For news junkies, the decision by the Maui News to cease daily publication, and instead print one edition weekly, with all other news moving online.
Publisher Chris Minford announced the move in a letter last week addressed to “readers, our advertisers, and the greater Maui community.”
Just as The Maui News began as a weekly news publication before transitioning to daily print delivery, which later included providing news on our website, mauinews.com, we have made the entrepreneurial decision to evolve once again to best serve you and the community. As we’ve outlined to our staff, effective June 6, we will transition The Maui News to an operation that is focused on providing information to you with an as-it-happens, digital-focused publishing strategy, along with a weekly printed edition. That means the news that matters most to you will be delivered to you digitally in real time at mauinews.com.
We already know many of you and others outside of our print delivery area get their news from us online — nearly 3 million people visited mauinews.com in 2023. This is the future of local news — and moving there now will allow us to continue serving you in the most effective manner. It is also a well-known fact that many newspapers have made similar decisions in recent years, and that is the direction that most of the industry is heading. Focusing our resources on our digital offerings and a weekly print edition allows us to support the work that Maui needs most: local news and information about our community.
Pacific Business News covered the announcement, and tried to assure its readers that PBN will not be affected, although it is printed by the Maui News.
Many Pacific Business News readers know that PBN, owned by American City Business Journals based in Charlotte, North Carolina, is printed on the presses of The Maui News. PBN does not anticipate any interruption stemming from this change.
“We will continue printing all our commercial print clients including one of our longest running customers, Pacific Business News,” Minford told PBN. “It will be business as usual for The Maui News but with a digital initiative. Moving forward we will print our weekly package with all the inserts on Thursdays.”
Civil Beat also weighed in, putting the shift to a weekly print edition in the broader cutbacks in local news here and across the country (“Maui Newspaper Cutback The Latest Sign Of Financial Distress In Hawaii News Industry/Amid a search for a buyer, The Maui News slashes its print edition to once weekly“).
And, as a former resident of Kaaawa for more than 25 years, I’ve got to note the reopening this week of the Crouching Lion restaurant. Honolulu Magazine featured the newly renovated restaurant with a review that’s worth reading (“Ka‘a‘awa’s Crouching Lion Returns With a Revamped Look and Menu“), only partly because it includes a 1952 photo of my sister, Bonnie, and me, sitting in front of the building.
That’s because the original Crouching Lion Inn was my father’s attempt to expand from selling restaurant supplies to operating a restaurant. It was 1952, and the restaurant, while getting good reviews, proved to be well ahead of its time. There proved to be too little traffic to sustain the business, although it later operated under a series owners.
There was an earlier and quite ambitious attempt to reopen about seven years ago, which eventually collapsed. It remains to be seen whether the new owners can make a financial go of it.
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And it was my grandfather, George Larsen, who built the original family home. They never dreamed it would become a landmark restaurant.
I used to enjoy eating there. Hope that it is a success. Thanks for the info.
Ian, thanks for mentioning that Pacific Business News is printed by The Maui News. This information was missing from the Civil Beat story. I remember there was a time when Honolulu Weekly was also printed by The Maui News. I noticed that in your post and the Civil Beat coverage there was no mention of The Lahaina News, a long-time weekly print newspaper covering Lahaina stories. The Lahaina News was owned and was printed by The Maui News. Maybe, The Lahaina News was not mentioned because there is no more Lahaina. Still, it might have been worth noting.
I didn’t know the Crouching Lion restaurant had reopened. Thanks for reporting that. I also didn’t know that your Dad started the first restaurant there. I love the photo of you and your sister. Now, I see more of your connection to Kaaawa. (Sorry, okinas don’t work on this text box.) I have stopped and ate there many times while on motorcycle rides with my friends around the island. Now that I know it’s reopened, I will surely visit again.
I read the Honolulu magazine article on Crouching Lion opening and did not know your family connection. As a child we would go and I always remembered the fire place and Slavonic steak being cooked table side. The new owners have a website and are taking reservations. We are going Sunday night
I originally stumbled upon your blog while looking for info about the Crouching Lion. It was so long ago I don’t even remember when, but I have been following you regularly ever since. Have driven by it many times but never went in because we were always on our way to somewhere else.
Since the obvious move to weekly printing one day a week is to save money, it makes ZERO sense that they retain the entire press crew and maintain the press and related equipment for one day a week. No way that pencils out. If I were PBN I’d be getting ready to also be all digital. The only value The Maui News has left is the land and building. These guys have proven to not be the brightest bulb in the box…..
My guess is the Maui News will continue doing large-scale print jobs on Maui. It may be the last big printer left on the Neighbor Islands.
Thank you for the story about your family connection to the Crouching Lion and that it’s reopened. We went there for many years and always enjoyed it. My kids loved watching the last owner’s parrots and playing around the place. I loved the few Brazilian items that were on the menu back then, too. Have been anxiously looking at the building whenever I drive by for the last few years, always wondering and hoping that someone would open it back up again (and not make it into just a tourist trap). So glad someone finally has! Menu looks really good and new owner seems to have a great attitude. Looking forward to going there soon!
When I lived on Maui in the 90’s I always read the Maui News. The internet was just born and print newspapers still had so much meaning and significance. There was a reporter named Ron Youngblood that had a column named “Maui Nei” that was ridiculously sentimental and interesting at the same time. The extension of the Kahului Airport runway (which got approved) was a political “hot potato” and provided front-page fodder for months with passionate letters to the editor back and forth. The debate over slow-growth and affordable housing raged on like it does today. The Maui News was venerable because locals had no television news station of their own. Getting your name and picture in the paper was a big deal.
And then there was Linda Lingle.
Back then a Baldwin still owned the paper and Lingle’s opponents claimed she was receiving biased coverage from a friendly Republican missionary descendent. Probably true, but give Lingle credit for using local media to her advantage. Targeted letters from supporters, photo-ops, press conferences, wedge issues, gas lighting–Lingle thrived and as we all know, the rest is history.