First, I would like to say that freedom of speech is very important andshould never be sacrificed. People should be able to speak freely aboutanything and everything, and all at once if they desire. However, hasThePost and Courier gone too far as a newspaper? I have lived inCharleston myentire life and over the past couple of years I have noticed ournewspaper,The Post and Courier, has become less about delivering the news andmoreabout delivering their opinion. The Post and Courier has been abusingtheirprivilege. They have also been sending the message to natives ofCharleston,tourists, but most importantly people all over the state of SC, that weCharlestonians, are better than others in the State. Why would theP&C thinkthis was a good idea? Is the arrogance of The P&C's wealthy ownercloudingtheir judgment, or is it cloudy because the management is shrouded inarrogance themselves. Maybe they are just incompetent. Nevertheless,forwhatever the reason, the P&C has been traveling in the wrongdirection forthe past couple of years and its time to set them straight.

Recently, The P&C ran an article complete with pictures aboutanother cityin SC. This was not a story to shine light on another great place tovisitin SC or to recognize something great that happened in that city oreven toreport on some tragic event that had taken place there. It was simplytosmear the good name of that city through the mud. Why is it The P&Cdecidedto write such horrible things about the city of Rock Hill afterWinthrop'scoach decided to stay in Winthrop rather than coach at the College ofCharleston. They didn't just poke fun at Rock Hill; they said horribledegrading things, which not only made the city look bad, but madeCharlestonlook bad. That's rightCharleston, we look bad! First of all Rock Hill is a city in the stateofSC. SC must stick together and all the people in this great state mustsupport each other. We are all good southern people; we are family. Ilovethis state as a whole, as I hope you do. "We are better thanyou" shouldnever be the attitude of one part of a state towards another. However,thisis exactly what the P&C is doing! We are a great community, andan amazingcity with a unique and wonderful history, so how dare our newspaperexpresssuch views and thoughts about another city in this great state. WhatRockHill must think of us! I know what I would think if I was a citizen ofRockHill. I would pledge never to set foot in Charleston again while at thesametime proclaiming that Charleston is full of arrogant assholes. Is thiswhatyou want the rest of the state to think of us? The Post and Courierdoesn'tseem to mind! How would we react if such a story was published aboutCharleston in a newspaper in Greenville? This sorry affront to RockHill,and by extension, to most of the rest of the State will surely comeback tohaunt our community politically. When we need something from thelegislature, we can be certain that they will be less likely to help usoutafter this.

I apologize to the people of Rock Hill for The P&C's childlikebehavior.Their opinions do not represent the feelings of most people living inCharleston.

Next, on the list of inappropriate things accomplished by the Post andCourier, is an event which took place in upstate SC. Recently, a youngwoman was murdered in Central, SC. She was a student at ClemsonUniversity,which as we all know is one of SC's biggest colleges. There arethousands ofCharleston locals who attend Clemson or have attended Clemson. I amonlymentioning the people who currently go to Clemson and alumni of Clemsonbecause they would take a much more immediate interest in such a story.Butthe story was an important one to everyone because it happened in thisstate. So my question is why (my face cringing as I type this) did TheP&CNOT run a story about this tragedy until days after it occurred, andeventhen they didn't run a story; they ran a tiny little blip which saidalmostnothing and left readers with many unanswered questions and no where toturnuntil the 6 o'clock news. The reason The P&C chose not to spendanytime onthis story is anyone's guess. I believe it could have had something todowith the fact that it happened in the upstate, and nothing that happensinthe upstate is important to The P&C, who thinks nothing in theupstate isimportant to the good people of Charleston because the good people ofCharleston only care about what the P&C tells them to care about!The lackof respect shown to this young woman, who chose to come to school inthisstate, was appalling. It seems the only events important enough towriteabout are the events that happen below where the sand turns to clay, ortheevents that the owner of The P&C takes an interest in. This is alousy wayto run a newspaper! Its also a great way to inflame our fellow SouthCarolinians against those of us who have nothing to do with theshameful waythe paper is managed.

My next and last point is a fabulous example of the haughty, selfimportantnewspaper the P&C is quickly becoming. Personally, I do not likethingsbeing decided for me. However, on most occasions I will read a reviewbeforegoing to see a movie or going out to eat at a new restaurant. I'm suremanyof us do. On the other hand, it is pointless to read a review writtenby anidiot or even worse two or three idiots working together! An accuratereview, whether its good or bad, can only be given by someone who ispassionate about informing the public of the truth, and passionateabout thesubject which he or she is reviewing. This should be one of thecriteria forhiring someone to make reviews. You would think this would be commonsense,but apparently its not. For example, if you are managing a newspaperand youwould like to hire someone to write weekly reviews on movies, hiresomeonewho is an avid movie buff. Good grief! Go the extra mile to make surethisperson will accomplish a great job doing what you hired him or her todo!This individual must be willing to think outside the box, they must"broadentheir horizons" as my mom says, and above all they must under nocircumstances be arrogant or bias. Three years ago I came very close toNOTgoing to see the first "Pirates of the Caribbean." TheP&C had been known,in years past, for giving fair and balanced reviews. So imagine mysurprisewhen I started to notice a couple of months prior, The Post had beengivingunusually low reviews to movies and restaurants everyone else wasgivinghigh reviews too, and visa versa. Then I couldn't imagine why, buttoday thereasons have become more apparent. This year, however, I learned mylesson.I completely ignored the horrific 1 and 1/2 star review given by theP&C,and went to see "Pirates of The Caribbean: The Dead Man'sChest." It was agreat movie that deserves nothing less than 3 stars at the absolutelowest.The arrogant, "know it all," hoity-toity review left by TheP&C, about themovie, is embarrassing. I have read many reviews done by the AmericanFilmInstitute, who is notorious for being picky on every aspect of a film,thatwere less nit picky than the P&C's review. The American FilmInstitute ismade up of people who have been around film their entire lives; theyareexperts on cinematography and film history. Who do the people at TheP&Cthink they are? Have they recently become experts on film andcinematography? Where did they get the audacity to write such terriblereviews? Maybe it's the satisfaction they get or the ego boost theyreceivefrom thinking they have complete control over what Charleston loves andwhatCharleston hates. Well, one of the reasons I love this city so much isbecause even after all the terribly dreadful, inaccurate reviews givenbyThe P&C, people who live here are still going to see these moviesin hugenumbers. Which means the citizens of Charleston county, at least inlargenumbers, are not listening to the ridiculous inaccuracies being printedbyThe P&C. I get the impression the P&C thinks if they give bigmovies like"Pirates of the Caribbean" bad enough reviews if the monstercorporationsproducing these movies, like paramount, will come to Charleston,crawling ontheir hands and knees, begging The Post and Courier to give them abetterreview. Well they need to grow up and get off their high horse becauseasimportant as they may think they are that will never happen. Ipersonallywould love nothing more than to open the preview section of The PostandCourier and be able to trust the review I am reading, rather thanhaving togo on the internet and search for reviews, but they aren't leaving mewithmuch choice. I hope they realize if they keep this up, people willrealizewhat's going on, they will toss their newspapers in the garbage,becausethat's what the paper is, garbage, and then turn to the internet foralltheir news. That seems to be what's happening anyway.

A newspaper, who wishes to stay a news paper, should simply report thefacts. I do realize it is the job of most columnists to write theircolumn'sin a way that forms some sort of personal feeling or view and thatexpressing opinions is a big part of this process. But maybe theiropinionsshould be a little less extreme. No one likes being told what to thinkespecially southern people. Simply write the facts and let us make upourown minds. Charleston doesn't need a new newspaper, the newspaper justneedsa new staff and an owner who realizes no one appreciates his bias. StopTheP&C from destroying Charleston's good name! There are questions youshouldask yourself and consider carefully concerning this issue. Should wecontinue to tolerate such behavior from The P&C, is it ok to harbora newspaper that continually "steps out of bounds" and abuses itsrights? Shouldwe stand by and allow ourselves to be taken for fouls? Should we allowthisnews paper to belittle our friends and family living in other parts ofthestate simply because the P&C takes the position that Charleston andthepeople who live here are better than everyone else? Is it ok that thisnewspaper is taking advantage of us by pretending to write what Charlestonwantsto hear? The answer my dear friends, is absolutely not! Call The PostandCourier and tell them what you think of them! Things can change andtheywill if you only stand up for what you believe is right!