i L i n d . n e t

This is my birthday self-portrait taken yesterday, as usual, with camera held at arms length and aimed back in my own general direction. It was taken on the beach here in Kaaawa, where we’ve walked almost every morning at dawn for nearly 11-1/2 years. It would seem like repeating the same walk every day would get “old”, but surprisingly it doesn’t. I’ll hope for a little bit of the same.

Matt Lum from the UH Board of Publications sent a note yesterday:

Just wanted to give you an update to your 8/16 blog: Ka Leo O Hawai’i has in fact been back online for the past few weeks via this website. Ka Leo’s sister “online site” has graciously agreed to host the site until a permanent one can be found.

I stand corrected.

This in from another reader:

I hope you don’t mind me sharing my afternoon chuckle with you. On page 34 of HW this week, is an ad for a new Editor and Graphic Artist. Please allow me to quote the excerpt from the Editor’s portion of the ad that caused me to pause for a moment.

“The Weekly is produced by a three person editorial staff and relies on heavily freelance writers. Thus, experience recruiting, grooming and retaining freelancers will come in handy.” Hm. I can see grooming heavy freelance writers, but shouldn’t they be fed, too?

A demonstration, I suppose, of just why editors are handy to have around.

And from Bill Harby up in Volcano:

I thought you’d be interested in this story from the Hawaii Island Journal exposing the business link between Wal-Mart and Stephens Inc. (parent of Stephens Media, publisher of the Hawaii Tribune-Herald).

Of course there’s nothing wrong with a media company owning stock in Wal-Mart, but when one of its papers writes a pro Wal-Mart editorial without disclcosing its conflict of interest …

I was concerned enough after reading this to submit a letter to the editor to the Trib-Herald. Below is my letter and editor David Bock’s reply.

Cheers.

—-

To the Editor:

In the July 28 – Aug 10 issue of the Hawaii Island Journal, an article by Jeanne Ryan, “Covering the Cookie Jar,” reports the business connections between Wal-Mart and Stephens Inc., the parent company of Stephens Media, which publishes the Hawaii Tribune-Herald. The story cites the Trib-Herald’ s editorial of February 25th, 2007, which said that a proposed plan that would prevent Wal-Mart’s “supercenter” expansion on Hawai’i Island was “a terrible idea.”

According to the Hawaii Island Journal story, you Mr. Bock said that, until Ms. Ryan told you so, you were unaware that Stephens Inc. owns $6 million worth of stock in Wal-Mart or that the two conglomerates had any business connection at all. The Journal story also reports that you said that the Trib-Herald’s editorials are decided upon and written collaboratively by yourself, publisher Ted Dixon, and your staff.

If you did indeed say these things and they are true, it seems to me this means one of two things: Either Mr. Dixon also didn’t know that Stephens Inc. owns Wal-Mart stock when he presumably helped decide to write the pro-Wal-Mart editorial, or he did know, and kept that information from you — and from Trib-Herald readers. Skeptics will find it hard to believe that a newspaper publisher wouldn’t know his company’s business connections. And cynics will find it easy to believe that the editor or publisher did know, but chose not to disclose the paper’s conflict of interest when it spoke out against a plan that would hurt Wal-Mart.

Or perhaps there is another explanation. If so, your readers deserve to hear it.

Bill Harby

—–

Aloha Bill,

The Journal story really does not warrant further comment.

The writer had an agenda. That agenda is clear in her piece.

Mahalo,
David

And two interesting pieces on the future of newspapers, one from SeekingAlpha.com and the other from the Online Journalism Review, both with comments.

Finally, this link is for cat people only because of its graphic nature.