Longtime South Carolina Press Association leader awarded SC’s highest civilian honor

Gov. Henry McMaster presented South Carolina’s highest civilian honor to the South Carolina Press Association’s longtime executive director on Thursday.

Bill Rogers, who led the SCPA for 33 years, received the Order of the Palmetto at his retirement party. His last day will be July 23.

“Believe it or not, in today’s society he was firmly convinced that government needs to be open and honest, and he worked really hard to ensure that that happened,” said Jay Bender, an attorney for SCPA who has also represented The State. The two have worked together since Rogers started at the association in 1988.

The Order of the Palmetto is “presented in recognition of a lifetime of extraordinary achievement, service and contributions on a national or statewide scale,” according to sc.gov.

The South Carolina Press Association represents 15 daily and 76 weekly newspapers, including The State. Its mission is to strengthen the news industry in South Carolina and protect the freedom of the press.

“I think if you were to look around at how government conducted business 33 years ago and how it conducts business now, you would see that even though it remains inconsistent with respect to openness and honesty, it’s much better than it was 33 years ago, and Bill deserves a great deal of credit for causing that to happen,” Bender said. “He marshaled the resources of the newspapers of South Carolina to fight for legislation to make that possible.”