Mayor Phillip Pounds has publicly accused this newspaper of wrongdoing by editing his mayor’s column without his permission. Now we must respond publicly and refute his baseless allegation.
Mayor Pounds has been informed that this newspaper always retains editorial rights over our content, especially when information cannot be verified. Writing for a newspaper is not the same as posting an opinion on a social media platform. In his newspaper column, the mayor has a responsibility to provide factual information. If the facts cannot be verified, we can’t publish them.
The mayor’s column, Message From The Mayor, is supposed to inform the public about events on the Isle of Palms and the status of city-funded projects. It is not intended to be a lobbying medium for pending legislation. Mayor Pounds’ original column cited “facts” about short-term rentals that we could not verify. As a result, we informed the mayor that the portion of the column relating to this controversial subject would not be published. We invited him to submit his opinion on the short-term rental situation as an opinion piece to be published on our editorial page. That invitation still stands.
This newspaper prides itself on the accuracy of its reporting and has a long history of portraying all sides of an issue.