Okay. I’ve done it. I finally subscribed to Civil Beat this morning.
Up until now, I’ve resisted the pay wall model and the high price of admission.
Then several things happened.
First of all, Civil Beat’s reporting has matured as its reporters have gained experience and focus.
I still have issues with many stories. For example, a June 16 story by Mike Levine examined how the Honolulu City Council’s reorganization was being shaped given the limits of the state’s sunshine law. Good question. I’m glad it was being asked.
But it would have been important to mention, somewhere in the story, that included among the exemptions provided in the sunshine law is one specifically for discussions of leadership changes.
Section 92-2.5 Permitted interactions of members.
(c) Discussions between two or more members of a board, but less than the number of members which would constitute a quorum for the board, concerning the selection of the board’s officers may be conducted in private without limitation or subsequent reporting.
As the story noted, there is still a potential legal issue with so-called serial communication, but the legislature’s intent to provide more leeway for discussion of organizational issues should have been noted.
But, such criticism aside, Civil Beat has increasingly been fulfilling its mission of providing the kind of public affairs reporting that has gone missing from mainstream media.
Second, and perhaps more important, was the feeling I had when heard a rumor that Civil Beat was thought to have another year to succeed or its backers would pull the plug.
Although I haven’t been a subscriber or a registered user, I’ve checked the Civil Beat reporting enough to know that they are providing a critical contrast to the commercial news media. The loss of Civil Beat would be significant to the community. Time to step up and provide some support.
And that’s where the third factor came up. There’s currently a half-off subscription special that brings the price down $10 per month for a 1-year subscription. At that price point, it’s a lot easier to join in.
No, Civil Beat isn’t perfect. But it’s now making a significant contribution, doing some excellent reporting, and improving every month. More importantly, it’s taking on the watchdog function that is increasingly absent in daily mainstream media. The announcement that Civil Beat will have a reporter in D.C. adds a new level of interest.
In any case, if you’ve been “on the fence” like I have, I would encourage you to consider taking advantage of the special pricing and becoming a Civil Beat subscriber.
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I was ready to join up with CB but was off put by the requirement to use Facebook as the mechanism for commenting. Maybe my dinosaur scales will some day fall off and I’ll Facebook-up but for now I’ll stay a freeloader. But I agree that CB has emerged as a serious source of good reporting and a refreshing alternative to the daily fish wrap.
I agree too. In the issues that I care about, they are sometimes the only one (besides Ian) that will report the facts. The one-sidedness of the SA is so disappointing, even though it’s a hapa Star Bulletin.
The Facebook login is a total turnoff.
I initially dreaded using FB for commenting, but it’s been a lot less trouble than I thought it would be. And really, the majority of the GenX/Y/Z people I know are already on FB, so I can understand using it to expand CB’s reach.
i’d probably sign up too if you didn’t have to be on Facebook to comment. wasn’t a big part of their plan, civil participation? maybe they’ll find some middle ground for those that value their effort and would support them but have no interest in facebook. although i’d guess they just laugh at people like me who wouldn’t join for that reason. fair enough.
If CB folds it will be for lack of a business model. That is, failure of subs, in a town of limited population, to support their payroll and profit expectations.
The Voice of San Diego and other sites have become respected news sources and stayed alive. Civil Beat can also, perhaps, if it is willing to try something other than it’s founder’s initial concept.
They might do it. Heck, the website looks much better than Pierre’s initial python product. They are not rigid. I hope.
I suppose continuing would also depend on how much it meant to them to prove the PayPal/paywall concept. If that was the whole deal, and if it doesn’t work, they can be producing great journalism but still disappear.
If it comes to that point, I hope they will consider something like letting the experienced staff try a new model on their own and continuing on if they wish.
CB is waaaayyyy to narrowly focused for me to pay for. I like news……ALL of it. I like ads, I like the overall bang for the buck I get in the SA. The only thing worse to me than CB is the PBN rag. Their weekly story themes centered around advertisng makes them flavor of the week reporting. Ian, you cancelling your SA subscription??
No, the Star-Advertiser isn’t replaced by CB.
Oh, I’ve said before that I’m a big fan of PBN as well. I’ve subscribed for years.
I’m with Ian. This is certainly not about the inane, pick-a-side “you’re with me or you’re with the enemy” attitude. It’s about being open to several *Useful* sources of information, provided from varying viewpoints.
Does anyone perceive a Civil Beat pro-corporate, anti-worker, and anti-government bias?
How about a pro-Carlisle bias?
Just wondering…
Well, I’m not usually quite so parochial but Civil Beat did one thing in particular that has them written off in my book for the foreseeable future: disclosing public worker salaries with no context whatsoever.
I totally support transparency when it comes to expenditure of taxpayer dollars and would have had no problem if the data was presented with some basis for comparison — job title, duties, employee education, training, experience, etc. ” but there was none of that, as far as I am aware.
Maybe it’s less of a deal in workplaces where civil service rules control and it’s pretty clear who gets what and why. But in excluded/exempt/professional workplaces, the release has had a corrosive, soemtimes even devastating, effect on workplace morale, and for what?
I hope Civil Beat will gorw up and learn that just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
If Facebook is required, I will never test these waters. The crook from Harvard will not get my participation — very much like my long boycott of Walmart.
Thank you for the support, Ian. I’m glad you feel this way: “Civil Beat has increasingly been fulfilling its mission of providing the kind of public affairs reporting that has gone missing from mainstream media.” It means a lot to hear this from you: “I’ve checked the Civil Beat reporting enough to know that they are providing a critical contrast to the commercial news media. The loss of Civil Beat would be significant to the community. Time to step up and provide some support.” In response to some of the comments, using Facebook for comments on Civil Beat maintains our commitment to an approach to discussions where people own their words — and opens the site to participation by many more people. We’ll continue to work to earn your support.
John Temple
Editor and General Manager
Civil Beat
Civil Beat’s main shortcoming is that it does not provide good journalism.
What do I mean by “good journalism”? In 2000, James Fallows was in town to help the Honolulu Community-Media Council (now, more grandly, the Hawaii Media Council) celebrate its 30th anniversary. In his book “Breaking the News,” Fallows quotes C.P. Scott, the distinguished editor of the Manchester Guardian:
“The function of a good newspaper and therefore of a good journalist is to see life steady and see it whole.”
Fallows goes on to explain what he takes Scott to mean: “Seeing life steady means keeping the day’s events in proportion. Seeing it whole means understanding the connections among the causes and consequences of varied happenings.”
If Civil Beat folds, it won’t be for lack of a business model. It will be because it’s not very interesting. It does little to tell us who we are.
I don’t read the SA anymore, I just skim the titles. There is always this downer feeling when I go to the SA website, where the articles are really advertisements. I read Civil Beat, at least most of the articles.
But I find that I always have a tinge of dread when I turn to the Civil Beat website because I know that it will be mind-numbingly the same as yesterday’s layout.
That gets me to thinking about how much I enjoy this website, with its photos of sunsets, sunrises, dogs and cats (and the occasional pizza) mixed in with local news analysis. That’s because Ian Lind is one of the last of the true journalists. He knows what people want and enjoy in media. Civil Beat, in contrast, is the creation of a computer scientist who had the high concept of an online newspaper that would be the anti-Star Advertiser, with deep analysis, no advertising and informed, civil commentators who would contribute as much information as the journalists.
But that might not be what people want, at least not purely. It all feels to static. Even Ian’s website has a list of blogs, especially “All Hawaii News”, which compiles news stories. That and advertisements keep things busy.
Like Ian, we too have decided to subscribe; however, I will not post any comments because of BookFace or whatever it’s called. Michael Levine did tell me that I can still read the comments on their site..
BTW – is there anyone here who is automatically blocked from posting on Derrick DePledge’s blog? Besides me, that is.
I appreciated the on line interview of the Lt. Governor by Chad Blair. I hope to have more of this experience. I am adjusting to facebook. I have learned much about the corruption of Hawaii politics since Civil Beat. Many thanks for working with integrity CB.
I’m glad my mom doesn’t post to Web sites. I think I’d die of embarrassment!
I agree with Town without a Newspaper and disagree with Warren. Civil Beat has increasingly been the news I use. I share more of their stories on my FB page than SA. My life must be boring and not that interesting I guess.