A reader’s comment posted here yesterday caught my attention and deserves a response.
With all due respect Ian, why in the world would you think the general readership of either Honolulu daily would be the least bit interested in a 5 year battle with Guild in Hilo??? I suspect the Editors there are just making a news interest level decision and not anything more sinister. It is especially true with the news content shrinking more and more to save money….other then a few die hards in local media, who really cares??
The problem is that neither Honolulu daily regularly covers labor news, at least not as labor news. Neither do our broadcast stations, with a few exceptions. Hawaii Public Radio does it’s part (Ben Markus recently reported on the Hilo situation, for example), as has PBN. But the mainstream is pretty much silent. So in one sense it’s no surprise that the Hilo situation is not considered news.
But think about it.
HSTA and furlough Fridays? Labor news. UH upheaval? Labor news. Legislative session coming up? Labor news, since organized labor is still recognized as a potent interest group. It’s just not covered as labor news, so readers don’t get much information about labor dynamics, key players, etc. The substance of a labor “beat is absent.
In this case, we’re talking about the main local newspaper in Hilo, the second largest city in the state, the seat of government for Hawaii County. And the Hawaii Tribune-Herald isn’t a stand-alone operation, since Stephens Media Group also owns a string of other publications on the island.
We’re talking about an unusual labor situation–a company renouncing its union contract–in a state which has the second-highest proportion of union members in the workforce. According to the the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Hawaii had 136,000 union members in 2008, comprising some 24.3 percent of all employed wage and salary workers. Add in the tens of thousands of union retirees, and you’ve got a major chunk of the state’s population with a stake in the issues being played out in Hilo.
I think that, objectively speaking, this qualifies the potential audience for labor news as “substantial”.
And the story has compelling elements backed by lots of documentation accumulated during what the reader acknowledges has been a five-year contract fight. They’ve had illegal firings and unfair labor practices, which translate in this case to mean employees fired for their union activities. Lots of potential human interest stories to be told by out-of-town reporters.
Politically, this is a dynamite story. Hilo is traditionally a labor town. What does this conflict mean? Does it reflect a loss of labor power in this traditional stronghold? How will it impact the 2010 elections?
Actually, for a perceptive editor, what’s not to like about this story?
Discover more from i L i n d
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Totally agree the Hilo story is a good one. Maybe the fact that neither Honolulu daily has a reporter on the Big Island anymore has something to do with the news blackout. Maybe that’s also a story.
This is the unfortunate, probable truth. These days, the only way the Honolulu dailies seem to get news from outer islands where they have no bureau people is from the papers on that island … and you can be sure the Tribune-Herald isn’t going to be supplying a story.
This is the insidious, incestuous result of corporatized news … bad business means less resources means bad business practices which are made possible by a lack of resources caused by bad business.
In the modern American corporatocracy, public money to support the news industry sounds less and less draconian and more like a real solution to a real problem.
Here’s one you may have missed. The Advertiser’s recent online “poll” about an elderly man’s suicide was a “goof,” according to the “editor.” Now there’s a story.
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20091227/OPINION05/912270315/Online+polls+let+readers+get+involved
In days of yore going back to the late ’40’s and ’50’s both dailies had labor “beat” reporters at a time when “business” rated only one reporter except for “aviation”/waterfront shipping.
The papers also miss those instances where the interests of public and private unions do not coincide. The private unions are reluctant to acknowledge that they are not necessarily the beneficiaries of the successes of powerful public employee unions, but anything weakening the private sector weakens them and their potential to grow.
Who says the Advertiser doesn’t adequately cover the Big Island? Why, this item was posted as “Breaking News” this very day. They were even so kind as to include a phone number for readers to gather more information. But what does “e offered” mean?
December 28, 2009
New purveyor of fine liquors to open in Hawi, Kohala
Lighthouse Liquors opens Jan. 1 in Hawi in the totally renovated location once occupied by Kohala Spirits.
The shop will include an 18-food walkin-cooler, mroe than 130 different beers, liquors and wines and events such as bi-monthly wine and spirits educational sessions. Free ice will be offered to those who bring their own containers. Party consultations will e offered by partners Chris Scelza and Marci Elizondo and Bobby Hoyt.
Information: Lighthouse Liquors, Kohala Trade Ctr, 55-3419 Akoni Pule Hwy, Hawai 906817. Phone (808) 889-0505.
Okay, I’ll bite. What is a “walkin-cooler” and what is “mroe?”
Obviously, these are not typos, since the story has been posted all day and has not changed.
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20091228/BREAKING05/91228018/New+purveyor+of+fine+liquors+to+open+in+Hawi++Kohala
Some pretty funny comments posted after that story, courtesy of the Advertiser, purveyor of fine fake news. Here’s some examples:
I think the editor who reviewed this story had a little too much holiday cheer (maybe some of the new store’s products).
To the Advertiser staff (singular or plural) that allowed this past the editing desk to make it to the “Breaking News” section: are you kidding me? Not only can my old high school newspaper proofread copy better than this, we also knew to charge to run it in the “sponsors” or the section better known as “advertisements.”
Should be a pretty upscale place, maybe their cooler does hold 18 foods and goes a walkin’ throughout the establishment. I’d go just for that.
I wonder if there will be a story on the new Burger King (purveyor of fine burgers) going up in Waimea?
A foofy liquor store…..just what the sophisticated, upscale residents of Kohala need. Why doesn’t the symphony move there, too?
In fact, Kohala already has a symphony orchestra. The Kamuela Philharmonic, led by Dr. Madeline Schatz, will present its second concert of the season on January 10, in the Kahilu Theatre.
Another problem: The anti-labor activities of Advertiser publisher Lee Webber and Editor Mark Platte.
Speaking of Webber, what on earth to make of this????
http://twitter.com/LeesLostTweets
Folks might be interested in this site.
http://tribuneunion.wordpress.com/
Big Island papers have sucked for awhile now.
Sorry Ian… but I’d like to bring some of your readers attention to http://fbiblogs.com (From Big Island) where many bloggers have worked together to bring some unfiltered “Blog News” at times.
Many of us have been talking about the lack of news that our Big Island papers give us for a long time now.
Speaking of labor news. The University of Hawaii is about to become the reincarnation of Reagan’s air traffic controllers, with the willing cooperation of most of Hawaii’s citizens. And we get goofy polls, and liquor store openings, and skinny chefs.
It won’t be so funny when we … er, you, we’re gone … wake up one morning and find that you’ve all been turned out of your houses and been issues straw hats and straw mats.
In the BIVN Web site it says the Tribune-Herald has 24 employees — how does that even rate with the Furlough Fridays or even the demise of Aloha Airlines which did damage to thousands in the state. As far as Damon is concerned… what a ### to bag on the local media and then provide RSS feeds from said local media — FBI bloggers is a joke — trying to pass themselves off as real journalists when all they are doing is passing along gossip riddled with opinion.