If you believe the effluent regularly produced by Will Folks‘ bile duct, you would think that the S.C. Policy Council is doing something new and inventive. After all, they hired Eric Ward from the Free Times and Rick Brundrett of The State. We suppose these guys don’t mind trading in their ethics for an organization that laughingly calls itself “non-partisan.” OK, maybe just “Sanfordite Republican,” and not non-ideological. And the organization will lose a hell of a lot of influence when Gov. Mark Sanford rides off into the sunset, if not already.
You see, the Policy Council’s shill at FITSNews is making a big deal out of some new Web site that the SCPC is starting up.
In what could become some heady competition for Palmetto State media outlets (including FITS), the S.C. Policy Council is on the verge of launching a new “citizen reporter” website – perhaps as soon as next week.
Reportedly dubbed The Nerve (or something to do with nerves), the top secret project will provide original content from Policy Council writers as well as contributing writers from all corners of the state, sources tell FITS.
What this clown doesn’t tell you, and what he knows, is that the plan to hire formerly legitimate reporters and start such operations has been in effect since at least 2007, if not before. And it’s not just South Carolina. Every member of the State Policy Network, which is tied at the hip with robber baron Howard Rich, is doing exactly the same thing. It’s a national effort. Because some reporters are so broke and scared of losing their jobs, they’re willing to do what it takes to pay the mortgage, get insurance and put food on the table.
What sucks for those guys is that they have to make peace with that Faustian bargain, and realize their work — and your labor is one of your most important actions — is actively going against their self-interests. But that’s how the journalism industry crumbles.
