Lots of tittering being heard around town after CNN’s senior White House correspondent, Ed Henry, took aim at Honolulu’s monopoly newspaper with a widely-reprinted column, “The Honolulu Star-Advertiser is Dead to Me.”
The Star-Advertiser led the incident off with a brief editorial aside, “Reporting live, in my Hawaiian shirt.” In a very short space, this little item dismissed news from the assembled White House correspondents as “fluff” and implied the press corps hides out in Waikiki while the real work, if any, is waiting elsewhere.
Henry took offense, as seems fair, and answered back in kind.
Ah, a charge of fluff from a newspaper whose front page on the very same day had a hard-hitting lead story headlined “Ahi stuck here for the holidays,” which bemoaned the fact that bad weather on the East Coast means less ahi tuna is being shipped out of of Hawaii. The story was so large that it was the only story on the front page.
Stop the presses.
Henry adds substance as well. Reporters stay in Waikiki because Kailua doesn’t have the visitor infrastructure to support “such a large group.” He points out White House staff also stay in Waikiki and, like reporters, shuttle to Kailua when needed.
The worst part is that the Star-Advertiser item mouths the same “no one goes to Hawaii to do real work” viewpoint that we criticize when it comes from mainlanders attacking official travel to conferences and conventions held here. And this from the state’s largest newspaper. Ouch!
Anyway, it’s an instructive little tiff, and it’s getting lots of retweets and links, showing up on places like Politico.com and elsewhere.
You’ve got to wonder what bored S-A staff penned the non-bylined item and what they have to say about it in the light of another morning.
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The SA has about 10 more editorial employees than the Tizer had before it folded….so one would think there are plenty of reporters. Are they just sitting around doing nothing? Must be.
The ahi story was among the top 5 most widely read stories on the Web Wednesday so yes, people care. It appears on every TV news station, and was on A1 in both the old Bulletin and Advertiser annually. Poking fun of the ahi story is not knowing what’s important to kamaaina.
I think it means there is a very real herd mentality among our media pool. They copy each other.
I did not read the ahi story, because I don’t eat sashimi. Just not interested!
First of all, a possible change in the price of Ahi for New Years is newsworthy but it is absolutely not the hottest story on this island of nearly 1 million people in 2010. Second, per consistent Census data, nearly half of those 1 million people are not Kama’aina; believe it or not, they are equally interested in important news as everyone else.
Third, there is a difference between what people care about and what will matter to them. Focusing solely on what people care about is like dealing with major heart problems by hitting more parties. The greater the difference between what people care about and what matters, the higher risk of a painful future that receives little comfort from lower fish prices. Seriously, what will Hawaii be like compared to the rest of the world in 2030 if we focus heavily on things like Ahi prices, fireworks and surfing?
Fortunately, a lot of people still understand the importance of paying attention to the real world with a more global mindset. Newspapers that ignore this fact are losing a critical portion of readers. Happy 2011 everyone!
all this blah blah blah about what people care about and Hawaii has the lowest voter turnout in America…..guess what that means??? we say one thing and do another….Hawaii has a bigger problem than Ahi newspaper stories my friends…