 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Columbia Record" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(August 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
TheColumbia Record was an afternoon dailynewspaper published inColumbia, South Carolina. It was established in 1897. International Paper & Power Co. purchasedThe Record in 1929 from R. Charlton Wright, who had been principal owner since 1918. The State had declined a chance to buy the paper in 1928 and subsequently faced stiff competition from its local rival. In 1945The State finally purchasedThe Record from International Paper Co.The State for $550,000, to form the State-Record Company. The company was purchased byKnight-Ridder in 1986, and publication of theColumbia Record ceased on April 1, 1988. One of the quirks of the paper was that it printed the weekly entertainment section on green newsprint.
The decision to closeThe Record was the natural outgrowth of the decline of afternoon papers nationally. By 1987, the paper's circulation was only 27,000 of which only 15,000 were exclusiveRecord subscribers. The rest also subscribed toThe State. The decision to close the paper was announced by publisher Ben Morris on Jan. 20, 1988. All 50Record employees were transferred toThe State.[1]
Among the reporters to work atThe Record wasMarilyn Walser Thompson, who was on staff from 1974 to 1982. She gained national recognition for reporting on South Carolina's nuclear industry. She later worked forThe Washington Post, theLos Angeles Times,The New York Times andReuters, as Washington bureau chief. AtThe Post, she helped manage investigative teams that won Pulitzer Prizes in 1999 and 2000. She also broke the story ofStrom Thurmond's biracial child.[2]
In the 1987 official style guide and employee instruction manual, the paper was described as a "modest alternative/news editorial voice" to the newspaper of record, The State. The focus was on "the people, public business and private commerce" of Richland and Lexington counties. Company policy was to "spoonfeed" readers relevant information "as defined by editors to help them be informed and productive citizens." Both The State and The Record had strict rules against obscenities, which extended even to "mild expletives" such as damn or hell. Only the three top editors could approve publishing "ass" or the other words. "The editors and publisher of The State and The Columbia Record do not consider it a badge of journalist integrity to keep pace with the movies or other segments of society in the area of bar talk," Executive News Editor Thomas N. McLean wrote.
  | This article about a South Carolina newspaper is astub. You can help Wikipedia byadding missing information. |