The State, The Post & Courier, The Greenville News

[Captain Worley]

I never would have guessed it, but the sale of The State to McClatchy has produced a newspaper far worse than it was under Knight-Ridder (which was in no way a banner paper either). Now, sports dominates, with above the banner headlines and multiple sections devoted to it, while editorial content is reduced, and, yes, subscribers now have to pay an extra 25 cents a week to recieve the severely cut down TV guide.

I, a long time reader, quit subscrining and just pick up the Sunday version. It is a far cry from what it used to be, and I heard that thye are losing subscribers in droves. I'm wondering how long before they just give it up.

[monsoon]

McClatchy is very good about destroying newspapers. They have also done this to the Charlotte Observer, the Raleigh N&O and the Myrtle Beach Sun News. The management blames it on the Internet. I blame it on cost cutting to the point that good journalism has disappeared and resulted in a rag that anyone who reads, doesn't care to.

I did not realize until this post, they also owned The State. It's really a shame. That was once a good paper.

There is a a blog that is devoted to what McClatchy is doing to its papers.

[Spartan]

For better or for worse, The State is the best newspaper in South Carolina, IMO. Though the Post & Courier gives them a good run for their money.

[Captain Worley]

The management blames it on the Internet. I blame it on cost cutting to the point that good journalism has disappeared and resulted in a rag that anyone who reads, doesn't care to.

[Spartan]

Since this was posted in the main South Carolina forum, I think it's important to expand the discussion to ALL newspapers in this state. I'm going to update the title of this thread accordingly.

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Perhaps it's just how I like to read the news, but The State stays relatively true to their state-wide mission. They have more articles that I find useful on a day-to-day basis. And I'm not just talking about city development articles and Gamecocks coverage. They have the best coverage of South Carolina politics, and comparatively fewer fluffycrap stories (not to say that those aren't there). They also have a knack for covering news in such a away that I find it's generally unnecessary to go read the other newspapers in South Carolina, unless there is some local story that won't be considered "large" enough for a state-wide audience.

The P&C probably has better journalism all around, but they don't have the same level of coverage that The State does.

This is, of course, not meant to slight the Greenville News, as they have a good product too. I just don't feel that it is at the level of the other two.

The only other paper across South Carolina that I read on a regular basis is the Herald-Journal. Unfortunately my hometown paper sucks. I think a website update would help it significantly.

So as to which one will go bankrupt first? It's hard to say.

[Galley]

The Greenville Journal is about half as thick as it used to be. It's a shame as it is the only paper I read regularly. It's just a reflection of the entire industry.

[GvilleSC]

Dan Foster of The Greenville News died yesterday at the age of 80. He was the premier sports writer in the state of SC. When he retired in 2000 was probably about the time The Greenville News really started to slip. He will be missed.

Good Article from The Greenville News with quotes from those he impacted, including Jesse Jackson, Dean Smith, and many more...

Here's one from The State: Article

-----------------

On the topic of coverage, the Post and Courier doesn't look past its coastal empire too much for stories. Columbia may be in its reaches somewhat, but that's it.

[clt29301]

Although I do not subscribe to any of the SC papers, I get the hometown Observer, I do read them on the internet (I am originally from SC). The State is by far better than The Greenville News (as is the HJ) and a little better that the P&C. Greenville is little more than a university newspaper. This may expand the topic a little but, journalism across the board (TV, internet, newspapers, talk radio etc....), is terrible. Most reporters today provide book reports of business press releases as journalism and do not research what they are reporting about, even on a national level.

[GvilleSC]

This may expand the topic a little but, journalism across the board (TV, internet, newspapers, talk radio etc....), is terrible. Most reporters today provide book reports of business press releases as journalism and do not research what they are reporting about, even on a national level.

[Captain Worley]

They were giving away free copies of The State yesterday at the grocery store I frequent. They were hoping to intice new subscribers, but it wasn't going to well. An elderly gent in front of me was asked if he wanted to subscribe. he said, "No. i used to subscribe, but they took too much out of it."

The guy asked me, and I told I'd take a free one, but I wasn't going to suscribe. The Sports section was bigger than the Nation/Metro section. Fantastic.

[clt29301]

Since you bring up other forms of journalism, I must say that I have not seen another broadcast better than WYFF across the state. Other than opinion supporting this, SCBA also recognizes their excellence with the 2008 award for the Top Station in South Carolina, including John Cessarich taking home Television personality and weathercaster honors. In 2008, WYFF recieved 11 SCBA State Television and Radio (STAR) awards, which is more than any other SC television station, including first place award for Production.

[GvilleSC]

Not that it matters much but, according to SCBA'a website, 2 Columbia stations have dominated winning Station of the year since 2000.

[monsoon]

Which of these stations doesn't follow this formula?

• Read the police report for 10 minutes. Any arrest record involving an official or other public official gets top billing. Be sure to include one article from a smaller town in the coverage area especially if it involves some sort of sex offense.

• Preempt the above if there is bad weather. If there is a hurricane, send a bunch of reporters to the coast so we can see them sticking their feet in the water.

• Annoying commercials.

• Do an unoffensive story on something that is irrelevant like a 3 legged dog or something.

• More commercials.

• Go to the weather person. Make sure there are a lot of technibabble about the radar. Talk about what the weather was for 5-6 minutes. Spend 30 seconds on a 5 or 7 day forecast. End with weather person sitting with anchors in some sort of amusing personal banter.

• More commercials

• Spend the rest of the program on Sports. Doesn't matter what kind of sports just make sure that 25% is devoted to it.

• Fit in one more anecdote. Better if it's not in SC. (unless the first attempt at this wasn't)

• Remind everyone to watch the national news coming up.

• Anchors smile at each other. Act like they are just "one of the guys".

[Captain Worley]

^BUWAHAHAHA!!!! You nailed that one. Except I'd say sports is 33% of the broadcast, at least.

[clt29301]

This shouldn't become a pissing match, but I think this deserves to be include. You can't deny these sort of facts:

Anyway, on a similar note:

It's interesting to see that stations are compared across the state at the same level from what I can tell, but WYFF, WHNS, WSPA, and WLOS have a significantly larger physical area to cover. Hands down, anyone who is familiar with the mentioned stations, will agree that WYFF provide the best coverage of the entire market, delivering a much higher quality product and stories ranging from a wider selection of the viewing area on any given day.

[GvilleSC]

Noone is trying to get into a "pissing match"......just simply looking at the same set of data that you used to claim Ch4 to be best in SC. From my perspective, I grew up watching the upstate stations but, I only see them now when I visit. But, from experience, Ch4 does not provide great coverage of the entire market. It provides great coverage in Greenville, not much outside of that. Granted, it does have a very large low population density geographic footprint to cover but, you rarely see them outside of Greenville.

[Spartan]

Generally speaking, if you're in Spartanburg you watch WSPA. It's the local station, and one of the oldest in the state too. It's also the culture. I grew up watching it, as did most people I know. I had a friend who used to work at WSPA, and he said that when they do stories on things in Greenville or Anderson (etc), they get complaints about how it's Spartanburg's station and they shouldn't be in Anderson or wherever. I always found that amusing

[Greenville]

Which of these stations doesn't follow this formula?

• Read the police report for 10 minutes. Any arrest record involving an official or other public official gets top billing. Be sure to include one article from a smaller town in the coverage area especially if it involves some sort of sex offense.

• Preempt the above if there is bad weather. If there is a hurricane, send a bunch of reporters to the coast so we can see them sticking their feet in the water.

• Annoying commercials.

• Do an unoffensive story on something that is irrelevant like a 3 legged dog or something.

• More commercials.

• Go to the weather person. Make sure there are a lot of technibabble about the radar. Talk about what the weather was for 5-6 minutes. Spend 30 seconds on a 5 or 7 day forecast. End with weather person sitting with anchors in some sort of amusing personal banter.

• More commercials

• Spend the rest of the program on Sports. Doesn't matter what kind of sports just make sure that 25% is devoted to it.

• Fit in one more anecdote. Better if it's not in SC. (unless the first attempt at this wasn't)

• Remind everyone to watch the national news coming up.

• Anchors smile at each other. Act like they are just "one of the guys".

[CorgiMatt]

For better or for worse, The State is the best newspaper in South Carolina, IMO. Though the Post & Courier gives them a good run for their money.