The footage we opted to post showed a brief flash of Sykes fleeing the building. Separate footage from another Solectron security camera, which we decided not to post, was much more graphic.

So, why did we show you one and not the other?

Both videos were introduced as evidence at Finklea's trial. Each could be helpful in understanding how the terrible events transpired on that day.

But the video we did not post was significantly more graphic and potentially disturbing than the first. It was clear what happened. The video didn't add anything to readers' understanding of the crime.

As journalists, we routinely weigh the importance of presenting information and images to our readers against the need for compassion for victims and their families.

In this case, the video we posted passed that test; the other one didn't.

You might disagree. The people who make decisions at local TV stations apparently did, because they aired and posted both videos on their Web sites.

— Dan O’Mara, public safety editor

Posted on September 12 at 12:46 PM | Add / Read Comments

Sports and 9/11

Today’s the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, and in every newspaper across the nation, you’ll read stories about how folks are remembering the tragic events of that day.

You’ll read about how moms, dads, brothers and sisters died unjustly and how family members and friends are keeping their memories alive. All touching stories, really. Unfortunately, you won’t be reading about it on a lot of sports pages.

That’s because sports, in this country, serves as a sort of diversion from reality. The daily sports pages are a means to break away from the daily grind of life. Problems? Not unless you play or coach football at Michigan.

But the events that occurred on that day also made their way to the Sports section, as teams — pro, college and high school — were scrambling to make sense of it all. The end result: canceled games and practices.
We were also trying to figure out the best way to cover all that was happening, especially within the sports community.

We focused on the individuals and how coaches and parents were helping their children cope, and today is no different.
You’ll notice in today’s sports section, very little is mentioned about 9/11. Instead, we chose to continue with the norm — a diversion from reality.

On today’s Sports front, whether by design or accidentally, you’ll see a feel-good story about the Gilbert community and its football program. You’ll read about Clemson and USC football — our immediate little world, away from chaos and hurt.
And I hope it works for you.
— Gerald Davis, assistant sports editor

Posted on September 11 at 10:33 AM | Add / Read Comments

Last 20 Entries

Honors for features section

A YEARLONG LOOK AT DRUGS

History, numbers mean race is a factor in politics

Responding to a classless response

Copeland joins Lexington County reporting team

I can't bear to watch

A night on the copy desk

Football and visual storytelling

How much is too much?

Sports and 9/11

More reasons to love Columbia

The tape - and the timing

Go Gamecocks and Tigers!

Small lots, big decisions

Beyond Katrina finger-pointing, some small successes

Caitlin Upton's 30 seconds of fame

Football season rushes forward

News is never static

First Day of School

Welcome back to college