On the other hand, yesterday's mail brought one of those "just a formality" letters from Liberty Newspapers about dislocated worker benefits, COBRA health coverage, and so on, a reminder that we're on track right now, but without much of a margin for error.
It was a low key day with its own special psychological twist. On the one hand, interviews continued. All reports I heard indicate the process is benign, with no problems so far. They seem to be moving quickly, with sports, online, perhaps others interviewed yesterday, Features scheduled for later this week. I'm not sure who is on today, and those assigned to business and the city desk are still waiting for word on scheduling. We're not alone, of course, as MidWeek staffers are going through the same routine as well.
I was pointed yesterday to the Statesman Journal in Salem, Oregon, where Gannett is advertising free subscriptions. The deal--sign up for four weeks and then, if you like the product, begin paying. I suppose we'll be seeing the same thing here.
Honolulu Weekly is looking (again) for a managing editor, according to an ad in Editor & Publisher's classifieds section.
01/29/01
MANAGING EDITOR This alternative weekly is known and respected for its prize-winning political and investigative reports, but its bread and butter is thoughtful,cultural journalism. This feisty, popular paper has a small staff and relies heavily on young, hungry, freelancers, so experience with recruiting and grooming freelancers will come in handy. Keep to a budget, write and assign stories, brainstorm cover design and put out the paper of choice for Honolulu's hip, smart crowd. The rewards: decent pay, a dependable, loyal and humorous staff and boundless admiration from the populace. Send resume, clips to: L.V. Carlson Honolulu Weekly 1200 CollegeWalk 214 Honolulu, HI 96817 No phone calls, please
Interviews began yesterday afternoon with art dept. staffers. We've been told to expect to get our assigned interview times a day ahead. The first few interviews were brief, with lots of questions about working at home. What do you think about this? What do you think other staffers feel about it? What can be done to make it work, etc. No unexpected questions.Gannett's next move: Boost circulation by giving the paper away, according to this report another S-B staffer received from a friend:
Just got a letter at work about our office subscription to the Advertiser. It says:"Thank you for patronage to The Honolulu Advertiser. As a subscriber, you are a very important part of our family. In an effort to better serve our business customers, we have made an important change to your business subscription.
Effective Monday, January 29, 2001, for every paid subscription, you will receive one additional copy at no charge to make available to your customers.
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to serve your information needs. If you have any questions about your subscription, please call us at 538-NEWS.
Mahalo,
/s/ Michael Cusato
Vice President/CirculationMonday's mystery: Why did Gannet just dress up the aging presses out back with a new coat of paint? It's been many a year since anything like this happened, then suddenly last week the new paint job goes on. Why would this bit of cosmetic art be given a sudden priority at this time? Can they sell these old presses before a new printing plant is built? Or is something else going on? For now, it's remains one of those little lingering mysteries.
The halls were also buzzing with more gossip about a certain Gannett/Advertiser editor's latest rumored personal relationship, this time with one of the paper's recent hires. Is it true, staffers stopped to ask. How any of us would know is another mystery, but the questions and hallway talk persisted anyway. I guess the rest of us live pretty boring personal lives, and so these tales draw lots of attention.
What a difference the whiff of competition brings. Yesterday Gannett announced its next step, an "expanded partnership" with KHON-TV, Honolulu's Channel 2 involving Advertiser reporters appearing on KHON broadcasts, joint sponsorship of projects, etc. It will be interesting to see where this goes, what kind of contract and workplace issues arise, and whether there's an answering move by Black's Star-Bulletin.Yet another circulation report:
Are we paranoid or is someone really after us?I paid the Star-Bulletin bill really late. I mailed payment on the 17th of January, for 12/8 - 3/24 period. It wasn't the first late payment by me, and yet they've never stopped delivery. This time they did -- but not until January 24th and 25th! On Friday, the 26th, I called and was informed that service would resume on that day. Then why, I asked, did it take them a week to credit a check mailed from across town? I was informed that recently the circulation people have noticed a lag of about a week in getting payments processed. They have received many complaints. Naturally, I asked if the same situation held true for the Advertiser and was told it did. Both papers are affected by this sudden ineptitude on the part of the payment department, according to circulation. Ironically, it should be easier to process payments quickly, since subscribers must now send two checks: one for daily S-B, another for Sunday Advertiser. I still asked to speak to a supervisor, who called me later to apologize for the inconvenience -- and told me I'd get a free week of newspapers for my trouble. This sort of giveaway times how many people adds up. And does this part of the deal hold true for the Advertiser? I don't know, but the whole thing has a fishy air to it.
I'm looking forward to sunrise on the beach in Kaaawa. Poor Dave Swann, looks forward to starting his computer, and his day, with this. Obviously, the Daysog-Swann silly war continues. Ouch.
Sorry to be late getting today's entry online. We stayed in Waikiki last night and got back to Kaaawa late Sunday morning.
Last night provided an interesting opportunity to meet Newspaper Guild reps from various parts of the western states. The Guild has been dealing with a string of key battlegrounds in the west--Honolulu, San Francisco and Seattle, of course, with others brewing as well, which made for some interesting conversations.
The occasion was a dinner held as part of a western district guild meeting. The official reps had been in business meetings all day, and some of the folks involved in the Star-Bulletin's battles were invited to dinner.
Special recognition went to the Save Our Star-Bulletin organization. Meda and I were lucky enough to tag along as guests.
Among those present was Guild President Linda Foley, who graciously joined me for a photo.
Here's another report on circulation, this time from the Windward side:My news as a SB subscriber is much less dramatic. I notice the late delivery to my tube on Kam Hwy but inquired this week about how I can be sure my Sunday paper converts to the S-B. I was told "oh, you'll have to contact the new owners and ask them. All Sunday papers are converting to the Advertiser".If we're going to produce a Sunday edition, we had better get a plan to block automatic conversions to the Advertiser, and pronto.
More problems stemming from Gannett's control of Star-Bulletin circulation were reported this week by another
Yesterday's surprise was the announcement that it was a trio rather than a duo celebrating their years with the Star-Bulletin. It seems that reporter Helen Altonn joined the paper within weeks of Trini Peltier in 1955. Along with Bud Smyser, the trio represent nearly 150 years of S-B experience.
Helen got quite a laugh from her tale of landing the job in Honolulu. She had to the S-B inquiring about a job as something of a lark, seeing the opportunity for a year or two "vacationing" in the islands. She described getting a letter back from managing editor Bill Ewing. "Send a photograph," he requested.
Helen said she sent the photo. As soon as Ewing saw it, she was hired. Helen commented modestly: "I was sort of buxom in those days."
Photo by Blaine Fergerstrom
Photo by Ken Andrade
S-B staffer:Another Brick: my parents have noticed their SB arriving late these days, and when they asked the deliverer,he said they've had serious problems not getting enough newspapers. They are told that people have canceled subscriptions, when they have not canceled. The result is that the people are pissed off at the Star-Bulletin, not Gannett, and Gannett knows this. The drivers are frustrated, but unsure where the cancellation orders are coming from above.And so it goes.
It will be pizza for lunch in the newsroom today courtesy of Bud Smyser and Trini Peltier, who are celebrating a combined 101 years at the Star-Bulletin. Check out yesterday's column by Bud for more info.Bud's description of his hiring is strangely reminiscent of more recent foot dragging at the Advertiser that led to their missing the "Broken Trust" essay that started the whole Bishop Estate episode.
My hiring took place on a Saturday night in November 1945.The jammed ship carrying many of us home from Asia for war's-end discharge paused at Pearl Harbor to refuel and resupply. I had seen enough of Hawaii in wartime stopovers by our troop-carrying ship to decide I'd rather settle here postwar than go back to the Pittsburgh Press.
The editor of the Honolulu Advertiser had a Pittsburgh past, so I counted on him as my best contact. But when I called him at home he said he couldn't see me until Monday, when my ship would be gone.
A call to Riley Allen at his Pacific Heights home got a happier result. Allen drove right down to his Merchant Street office to interview me, offered a job as soon as I could get back, then drove me to Waikiki to rejoin my shipmates.
The Advertiser seems to miss a lot of good opportunities.
Back in our newsroom, there's a relatively good natured war going on between graphic artist David Swann and bantam reporter Rick Daysog. It all started with some obscure sports trivia question that turned into a $5 bet. Swann lost but declined to pay up.
Now Dave's being bombarded with reminders. First was the simple message taped to his monitor. Then the "alert" sound on his computer was replaced with Rick's voice: "Where's my five bucks?"
Dave managed to disable the nagging voice, but yesterday discovered his Macintosh "desktop" had been replaced with more of the same.
Then the next computer, which is dedicated to receiving AP graphics, took up the "where's my five bucks" mantra with every incoming file. And this time the sound control panel was "hidden" to prevent it from being easily disabled. And I'm told there's still more to come.Dave says his position was justified by Daysog's own behavior:
It should be noted that since daysog was such an ungracious winner when he won his bet that I decided to withold payment until he can somehow figure out a way to act like a gentleman (a tall order for daysog) and apologize for his uncivil actions. Then, and only then, will I pay him his $5.00. And if he continues his war to finally collect? let's just say the more he pushes, the more I resist.Rick, as usual, is more than eager to drag successive victims from other parts of the newsroom into the graphics room for his insider crowing about each of the various reminders.
In an email last weekend, Swann suggested another interpretation: "my theory is that daysog has a crush on me and just uses anything he can find to 'interact' with me. perhaps you could pass this idea by him and see if he will admit to it?"
And so it goes, with 48 days to go before our departure from HNA, the JOA, and Gannett.
There were more than a few unhappy campers in the Star-Bulletin newsroom when blank job applications appeared in staffers' mailboxes yesterday with instructions that we all reapply to work for the "new" S-B. And have those applications in by noon on Friday.Conflicting messages are being heard from Black Ops down the street. On one level is the explicit message: "It's just a formality, don't worry, don't get anxious about it." On another level here's an application with its intrusive demands for info and waiver of rights that some find offensive. And, of course, there's the consultant coming in to review applications and conduct interviews. Formality? Who knows.
Update: That comment early this a.m. immediately brought this reply, gleaned from I know not where:
A shepherd was herding his flocks in a remote pasture when suddenly a brand new Jeep Cherokee advanced out of a dust cloud towards him. The driver, a young man in a Brioni suit, Gucci shoes, Ray Ban sunglasses and a YSL tie leaned out of the window and asked our shepherd: "If I can tell you exactly how many sheep you have in your flock, will you give me one?"The shepherd looks at the yuppie, then at his peacefully grazing flock and calmly answers "sure!" The yuppie parks the car, whips out his notebook, connects it to a cell-phone, surfs to a NASA page on the Internet where he calls up a GPS satellite navigation system, scans the area, opens up a database and some 60 Excel spreadsheets with complex formulas. Finally he prints out a 150 page report on his hi-tech miniaturized printer, turns round to our shepherd and says: "you have here exactly 1586 sheep!"
"This is correct. As agreed, you can take one of the sheep," says the shepherd. He watches the young man make a selection and bundle it in his Cherokee.
Then he says: "If I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me my sheep back?"
"Okay, why not" answers the young man. "You are a consultant," says the shepherd.
"This is correct," says the yuppie, "How did you guess that?"
"Easy" answers the shepherd. "You turn up here although nobody called you. You want to be paid for the answer to a question I already knew the solution to. And you don't know anything about my business because you took my dog."
A gloomy report of hundreds of layoffs at CNN yesterday contained this nugget about severance pay at the network: "Nine weeks' pay, plus another four weeks for every complete year with CNN." Compare that to the flat one week for each year of service that our Guild contract specifies. And even our basic severance will take another five years after the transfer of ownership to get back to its current level. It all adds to the motivation to come out winners in the upcoming war.I received another "not for publication" plea yesterday from a friend at the Star-Bulletin to move this diary out of the public domain in order to keep info away from folks at Gannett's Advertiser. It's not the first such request, to be sure. And it's been disheartening each time it has happened, so be sure. But I try not to take it personally. And I move on. But I do have a sense of being slowly isolated as one group of coworkers obviously try to keep their distance and avoid interacting with me.
We celebrated Meda's birthday a day late with dinner at our favorite Thai restaurant last night. It's in Restaurant Row, and open for lunch as well, so the new Star-Bulletin offices just steps away will be dangerous territory indeed. And dangerous in more was than one. You know you're in trouble when the people running the restaurant giggle and keep checking back to see how you're handling the "Thai hot" meal. But it was great.
The momentum is shifting, the tide has turned, and former Star-Bulletin staffers are starting to return. Former news editor Curt Brandao, who left in the midst of last year's uncertainty for a job in the Virgin Islands, is rumored to be on his way back to our newsroom. Sjarif Goldstein's coming back, as we heard last week. And another former S-B reporter was apparently seeking to negotiate a deal yesterday. There's good energy in these moves.
Sunrise, Jan. 22, 2001.
Kaaawa, Hawaii.There's also been some thawing in relations with Rupert Phillips' Liberty Newspapers. Al Portner, dispatched as Rupert's man in Honolulu, has turned positively friendly. Yesterday he cleared away another nagging issue with a notice that Liberty would "cash out" any vacation days that cannot be used up by the March 15 closing date. Up until yesterday, it was our understanding that unused days would be lost, period, so the shift is good news for quite a few folks as well as for the Star-Bulletin.
No similar thaw between Black and Gannett. The clue? Boxes of books spotted in the new Star-Bulletin offices, filled with copies of The Chain Gang, author Richard McCord's personal account of his own war with Gannett. Copies were offered to staffers touring the new offices yesterday afternoon, while others are apparently being readied for strategic distribution.
I stumbled across this familiar looking, "us versus them" full page ad while browsing a recent copy of MacWorld Magazine. Sorry for the distorted photo--the best I could do on short notice was to open the magazine on my kitchen counter and take a quick shot for illustration. Anyway, it is startlingly reminiscent of the series of comparison ads done for the Star-Bulletin. I'm not at all sure what this means, but it caught my eye.
Owner-in-waiting David Black has been getting lots of good press here as a result of his deal to purchase the Star-Bulletin and MidWeek publisher RFD.Not so back home in Oak Bay, a suburb of Victoria, where he's stumbled into a bit of controversy. According to published reports, he's applied to have the family estate declared a "farm" for tax purposes by taking advantage of a provincial law allowing such a move when annual agricultural sales exceed $2,500. Apparently Annabeth's sales of rare plants exceeds the magic number.
A shrewd move, but one that has not pleased other Oak Bay residents.
Black's estate occupies several acres of what some call the most coveted waterfront property in the city, where he can also moor the family's yacht.
Getting the property reclassified as a farm will drop Black's property taxes from about $30,000 to about $4,000. The catch is that Oak Bay is an incorporated municipality in which farming is not a permitted land use.
The British Columbia government has been forced to reexamine the issue, according to a recent story.
Jim Romenesko's MediaNews column has featured two items critical of Gannett in the last few days. It's the same story wherever GCI leaves its corporate footprints.A column by Jeremy Voas in the Phoenix New Times blasts Gannett for introducing advertising on the front page of the Arizona Republic, which it took over in last year's $2.6 billion takeover of Central Newspapers.
Voas comments:
"At the time Gannett acquired Central, the Republic's margin was a robust 32 percent. Central's stock languished anyway, and its top executives seized on that lethargy as a pretext to sell out. Gannett's bean counters promptly demanded that the margin be fattened even more. "and, later:
"Everybody is concerned that it could cheapen the paper," one newsroom veteran tells me. "There's a concern that this is Gannett's first big move, and it could affect the quality of the product. There's a feeling that they're going to squeeze us for all the profit they can."
Romanesko also cites several reactions to Gannett's firing of sportswriter and 33-year news veteran Robin Miller at the Indianapolis Star, which was also hauled into the Gannett stable last year.
A column in the Indianapolis weekly, Nuvo, by Dick Cady describes changes at the Star since the Gannett takeover:
The beginning of the end for Miller may have been last year, when The Star brought in Jim Lefko from Gannett's Lafayette paper to be sports editor. At a meeting of staffers, Lefko told them something close to this: "I've been reading your paper for years, and I've never thought much of it." Miller is said to have disagreed vocally with Lefko.Since Lefko's arrival, sports staffers have been told "personalities" need to be eliminated. They were told they will not be paid for anything beyond 40 hours a week, although this is impossible with jobs requiring travel. "They're just pushing everyone to the hilt," said one observer. "They're screwing the older people."
My bet is that this will sound ominously familiar to folks across the hall at Gannett's Honolulu Advertiser.
One response to Cady's column, included in Nuvo's online edition, particularly caught my eye, and I'm going to quote it here in full:
As a former Star employee -- someone who had the pleasure of editing Robin's work -- I'm saddened by his dismissal, and dumbstruck by the venom spewing forth from a few zealots out there. Robin pissed you off with his columns? GOOD! You read him though, didn't you? That's what a local sports columnist is supposed to do -- give the local readers a slant they won't get anywhere else, stir the pot a little and to hell with the consequences. And Robin, love him or hate him, did that. Now that Robin's gone, the message to columnists at the Star seems clear: Be nice. Don't rock the boat. Just file 20 inches by 6. Years from now, when you're reading the daily pablum, you'll miss the days when you got pissed off reading that damned Robin Miller column. Gannett will give you milquetoast, and will do to the Indianapolis Star what it did so many years ago to the Louisville Courier-Journal: Take it apart brick by brick. Hope you all enjoy your new-look Star. The thing you like about the paper is likely the next to go.
And I updated the photo gallery today, in case you missed it at the top of the page.
A story in the National Post is bringing David Black's tale to a broader Canadian audience. Much of the story appears to be previously published background info, but buried in the middle is an interesting quote from Berkeley prof Stephen Barnett, who has been a popular source for comment on our situation over the past 16 months:"What's happened in Hawaii is quite revolutionary," observes Stephen Barnett, a communications law expert at the University of California-Berkeley's law school."Sometimes it takes a foreigner to demonstrate to American publishers that it's possible to have newspaper competition. American publishers know that. They can just get away with denying it."
"They can just get away with denying it." A remarkably clear and concise statement of Gannett's policy.
Just our luck that Burl Burlingame must have been the only guy to answer the phone when the Post reporter called. At least he's the only staffer quoted. And what quotes. Here's Burl's conversation stopper that closes the story:
"I made a little poster and placed it above my desk. It's a photograph of Canadian troops in the Great War attaching bayonets to their Enfields, getting ready to go over the top. It's headlined [dated] March 16, 2001 -- Fix Bayonets!"I have a feeling that's an image that will draw some flak from other staffers. We'll see.
Gannet and the Star-Bulletin's case will apparently be discussed by the Western District Council of The Newspaper Guild which convenes here next week.
The council is made up of Guild locals in the western states. "Each local sends representatives who engage in mind-numbing discussions about issues and tactics," as one longtime Guild activist told me.
Usually, only the representatives and members of the board of the hosting local are present, but this year, members of the S-B negotiating committee, the ESOP committee, and SOS have been invited to a dinner next Saturday.
And departing reporter Rod Ohira sent a message to all staff on Friday:
"Frank has decided to cut short my 2-wk notice so today was my last working day. There's no by-line on the 2nd-home Ala Moana shooting folo but the story contains new info no other media has reported. It gives me a sense of pride to know I worked hard for S-B until the last minute. I sincerely wish you all the best."
A list posted at the city desk last week reports the "official" count of vacation and/or personal leave days that each Star-Bulletin staffer will earn and, if not used, lose by March 15. I've got something like 7.28 days to burn, so I'm taking off today and other Fridays until early March. Most staffers are reluctant to take time off during this critical period, but at the same time nobody relishes the thought of basically contributing money back to Liberty Newspapers and Gannett.I was contacted yesterday by a Seattle Times staffer, inquiring about openings here in the war against Gannett. Perhaps we've got the potential to be the Spanish Civil War of the news business, drawing idealistic troops from across the country into the looming battle. On the other hand, I don't know how many positions those in charge want to fill with experienced reporters. The best I could do in response to this inquiry was advise contacting John Flanagan at the "new" S-B offices (808) 536-5928, or managing editor Frank Bridgewater in our newsroom (oops, my first try at that phone number ended in a blooper, which has now been corrected).
Just a day or so after word of Rod Ohira's resignation came the encouraging news that the Star-Bulletin has prevailed over the Advertiser in the battle to hire Sjarif Goldstein back from California. Sjarif was a popular member of the newsroom team before heading off to California, and he'll be bringing a lot of energy back with him. His decision is seen as a big vote of confidence in the future of the Star-Bulletin. Word is that Sjarif, along with other new hires, will be jump-starting the post-transition paper by going to work immediately in the "new" newsroom down the street instead of coming back here.
It now appears that the upcoming transition to new ownership and independent publication, now just eight weeks away, could hold some unpleasant surprises for at least some Star-Bulletin staffers. The addition of a morning edition is going to require some adjustments, including more staffers working nights, changes in other shifts, etc. It's possible that after volunteers for these new slots are accounted for, there might still be positions that need filling. At that point, there might be a reality squeeze and even potentially a "take it or leave it" choice for a few.
Kaaawa, Jan. 17, 2001
No one really knows how this will play out, and it may be that all the slots will be filled by voluntary moves. But "no one really knows" means another continuing source of anxiety and uncertainty.The University of Hawaii at Manoa student newspaper, Ka Leo, editorialized recently against the plan for a Star-Bulletin morning edition, calling it "unrealistic" and "a bad idea." The basic thrust seems to be that there's just not enough demand for head to head competition both morning and evening. The Ka Leo comments miss the mark a bit, in my view, but perhaps some contact from Black Ops would get them back on our side.
Yesterday's rumor was that dozens of new Macintosh G4's were just delivered to the Advertiser, and computer techs say the old SII system is finally going to the big tech museum in the sky as soon as we vacate the building. And not a moment too soon.
There were many different reactions as staffers heard of Ohira's decision to jump to the Advertiser:Whatever.
Turncoat.
Bye bye.
Probably won't be the last.And that's part of the reason things are so complicated. Those involved in planning the Star-Bulletin's upcoming move and competitive posture can't be fully candid with the rest of the staff because potential defectors could be a direct link to Gannett. But the resulting secrecy takes its own toll, leading to uncertainty, rumor, and lingering tensions.
According to the Guild contract, new hires at the Advertiser can join the staff with credit for prior experience so that they retain their vacation and other benefits, but for purposes of seniority, they are new hires and at the very end of the line. If future layoffs take place, they will be the first to go.
Spotted yesterday on the Editor and Publisher web site:
* COMPETITION IN PARADISE The competitive spirit is alive in Hawaii, where The Honolulu Advertiser is starting a new PM edition. We're also expanding the depth and impact of our morning and Sunday papers, which have respective circulations of 107,000 and 188,000, the largest in the state. DEPUTY NEWS EDITOR: The number two on the newsdesk, responsible for overseeing the desk and enforcing high standards for editing and headline-writing. ASSISTANT BUSINESS EDITOR: Supervise reporters and help planning and executing our expanding daily and Sunday business sections. ASSISTANT METRO EDITOR: Lead a team of reporters covering spot news and enterprise beats. METRO REPORTERS: Experienced general assignment reporters who can turn stories with high impact as well as beat reporters who can tackle complex subjects. At least three years on a metro daily required. MILITARY REPORTER: To cover policy and social issues affecting Hawaiian's 48,000 active-duty military and their families. Familiarity with military issues preferred. BUSINESS REPORTERS: Experienced business reporters needed to cover two important beats, labor/Hawaii companies and real estate and commercial development. COPY EDITORS: Journalists who are comfortable working with reporters, who are sticklers for style and have a talent for writing engaging headlines. This is a unique professional challenge in one of America's most beautiful cities. We offer excellent wages and benefits and one of the most diverse newsrooms in the business. Please send resume and work samples to: Executive Editor, Jim Kelly 605 Kapiolani Blvd. Honolulu, HI 96813 No e-mail or telephone calls pleaseI guess this means the round of recruitment within Gannett didn't yield enough viable candidates.
And there's a man going 'round taking names. And he was there at Saturday's Star-Bulletin/Oahu Publishing job fair, according to folks who were there to apply for work. Apparently a couple of Gannett staffers were there, digital camera and list in hand, trying to identify and obviously intimidate job applicants who happen to currently work for the Hawaii Newspaper Agency. I guess that's a Gannett management technique used in lieu of building employee loyalty.
A letter was posted on the newsroom bulletin board after a 10 a.m. staff meeting where John made his announcement and then answered questions about the state of affairs.
Yesterday's "surprise" was a major announcement, but not a shocker: Star-Bulletin editor and publisher, John Flanagan, resigned to immediately take a job with the Star-Bulletin. The new, Black S-B, that is.
John's moving over to assist in this critical transition period, and will focus on the needs of the newsroom, while the attention of Black's team is focused on getting the facilities, systems, and brand new sales and distribution departments in place.
Staffers gather at the City Desk to hear John Flanagan announce his move to the Star-Bulletin's "new" organization.
In response to one question, John disclosed that planned interviews of existing S-B staffers will be directed by a consultant. John will be the only one participating in the interviews who will have personal experience with most of us. This could signal that the interviews will be more than "going through the motions" to satisfy legal requirements, which is what has been implied up until now. He said the interviews will be used to determine which staffers are good candidates to work from home, and to gauge personal interest in new assignments after the transition.
Today, though, we did get a shocker. Star-Bulletin staffers were told this morning that longtime reporter Rod Ohira is defecting to the Advertiser. There have been rumblings about Rod's intentions for months, but we hoped this would not happen. As nice a guy as Rod is, this move is bound to generate bad feelings among his soon-to-be former colleagues.
An Advertiser front-page gaffe in yesterday's paper drew lots of comments over the rest of the day, although it was the kind mistake that could and probably will happen to everyone at some point. Turns out that the front page photo of the domestic violence murder victim in Saturday night's shooting at Ala Moana Center wasn't really her--it was her sister.
More disturbing and puzzling, to me at least, were the final paragraphs of a sidebar in the same edition of the Advertiser describing the mood at the shopping center in the aftermath of the shootout and double death.
Isaac Peer, 21, of McCully, a pastry chef at the California Pizza Kitchen, said, "I saw the ambulances, they sent two ambulances," but didn't hear the shots because the music from the Mai Tai bar was way too loud.Were workers upset? "Not as much as when a guy was horsing around and fell over a railing and died," Peer said.
I'm not sure what message that sends to the family of the victim, or to other victims of domestic violence. Or to the rest of us, for that matter. In my humble view, it could have been brilliant reporting given enough space to fully explore the warped ironies found at the scene, or, without a willingness to provide sufficient space, these comments would have been better left unprinted.
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