Fun with FOIA: Government Agencies and Officials Play Games with Access to Information Published August 2026 By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications Recent weeks have seen government entities at all levels—federal, as well as state and local here in South Carolina—taking actions regarding public and...
Journalists, do what is right, what is good, what is just
Journalists, do what is right, what is good, what is just By Richard S. Whiting, FOI Chair Stand your ground.This isn’t about your rights in a self-defense situation. No, this is a message to fellow journalists, journalists in print and broadcast media who might on occasion and even frequently feel...
GOVERNOR VETOES BILL TO KEEP CONTRACTS WITH COLLEGE ATHLETES SECRET. IS A COMPROMISE POSSIBLE?
Governor vetoes bill to keep contracts with college athletes secret. Is a compromise possible? Published March 11, 2026 | SCPA members are encouraged to run this Op-ed in print and online. By SCPA Attorney Jay Bender The General Assembly rushed to pass legislation to keep from public view how millions of...
Journalists help ensure a germ-free government
Journalists help ensure a germ-free government Sunshine Week is set for March 15-21, 2026. SCPA's FOI Chair, Richard Whiting, has written the following column, which you are welcome to publish in print and online. We encourage you to write and share editorials, stories and columns about the importance of open...
Bill To Hide From Public Scrutiny Payments From Schools To Athletes Is A Betrayal.
Bill To Hide From Public Scrutiny Payments From Schools To Athletes Is A Betrayal. Published Feb. 13, 2026SCPA members are welcome to publish this Op-ed in print and/or online. By SCPA Attorney Jay Bender The bill to shelter millions of dollars in contracts between schools and athletes now pending in...
Can Government Officials Discriminate Among Media?
Can Government Officials Discriminate Among Media? Published Jan. 2026 By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications The Sumter Item recently reported that Sumter school board Chairman Shawn Ragin was refusing to respond to the newspaper’s inquiries because of reporter Bruce Mills’ alleged “continued rudeness and disrespectful...
Has Federal FOIA Been DOGEd?
Has Federal FOIA Been DOGEd? Published June 2025 By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications A long-time complaint of journalists and others who make extensive use of the federal Freedom of Information Act is that even though the law requires an initial response to requests within...
Despite Lack of Anti-SLAPP Statute, SC Court Awards Attorney Fees for Harassing Lawsuit
Despite Lack of Anti-SLAPP Statute, SC Court Awards Attorney Fees for Harassing Lawsuit Published January 2025 By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications South Carolina remains one of the minority of states without an anti-SLAPP statute, which would allow for early dismissal of defamation lawsuits against...
Appeals Court Requires Details in FOIA Fee Fight
Appeals Court Requires Details in FOIA Fee Fight Published Oct. 2024 By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications There are several issues with South Carolina’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), but one of the laudable provisions—also present in the federal FOIA and in freedom of information...
S.C. Federal Judge Finds No First Amendment Right to Inmate Interviews
S.C. Federal Judge Finds No First Amendment Right to Inmate Interviews Published Sept. 2024 By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications Ruling in a case brought by the ACLU, federal district court judge Jacquelyn Austin has upheld the South Carolina Department of Corrections policy that “Personal...
Appeals Court Rules that Court’s Delay Does Not Justify FOIA Denial
Appeals Court Rules that Court’s Delay Does Not Justify FOIA Denial Published July 2024 By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications The South Carolina Freedom of Information Act is pretty clear, stating that “The General Assembly finds that it is vital in a democratic society that...
Lawsuit Challenges SC Prisoner Gag Rule
Lawsuit Challenges SC Prisoner Gag Rule Published April 2024 By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications The Alex Murdaugh trials brought new unprecedented attention to South Carolina’s legal system, including how it deals with the media in high-profile cases.And his incarceration—both during trial and after his...
South Carolina Supreme Court Limits Public Figure Status
South Carolina Supreme Court Limits Public Figure Status Published Feb. 2024 By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications Ruling in a non-media case on Jan. 17, the South Carolina Supreme Court held that a former public high school football coach and athletic director was not a...
Free Press Doesn’t Mean Freedom to Break the Law, But Police Shouldn’t Arrest Journalists
Free Press Doesn’t Mean Freedom to Break the Law, But Police Shouldn’t Arrest Journalists Published July 2023 By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications Last month two reporters for the left-leaning The Asheville Blade in North Carolina were convicted of misdemeanor trespassing for not leaving when...
Is “Actual Malice” Really Not an Insurmountable Hurdle?
Is “Actual Malice” Really Not an Insurmountable Hurdle? Published May 2023 By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications This column has repeatedly discussed the numerous attacks on the landmark New York Times v. Sullivan precedent and the “actual malice” standard that it added to American libel...
Does the reporters’ shield survive death? And another way to foil FOIA
Does the reporters’ shield survive death? And another way to foil FOIA Published November 2022 By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications The murder of Las Vegas Review-Journal investigative reporter Jeff German—for which a former local official who lost his reelection bid and was then removed...
South Carolina needs a good SLAPP law
South Carolina needs a good SLAPP law Published June 2022 By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications In late May, the Judiciary Committee of the North Carolina State Assembly approved a legislative bill, which would allow for early dismissal of lawsuits making libel or other claims...
S.C. police agencies should follow FOIA law
S.C. police agencies should follow FOIA law Published May 2022 By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications A “possibly gang-related” shooting in a Greenville middle school. Records from the 2009 disappearance of a high school student in Myrtle Beach. And the notorious murder of Maggie and...
Publication of Murdaugh Phone Call Recordings Raises Legal Issues
Publication of Murdaugh Phone Call Recordings Raises Legal Issues Published March 2022 By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications South Carolina’s Freedom of Information Act provides that state agencies must provide public records, within certain parameters and exceptions, to the public upon request. It also defines...
SOS for South Carolina’s FOIA
SOS for South Carolina’s FOIA Published Sept. 2021 By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications In the past several weeks and months we have seen numerous examples of local and state government boards and agencies refusing to comply with South Carolina’s Freedom of Information Act. These...
Media Law Then and Now: In Recognition of Bill Rogers’ Retirement
Media Law Then and Now: In Recognition of Bill Rogers’ Retirement Published July 2021 By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications Each month in this column, I attempt to highlight a recent development in media law, either in South Carolina or nationally, that may have an...
Lessons Not Learned
Lessons Not Learned Published October 2020 By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications Within the past few weeks, there have been a number of examples of government bodies and officials ignoring the open records and open meeting requirements of South Carolina’s Freedom of Information Act, and...
Patient Privacy in the Time of Coronavirus: The Limits of HIPAA
Patient Privacy in the Time of Coronavirus: The Limits of HIPAA Published May 19, 2020 By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications Covid-19 has of course dominated the media for more than two months, with exhaustive coverage of the pandemic, the shutdown of much ordinary activities,...
Death Certificates
Death Certificates Published April 28, 2020 By SCPA Attorney Jay Bender When I die, I expect friends, acquaintances, and perhaps strangers to ask a common question, “How did he die?” The answer to that question for all persons who die in South Carolina is recorded on an official state record—a...
Public meetings in a time of pandemic
Public meetings in a time of pandemic Published March 11, 2020 By SCPA Attorney Jay Bender The current strategy to stall the spread of the highly contagious COVID-19 virus is the maintenance of “social distance,” personal hygiene and youth. On the social distance side of the ledger, the Columbia Mayor...
In Test of Revised FOIA, Judge Rules Against Last-Minute Agenda Additions
In test of revised FOIA, judge rules against last-minute agenda additions Published Jan. 2020 By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications A recent common pleas court decision appears to be the first application of recent changes to South Carolina’s Freedom of Information Law, and requirements for public...
Tales of FOIA and Secrets, Then and Now
Tales of FOIA and Secrets, Then and Now Published December 2019 By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications The Pentagon Papers case, in which the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the Nixon administration’s attempt to bar publication of a detailed history of American involvement in southeast Asia...
Legal Q&A: Can/should an agency require a person filing a FOI request include name, telephone number, physical address?
Legal Q&A (10.16.19) Q. Can/should an agency require a person filing a FOI request include name, telephone number, physical address? By SCPA Attorney Taylor Smith A. Public bodies, including, but limited to, state agencies, are not required to gather contact information of a SCFOIA requester beyond what is necessary to...
Trustees’ attorneys release details of Scott settlement
Trustees’ attorneys release details of Scott settlement By Graham Williams, Union County NewsPublished in the newspaper on Aug. 19, 2019Picked up by the SCPA eBulletin on Aug. 28, 2019As part of the settlement agreement between Billy Scott and the Union County Board of School Trustees both parties agreed to release...
Words and Deeds
Words and Deeds Published July 2019 By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications In 2017, when signing a law to strengthen the state’s Freedom of Information Act, Governor McMaster said that “[g]overnment has to be accountable to the people it serves, and its citizens should have...
USC president search skirts FOIA
USC president search skirts FOIA Published July 2019 By SCPA Attorney Jay Bender Well, this is a fine kettle of fish. The group that hired a president who treated public money as a slush fund, then replaced him with a president who moved out of the president's residence in a...
Hiding from a school board member
By SCPA Attorney Jay Bender | A member of the Board of Trustees of Lexington School District 1 has had her requests for access to school district financial records denied by the school superintendent.
Legal Q&A: Law enforcement redaction
Q: In response to a S.C. FOIA request, can law enforcement redact information of a personal nature where the public disclosure thereof would constitute unreasonable invasion of personal privacy?
Behaving badly in Mount Pleasant
By SCPA Attorney Jay Bender | I don’t live in Mount Pleasant, but if I were a newspaper columnist writing regularly about the shenanigans of local officials, I’d want to live there. I would never run out of material. Not so long ago the Office of the Attorney General of...
FOIA suit against S.C. House Republican Caucus
By SCPA Attorney Jay Bender | News organizations and associations, The State Media Company, The Post and Courier, Inc., Gannett GP Media, Inc., South Carolina Press Association, South Carolina Broadcasters Association, and the Associated Press, were rejected in their suit to have the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) applied to...
Does South Carolina’s FOIA end at the border?
By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications | Common Pleas Judge Robert E. Hood’s ruling that the House Republican Caucus is not subject to South Carolina’s Freedom of Information Act is a disturbing result. The caucus uses government resources without charge, and much of the state...
The culture of arrogance and secrecy at DHEC
By SCPA Attorney Jay Bender | The board of directors of the state’s largest, and perhaps most vital regulatory agency, the Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) announced it had selected a fellow board member to be the agency’s new director.
Legislative corruption and the State Grand Jury
By SCPA Attorney Jay Bender | About five years ago Ashley Landess of the South Carolina Policy Council urged an investigation of then House Speaker Bobby Harrell for misconduct in office. That investigation led to Harrell’s resignation and a guilty plea.
Freelancing FOIA
By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications | South Carolina’s Freedom of Information law provides that “[a]ll materials, regardless of form, gathered by a public body during a search to fill an employment position, except that materials relating to not fewer than the final three applicants...
Frustrating FOIA
By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications | Through South Carolina’s Freedom of Information Act, diligent journalists and others have discovered much revealing information about the actions of state and local government in our state. Things recently revealed through FOIA requests have included Anderson County’s failure...
Legal Q&A: Obtaining student records
Q: Can I obtain student records from a local public school pursuant to a S.C. FOIA request?
Legal Q&A: Liability of public bodies
Q: Can fulfilling an S.C. FOIA request result in liability for public bodies?
Amending the agenda
By SCPA Attorney Jay Bender | I was in Mount Pleasant recently. It had been years since I had driven north of Shem Creek on Coleman Boulevard. My drive north in search of lunch put into context the Save Shem Creek movement and the desire of many residents to slow...
Money laundering made easier
By SCPA Attorney Jay Bender | Money laundering had its origins with crime syndicates. Former SLED chief Robert Stewart said that one of the dangers of South Carolina’s legalization of video poker was that it provided a state-wide network of money laundromats.
Legal Q&A: Suing a public body from out-of-state
Q: Can I sue a public body for a SCFOIA violation regarding a request for information if I am a resident of another state?
Legal Q&A: Search and retrieval fees
Q: Does a public body have to charge for the fees associated with search, retrieval, and redaction of records in fulfilling a FOIA request?
Legal Q&A: Right to inspect
Q: Do you have to be a member of the press to inspect incident reports, the minutes from a public meeting, booking/detention information, or all documents that were distributed to or reviewed by a public official during a public meeting?
Public accountability needed after mass shootings
By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications | Less than a week after the horrific shooting spree at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, that killed 17 students and staff members, a coalition of 16 news outlets and organizations filed a motion with the...
Legal Q&A: Written FOIA requests
Q: Is a written FOIA request necessary to see records that were distributed to or reviewed by an elected official during a public meeting?
Why do we have a Freedom of Information Act?
By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications | There have been a lot of developments the past several weeks in South Carolina regarding application of the state’s Freedom of Information Act.
FOIA, police cameras, and the New Frontier
By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications | Here in South Carolina, a debate is going on over disclosure of another sort of government record: video footage shot by law enforcement.
What Trump can do to thwart the press
By Eric P. Robinson, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications | During his campaign, president-elect Donald Trump notoriously promised that he would “open up our libel laws so when they [the media] write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money."...