Being a Post and Courier Columnist
Feb. 14, 2012: Brian Hicks offered insights today on his role as a local political columnist for the Post and Courier. Brian is a native of Cleveland, Tennessee and joined the Post and Courier in 1997. He has covered Southern politics for more than 20 years and has won dozens of journalism awards including the SC Press Assn Journalist of the Year in 1998. He is also the author/co-author of six books, including the local history yarn, “Raising the Hunley”.
Brian’s columns are known for being brutally honest, often humorous, and almost always critical of our political leaders and their public policy positions. He occasionally gives out kudos/compliments. Brian unabashedly apologized to anyone in the room that he had somehow offended, but offered solace that he would get around to offending everyone else eventually. Brian takes relish in feedback from readers over the years, including one reader who asked management, “Where did you get Brian Hicks from, wherever it was, would you please send him back?” Many times Brian points out the obvious that otherwise doesn’t get expressed in the news, such as the recent incident with Sherriff Cannon and Brian’s observation, “Al shouldn’t have done it, but let’s get past this, someone needed to hit this guy”.
Brian says that most folks presume he is a liberal Democrat as he is mostly going after Republicans. Brian claims he really has no dog in the fight, there are just more Republicans out there to pick on. In fact Brian fears he might be arrested for shooting after Democrats, as they’re now an endangered species in South Carolina. Brian shared that most of his material for his columns comes from talking with politicians, many of them Republican members of the legislature, and apparently they help provide ample fodder for one of his favorite subjects, Gov. Haley. He stays on the pulse of what’s going on politically and reacts to it on a day to day basis. Sometimes if not a lot is going on, he’ll be wondering at 3:00 in the afternoon what in the world he’ll be writing about for the next morning’s column.
An interesting insight into being a columnist and SC politics, read Brian’s column when you can!
Submitted by John J. Tecklenburg