Celebrate Sunshine Week

As we recognize Sunshine Week and the positive impact of open government and Freedom of Information laws, it’s important to recognize the nexus between the significant work newspapers across the state provide to their communities and the ability of reporters and citizens to access that information. 

 

The reporting, photography, design, writing and editing that we do at The Daniel Island News is possible, in part, because of laws that require the government to operate openly – not hidden in back rooms – and that grant access to information. We’ve used these laws in our reporting. This is evidenced by the 20 journalism awards the paper received from the South Carolina Press Association this month for work we produced between November 2019 and December 2020.

 

Over the years, our reporters have attended hundreds of City of Charleston, Berkeley County, ports authority, school board and other community meetings and reported on important items that affect our community. We’ve attended events, tracked down leads, interviewed community members, asked tough questions, sent out Freedom of Information requests, produced election guides, photographed school and community happenings and consistently tried to find answers to problems voiced by citizens.

 

Since we are a free paper, our ability to produce the news is dependent on advertising revenue. And, like many businesses in our community, our revenue has been down due to the pandemic. As a result, the number of pages in the paper has been less than in normal times. We’ve compensated by moving more content to online only, cutting expenses where we can, borrowing through the Paycheck Protection Program, and creating more efficient methods to compile, edit, design, print and deliver the news. 

 

We appreciate it when our readers suggest story ideas, tell us about issues affecting their lives, send a thank you, express how a story moves them, submit photos, and yes, especially when you let us know if we’ve made a mistake.  Please keep the feedback coming.

 

And, please continue to support our advertisers and let them know you saw their businesses and their ads in The Daniel Island News.

 

Congratulations to the hardworking staff at The Daniel Island News. Check out the breakdown of individual awards to see how your local journalists were honored for the work they do.