It was “National Newspaper Week ,” Oct. 5-11, 2008, according to the promotional material orchestrated by the Newspaper Association of America. South Carolina newspapers chose their theme — “Newspapers … still going strong” — for their statewide campaign. Among the bromides, such as “newspapers aren’t dead yet,” Dianne Owens, SCNow.com, website for a SC media group, wrote, “ As one S.C. newspaper consultant and co-owner said in an opinion piece about newspapers ‘Newspapers aren’t going the way of the hula hoop.’ ”
Turns out the quote was taken from a stock Op-Ed offered-up by the SC Press Assn. for its members. The canned Op-Ed was titled, ” Newspapers aren’t going the way of the hula hoop.” The unnamed “consultant” was Jerry Bellune, past president of the SC Press Assn. and co-owner of the Lexington County Chronicle & The Dispatch News. The SC Press Assn. page instructs, ” To receive the text of the following [Op-Ed] pieces, please highlight, copy and paste the text.” Full story