Don’t miss cartoonist Daryl Cagle’s recollections of the Honolulu newspaper war (1999-2001) when the Advertiser and Gannett tried to shut down the Star-Bulletin. His account includes a narrative and a set of cartoons from the period. At the time, Cagle was drawing cartoons for MidWeek. He said MW eventually started spiking his cartoons when it got in the middle of secret negotiations to sell out to David Black. Anyway, it’s a great read, don’t miss it!
Of the actual outcome–the Star-Bulletin’s takeover of the Advertiser–Cagle writes:
I would have never guessed that things could end up this way. Ten to fifteen years ago, when I was a local cartoonist in Hawaii, this would have seemed to be the most unlikely outcome of a newspaper war that kept me busy drawing scores of cartoons.
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So much whinging and hand-wringing over that situation but so little over what eventually happened, even though it resulted in a much larger disaster for local journalism (and the local community). Ironic, isn’t it?
Seems to prove the old adage, there are no winners in war.
Wonder why he hasn’t chronicled the ACTUAL outcome with cartoons? Pritchett did, at least one that I saw.
Because he is now a cartoonist at the national level and no longer doing local Hawaii cartoons.
Because a former local reporter who is no longer getting paid to report on Hawaii wouldn’t report on the situation either…. right?
I realize that. As a historical artifact (and a funny one at that), the cartoons are an interesting read. But I would also be interested in his pictorial take on the current situation. That’s all I’m saying. If he’s too busy doing paid syndicated national work, I get it.
And I don’t think he lives here anymore, although I could be wrong.
Daryl currently resides in San Fernando, California. He’s currently the top syndicated cartoonist in the world, about 900 newspapers subscribe to him.
Ok, that was funny. The small print in particular.
The historical context is useful because it reminds us that this process was kicked off by the Gannett-run Advertiser when they decided to violate the JOA. If they’d left well-enough alone, they’d still be printing money in Honolulu.
Laughable assertion. Didn’t take long for you to start waving the flag, did it, Burl?
K-den. I’m clearer on the context. Still I long for a current cartoon perspective on this. Hard to imagine the press history to be inevitably published without such illustration. Ah, well.
Part of the problem is just how complicated the whole situation was. It wasn’t easy to understand and there isn’t a clear villain to latch onto. Both companies are the villains now, so after all these years of Advertiser bashing, I guess it’s hard for people to turn the cannons around. Or is that canons?
Very well put! There had been a nice David-and- Goliath story line going, and now the narrative has to change to something more nuanced.
Well put Yeah, time will tell how the Star Advertiser ends up and if former Tiser employees are given their due. But if Black remains Black things are only going to go downhill.
Gannett attempting a newspaper monopoly in Honolulu is not a laughable assertion. They’ve done it all over the country. And their secondary target is always their own employees.
And this excuses Black for actually succeeding in that newspaper monopoly and axing his own employees, how?
I think these days Gannett and Black’s various companies are in the same league and playing by the same rules.