Just a little mixed plate for this Thursday morning.
A friend and former islander, now living in the SF Bay Area, was in Honolulu for a few days and shared his initial assessment of the Star-Advertiser.
I was in town for a few days last week, and was disappointed at my first readings of the Star-Advertiser. Just one story on the front page? Promo upon promo, instead, which advertisers love, as it gets readers into the belly of the paper.
I was particularly appalled at the Today section, which is mostly fluff to begin with. Last Thursday (7/15), it featured a huge story on cataracts that was bought and written by an advertiser, Aesthetic Vision Center. No mention or disclaimer that this was an ad. The advertising department confirmed that this type of “placement opportunity” will become more prevalent due to advertiser demand and the changing focus of the paper.
And in Saturday’s Today section, there was not a single bylined story by a Star-Advertiser writer. Page 1 was filled with short, locally written blurbs, and then pages and pages of syndicated columns and content.
There seems to be a lack of general news gravitas in the paper. And an anti-intellectual mindset — every article, headline and op-ed piece seems dumbed down. And the writers are desperately searching for the local angle. It seems that if if doesn’t have the any or all of the words “ohana, keiki, kupuna, or aina” in it, then it’s not a worthy news story.
Interesting to see an outside perspective.
In the meantime, hold on to your hats! Poinography.com, one of the best of the local blogs, is back! Blogger Doug White also has a new scanner, OCR software, the latest version of WordPress, and, newly received, “all the incoming and outgoing communication and records related to the veto (or approval)” of bills from the 2009 legislative session. It took a year to get these records from the governor’s office, but hopefully we’ll reap the benefits shortly. Welcome back, Doug!
Bob Jones sent along this long comment:
Mufi Hannemann campaign “volunteer” Keith Rollman’s pitch is that his recent web site attack on governor candidate Neil Abercrombie was just personal blogging and not a studied hit with his boss’s blessing.
Absent evidence otherwise, we have to take his word. It’s just hard for us skeptically-inclined old-timers in journalism to accept that a man with a City job and a history of doing “opposition research” didn’t even ask some high Hannemann campaign official if it was okay to portray Abercrombie as a brain in a glass jar controlled by former Gov. Ben Cayetano, as a “flailing gasbag” and his wife, the scholar Nancie Caraway, as “a witch.”
Nothing illegal of course. It’s just hardball politics. Similar stuff to that churned out by Richard Nixon’s hitman Charles Colson. George H.W. Bush’s Roger Stone and George W. Bush’s Stephen Marks. They do the nasty attacks while the candidate says “I never authorized that.” And, as I said, maybe he didn’t. Campaign people do have a tendency to get out ahead of the candidate.
Rollman’s Atomic Monkey blog was his own registered site. He basically says “so what, it’s still a free speech country.” And that the Hannemann campaign PR people “expressed their concern that others might try to associate it with the Mayor so I took it down.” Of course, in this age of the internet, what Rollman posted already had gone viral in blogs and in the newspaper.
The legendary Stephen Marks in his “Confessions of a Political Hitman” laid out these strategies for winning:
(1) Digging up dirt on opponents works. Even if attacks are ridiculous or untrue, they work.
(2) If you’re caught, say you did it on your own without the candidate’s knowledge.
I’m guessing Rollman not only read but memorized the book.
And it’s just going to get nastier at least until the primary, perhaps beyond.
Now here’s one you just couldn’t make up, unless someone is channeling Hunter Thompson!
Would you believe an alleged extortion plot involving Mexican hit men hired by Wal-Mart, the Samoan mafia, an exotic dancer from Guam, her love child and a fearful farm family from Granite Falls, Minn.?
All that and a Pearl Harbor naval officer (and until recently commanding officer of the Military Sealift Command Office at PH) are in this Minneapolis Star Tribune story.
![[text]](http://ilind.net/images_2010/sun072110.jpg)
And with at least some rain in the mornings for most of the past week, scenes like this have been more common. Don’t forget to click on the photo for a larger version. Enjoy!
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Talking about ‘localized’, Star Advertiser started its campaign with that column writer. I can’t even remember her name, talking about plenty of stories to listen and to write. Well, we have that 24/7.
What we need is a NEWSpaper who will investigate the facts and circumstances about government, business, and other policies that affect our lives and society. ‘News’ about finding someone sleeping in your sofa is cute but does it really affect us? ‘News’ about cute stories by this woman talker/writer is neither here or there. It should not be Star Advertiser’s main menu.
I just remember ….. Cataluna. I don’t know why Star Advertiser is highlighting her on their premier TV promotion. I see her more as a ‘air-head tita’.
No offense. She’s be a good asset in family reunions settings. Let’s get some NEWS – REAL NEWS.
I find this post troubling. Lee Cataluna’s columns are often very polarizing. I don’t often agree with the thoughts she shares in them, but I can’t dispute that she has a firm grasp on what issues matter to “locals”.
This is evident in her columns and her plays. It makes her “legit” with regular people, and her column engages people in both print and online. That cannot be discounted.
“Air-Head Tita” shirts should be sold next those reading “Self-Anointed” in the iLind store. I honestly beleive if I keep pestering Ian about these shirts, he’ll have to sell them.
Ian, that “intrigue” story you posted about the naval officer and his Samoan family members is so weird it could only be true. Unbelievable.
“And the writers are desperately searching for the local angle.”
says that as if its a bad thing. Back a couple decades ago and beyond, the two papers had many local stories. If I wanted only mainland stuff, I would grab an el lay times. But last decade and on, the two papers started printing mainland slanted stuff. as if all we want is cali sunglasses and 300 dollar t shirts. mainland fashions and fads. or to keep up with the new york joneses. which we didn’t want. I miss the local feel of the paper.
If one does not want to see kupuna, ‘ohana, etc… don’t read Hawa’i newspapers.
Licensing articles from other papers and other sources is cheaper than paying local wages for them. And filling pages with giant pictures is cheaper than paying local wages for stories. Infomercials pay double-they fill space and fill the treasury. But on the other hand, Island news is not all there is.
My impression is that the Star-Advertiser brings us more US and World news than the Advertiser did, and that’s a good thing. Instead of two column inches on the left of page A3 we get a more detailed account.
Hi Ian,
Just wondering, what Journalism school did your friend attend? I think you posted the comments because they were negative. Just one persons thoughts really doesn’t mean anything but when you post it on your blog it gives the perception of some sort of credibility. The SA has a circulation of over 130,000. That’s 130,000 who pay good money to buy even though they could get it for free on line. That to me is the real measurement. I’m growing wearing of all the piling on that occurs on your site. I guess though that’s just the nature of blogs. Hey, maybe I coined a new phrase, blog mentality! ha.
The bulk of the current circulation came from the Advertiser, which had a much more serious approach to newspapering. They no longer have a choice in what paper to take.
Remember, the Bulletin was dying and was dwarfed by the Advertiser. People wanted the Advertiser, not the Bulletin. Now all they can get is the Bulletin to the nth degree.
uh, you actually need to prove that the Star-Advertiser has PAID circulation of 130,000, which I totally doubt. If you can’t provide actual evidence, then you are just posting unsupported comments on the defensive. Why not just say you have 500,000 readers?! I too am growing weary of the piling on this impressive site.
I guess all those surviving San Francisco daily newspapers did so by ignoring localized news.
I happen to enjoy the Star-Advertiser. There are more stories than ads in the printed version. There’s something for everyone!
Alas, the “new” newspaper is recycling stories a day later, from the AP et al that we can read in the NY TImes, LA Times, etc. It’s almost like “GroundHog Day”, same thing, a day later!
Using wire-service and national stories is nothing new at any paper. Ian’s friend is right about the op-ed section, though. This should be the section aimed at grown-ups. It’s for children. Embarrassing in an election year.
I’m selfish.
I want it all. International, national, and local. Hard news, soft news, columns, humor. Run by local staff. Now that the advertising pie isn’t being cut up two ways, isn’t there enough to support one good, solid paper? Or is Black just draining off local money to pay his acquisition debt and support the rest of his mainland USA/Canada empire, like Gannett before him?
Guess I’m naive, too.
“I’m growing wearing of all the piling on that occurs on your site. Hey, maybe I coined a new phrase, blog mentality! ha.”
“growing wearing”
is a new phrase too!
Can someone PLEASE find Badvertiser (whine atizer) a job??? the posts are hilarious though. Ohhh so much fun when you have an ax to grind. Hey WHAT, SO what? you make no point!! oh Hey! the bulk of the viewers of Hawaii News Now came from KGMB…..back to my point. SO what…WHAT?
Dear PWF,
This is a blog site…..check out the comments. You obviously don’t have to prove anything to say it. 130,ooo…who really cares? heaven forbid if someone actually did well in something..
As a former SB subscriber, I have mixed feelings about the SA. I wish we had a better local paper with better management, but I am still happy we have one that is as good as it is. I keep my subscription for all the reporters who are trying to do their best.
The puzzle we, citizens, face is how to direct our money to purveyors of high-quality journalism. There is no simple solution. Remember, though, to support “alternative” journalists like Ian Lind if you want them to stick around.