Sumter Item's Bryn Eddy takes fulltime editor role at Lexington Chronicle

The Sumter Item's newsroom has a new face and said goodbye to another, though not completely.

Bryn Eddy, newsletter editor and a reporter who covered Sumter government and Shaw Air Force Base, has accepted a new position in Osteen Publishing Company. She had been serving her role at The Item while also that of interim editor for The Lexington County Chronicle, a sister paper to The Item. She assumed the role of editor fulltime July 1.

"When I first stepped foot in The Item's newsroom as an intern while I was in college, I wasn't too experienced in journalism. I learned a lot that summer. I learned that I love telling stories and that there is room for creative writing in the newsroom," Eddy said. "Now, just a few years later, I'm leading my own newsroom."

Eddy, hailing from the Fort Mill area, was introduced to The Item as the recipient of the S.C. Press Association's Hubert Osteen Memorial Scholarship in the summer of 2021, during which time she wrote features and lifestyle stories. During her time as editor-in-chief at The Johnsonian, the student newspaper at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, the paper was received the top general excellence award in the SCPA collegiate news contest.

Before returning to The Item in August 2023, Eddy worked at The Sun News and My Horry News in Myrtle Beach.

She will not be leaving The Item completely, though. She is taking on a larger company role as South Carolina newsletter editor. In addition to their family's legacy ownership of The Sumter Item, Kyle and Jack Osteen own The Lexington County Chronicle in Lexington and The Bluffton Sun and Hilton Head Sun in the Bluffton area with Vince Johnson, publisher of The Item.

Eddy will continue managing the many newsletters The Item sends out each week, and readers will hear more from our local staff in them, while Eddy takes the success The Item has seen with its newsletters in growing audience and community engagement to Lexington and Bluffton.

"I'll have a hand in The Item's mission. Through my role as newsletter editor, I'll still get to be a part of getting eyes on Item reporters' hard work. Their hard work keeps this community informed, which is invaluable to Sumter locals' quality of life here. So, I'm not stepping away completely; you'll just be seeing my byline a lot less."

The Item has welcomed Deirdre Currin to the newsroom, where Currin will serve as the Sumter news reporter, covering local government, military and general Sumter County topics.

Currin is a recent graduate of Francis Marion University with degrees in mass communication and English. She most recently comes from The Florence Morning News and has interned with the Florence extension of The Post & Courier. In her free time, she likes to read and do crosswords. To reach Currin, email deirdre@theitem.com.