A newspaper in South Carolina has apologized for an insensitive headline that was published over the weekend, but University of South Carolina officials feel it will take much more than an apology to make things right.
Freshman quarterback Ryan Hilinski started for South Carolina in Saturday’s 34-14 loss to Missouri, and the Sunday morning headline in Columbia newspaper The State read “Hilinski Hope Sinks.”
How can this happen @thestate pic.twitter.com/fHmgdpHqTO
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) September 22, 2019
The publication was immediately admonished for the phrasing, as “Hilinski’s Hope” is the name of a nonprofit organization the Hilinski family started. Tyler Hilinski, Ryan’s older brother, was a quarterback at Washington State who committed suicide after the 2017 season. The State eventually issued an apology and said the wording of the headline was an unfortunate coincidence.
Our sincerest apologies to the Hilinski family today for the unfortunate headline in our print edition today. Hilinski’s Hope works to raise awareness about mental health issues, especially for student-athletes.
— The State Newspaper (@thestate) September 22, 2019
Although the connection between the headline and the foundation was unintentional, there is no excuse for such poor wording and we have reached out to the family and university to express our regrets.
— The State Newspaper (@thestate) September 22, 2019
The State later followed up by explaining how their online headlines come to be, noting that they are written by either the reporter or copy editors, who are based in Charlotte. In this instance, they say using the word “hope” was not meant to be disrespectful in any way.
“In this situation, the copy editor chose to highlight in the headline the reporter’s wording in the first paragraph about the renewed hope Ryan Hilinski’s performance had brought to the team,” the newspaper wrote on Twitter. “Again, we offer this only as an explanation for transparency’s sake. There’s still no excuse for what happened here, and we are deeply sorry.”
South Carolina did not accept the apology. In a statement of their own, the university criticized the “unprofessional and irresponsible journalism” and urged The State to become a public leader in advocating for mental health awareness.
Statement regarding The State newspaper's headline of Sunday, September 22 pic.twitter.com/BhWbFzcheO
— Gamecock Athletics (@GamecocksOnline) September 22, 2019
Ryan Hilinski became South Carolina’s starter when senior Jake Bentley suffered a season-ending loss in the first game of the year. After he committed to the Gamecocks, he said he received guidance from his late brother on making the decision. The State’s headline was, at best, incredibly unfortunate.
