This just in from a reader on the Big Island.
Oahu Publications has terminated the last reporter working for West Hawaii Today. As it stands now, there are no reporters working out of West Hawaii today’s office in Kona now. The only reporters left are working for Hawaii Tribune Herald in Hilo.
To be fair, West Hawaii Today routinely published stories by Tribune-Herald reporters. But this takes the previous sharing of resources to a new level.
Oahu Publications was among the publishers previously owned by Black Press, which fell into hard financial times and was forced into bankruptcy. It was sold at auction earlier this year to an investment group that includes Carpenter Media Group, which took over the newpaper assets.
Oahu Publications owns both Big Island newspapers, along with The Garden Island on Kauai, MidWeek and the Star-Advertiser on Oahu, and other specialty publications.
If I recall correctly, staff at the Hawaii Tribune-Herald are unionized, while those at West Hawaii Today are not.
The Tribune-Herald claims a circulation of 16,000 on weekdays, and 18,000 on Sundays. West Hawaii Today is considerably smaller, with 2022 daily circulation pegged at 4,163, and 5,019 Sunday.
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I gave up on WHT long ago and rarely ever look at HTH for anything other than headlines. I have come to rely on the online outlets for Big Island Video News (BIVN) and Big Island Now (www.bigislandnow.com) for up-to-date local news and weather. I read Honolulu Civil Beat anything and have subscribe to the online edition of Honolulu Star Advertiser for at least 50 years…
But I’m a news hound Ian – a life-long incurable addiction – local, national, and world-wide. i.e. to name just a few…NYT, San Francisco Chronicle, Politico, Daily Beast, New Republic, The Guardian, NBC Bay Area, Meidas Touch Network, MSNBC, Hawaii News Now, ilind.net, and on and on and on…
Too bad the local population will lose the dailies over here… it will be interesting to see what comes of the absence of WHT.
I hope this isn’t indicative of things to come for the Star-Advertiser.
The time has come for newspapers to think less about paper and more about news. There’s no need in today’s media environment to remain wedded to print formats and deadlines.
I get all my news on-line. But there are many seniors who either can’t or refuse to learn to do so. My family elders look forward to reading the print edition of Honolulu Star-Advertiser. A treasured routine over a cup of coffee that they will sorely miss if the print edition is discontinued
WHT reporter Nancy Cook Lauer spent 4 years trying to pry Billy Kenoi’s P-card records out of the claws of his assistant, Kevin Dayton. When she finally got them, Hawaii was saved from the future Governor Kenoi.
https://www.westhawaiitoday.com/2016/08/27/hawaii-news/ag-subpoenas-13-five-are-granted-immunity-in-kenoi-case/
Are there really any reporters at any of Oahu Publications’ news outlets?
All I ever see are crime stories and those generated by the press releases of politicians, businesses, nonprofits and other entities with something to gain and no appetite to buy advertising.
I cannot remember the last time I read any story in the S-A, dot com or otherwise, that had any real reporting. Even in Sports, it’s all good-guy features and game stories.
It’s no better at the TV stations. And civilbeat only seems to do investigation when the New York Times pays the freight.
All done by design. What better way to control the populace than by denying them relevant information.