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Sunday, March 11
The final day has come and gone. Mostly gone.
It was chaos in the Star-Bulletin newsroom yesterday. We were told S-B phones would be turned off at noon. Staffers from Gannett's human resources office set up shop in the conference room to process people out, taking keys and parking passes in exchange for final paychecks and instructions on what happens next. Last minute packing, tears, hugs and handshakes, then it was pipers piping, banners, cheering, more hugs, and the Star-Bulletin was gone as a procession of staff and supporters left the news building and headed down along South Street to a new home, new owner, and an uncertain future.
click for more photos
One staffer commented later: "It is good to be out of that old place, though. A large weight left when we walked out of there."The Star-Bulletin is dead! Long live the Star-Bulletin!
I have to admit to a moment of loss and profound emptiness as I watched the group of friends and coworkers cross the street and keep walking, leaving me on the corner with a handful of Gannett folks who watched the line of marchers for a few minutes before going on with their own affairs.
Signs of the impending newspaper war were already visible on the street. The Star-Bulletin sales boxes had already been removed from the front of the building and unceremoniously dumped in an largely hidden position on the far side of several free newspapers. The Advertiser boxes are sporting a new look, as is their web site, with a new look to their paper coming as well. I'm sure it's a scene being repeated across the state.
Right now, I'm going through the motions. Reinstalling my computer, working out glitches and bugs, unpacking my files, trying to find reasonable Internet access, touching bases around town to begin the process of thinking through what I want to do next.
After all, I never expected to be a reporter. The original invitation to join the Star-Bulletin back in 1992 was a surprise, and I was probably the only reporter in the newsroom who has never been in a journalism class, except for appearances as a guest speaker. Occasionally a niggle of self-doubt arises, and I fleetingly feel like an impostor again--you know, I'm not really a reporter but I play one in the newsroom.
But in eight years at the S-B, I did all right. Twice I received the top award for investigative reporting from SPJ's Hawaii Professional Chapter. I was lead writer on "Locked Out", a special assessment of open government in Hawaii, that won a Scripps Howard Foundation national journalism award for service to the 1st Amendment. I was a finalist for a Gerald Loeb award for business writing for an investigative series on misuse of state airport funds, and was a five-time winner of the Star-Bulletin's internal writing competition. Not too bad for "earn while you learn" journalism.
This is it. The day that, just 18 months ago, few thought we would ever see. The final deadline for the Star-Bulletin and the first deadline for a new Star-Bulletin. Both in just a few hours.The early deadline for parts of the new Star-Bulletin, which will hit the streets tomorrow morning, is due to the overflow of advertisers wanting to be visible in the first edition, so many that the paper is too large to produce in a single press run. What it means for the long term viability in a competitive marketplace remains to be seen, but for now it's certainly good news.
Yesterday was the day for good-byes as the Star-Bulletin staff gathered for one last time. It was a bittersweet experience, with a lot of awkwardness and fumbling in negotiating the emotional terrain.
I was asked dozens of times about my future "plans". Lacking any firm plans, I can only assure folks that I'll be around and, hopefully, continuing to make a difference. I've gone through this wrenching process of recreating myself several times before, each with creative results. Actually, I still have people stop me on the street who are surprised that I'm not still the director of Common Cause/Hawaii, a job I left 15 years and three careers ago.
Click here for more photos
You can continue to reach me via email, and the phone has been installed in the little office I'm putting together (808-955-1819).I'm told the partying went on into the evening. Burl Burlingame reports that some visitors even came over from next door at the Advertiser. "In a nice gesture, Saundra Keyes, David Montesino and Lorna Lim came over from the Tiser last night bearing platters of excellent sushi."
I'll add some further thoughts later today, sometime after the rest of the staff leaves the building and marches off down South Street to begin the new paper. I don't think I'll be joining the march, although it will be hard to finally cut loose.
And I'm still wondering what this "Newsroom Diary" will become without the newsroom. Kicking this habit could be difficult.
We're now just hours from the end of the Honolulu newspaper joint operating agreement and the end of the Star-Bulletin that we're familiar with. In its place, a new newspaper under the same name.
I guess it's also nearly the end of this newsroom diary, since I'll be departing the newsroom and the new S-B is clamping down on insider disclosures. Only rosy views of the paper are authorized by the legal language contained in the new standards of conduct for newsroom employees. Whether the "only rosy views" approach will extend to news as well remains to be seen.
About 30 hours to go as I write this, less by the time it reaches your eyes.
Diane Chang's last column ran yesterday. It's worth a read. Was she dumped overboard because some readers object to her column expressing a woman's viewpoint? It's a possibility that Diane leaves us with.
Time is short, but surprises continue. The rumor making the rounds last night is that another well-known Star-Bulletin figure appears to be negotiating for an opportunity to write for Gannett's Advertiser. I'll post an update if there's more info available later today.
Kaaawa dawn
Monday, March12
Yesterday's email brought one of the very few hostile reactions I've received to this journal, a rambling, confused, and angry message. Although the point wasn't obvious, I think this was the writer's bottom line:"Remember freedom of speech is not a freedom to say idiotic things about the company you work for or to give out their strategies over the Internet."Whether "the company" the writer was talking about Gannett, Liberty, or Black's Oahu Publications isn't clear. In any case, the point is dead wrong, as that's precisely what freedom of speech is about. After all, we aren't owned by our employers--we just work for them and, increasingly, that bond of employment is tenuous and temporary, as more than a few in the S-B newsroom are realizing as the shadow of the looming transition falls over us all.
A potluck lunch is being organized in the newsroom today to say good-bye to the six of us who have been terminated or pushed to retire. At least some of the six didn't get any direct invite to the event, although hopefully word is spreading. And with the staff depleted by early departures for the "new" newsroom, it's hard to know whether a critical mass remains.
Watch out what you ask for, you just might get it, or so they say. I should have been watching out yesterday morning when I jokingly asked Harriet & Lizzie to do something useful, like run outside and check for rats.
Later in the day, I fired up the charcoal and roasted a Cornish game hen while Meda set a colorful table. When we sat down to eat, I glanced over towards the kitchen and saw Ms. Lizzie playing with something on the floor, in the corner to the left of the kitchen sink.
Sure enough. A large and very scared rat. I guess I should have given Lizzie further instructions. Run outside, check for rats, and don't bring them in the house, especially at mealtime.
Luckily, I was able to get the rat to take refuge in a box, and then released it out in the yard. Then back inside to praise Lizzie for her newly displayed hunting prowess.I did get around to reading the interview with David Black in this week's Pacific Business News. It's not available in their online edition yet, but might be later in the week. It's worth reading. If you're here in Hawaii, you might want to pick up a copy of PBN. Black's said it all before, but this time comes across particularly directly.
On the question of staffing:
"Reporters won't have the luxury of turning in one story a day or one story every two days anymore. They're going to have to work hard to do this, but that's the way the economics are; that's the number of people we can afford to have."On the need for two competing dailies:
"I have never said Honolulu needs two papers. What I have said is that everybody tells me Honolulu needs two newspapers.Again:
"I'm here because advertisers have said they want two (papers) and are willing to support two. If they choose not to, I'm not going to subsidize it for five years and hope that they will eventually. If the merchants don't want to support the Star-Bulletin, I won't support it.
If the support doesn't materialize, then I won't be able to carry on with the Star-Bulletin. I'll have to carry on with MidWeek."Very interesting.
Just two and a half days until the existing Star-Bulletin's final issue. Sometime around noon on Wednesday, S-B staffers and supporters will gather outside the building and then parade several blocks down South Street to the "new" Star-Bulletin's newsroom, where they'll supposedly get to work on the first issue. Meanwhile, back in the old building, those of us not making the trek will be picking up our severance checks and heading off on our own.
It's sure to be an emotional few days for all involved.
New photos were posted in the gallery yesterday. Just click on the gallery link at the top-right of this page.
I'm told that Diane Chang's last column for the Star-Bulletin will run on Monday. In the meantime, she's had a few good parting shots. I enjoyed her piece on Friday, so please check it out , I don't think you'll be sorry. And if you are, well, it's good for you anyway.Diane mentions that she was the first woman to be editorial page editor for either of the Honolulu daily papers in their combined 200+ years of existence. And, in another first she doesn't mention directly, she's the first woman serving as editorial page editor for one of Honolulu's daily papers to be sacked for no apparent reason. Maybe they're related. Go figure.
Staffers quickly responded:
And this is the message that greeted visitors to the web page that formerly displayed a mockup of the Advertiser's PM edition.
An alert diary reader, recognizing my cultural deprivation, provided a bit of history of the "someone set us up the bomb" phenomenon.
"All you subscriber are belong to us! Someone set us up the hibiscus."
I've been thinking about the bind that some Star-Bulletin staffers may have found themselves in as employment offers from Black's new paper were distributed and considered. Some individuals balking at the terms were coaxed along by section editors or others in management trying to come up with enough to keep them in the S-B camp. But all their efforts were undercut by an employment letter with its own legal kicker, a final clause disavowing any and all verbal promises, offers, or representations, and stressing that any verbal offers are completely superseded by the specific written terms of the employment letter, unfortunately a form letter. And questions about the contradiction between the letters and verbal offers made during these last-minute negotiations would be perceived as ungrateful or worse, so might not be expressed. A classic double bind, capable of inducing schizophrenic episodes, or even jumps to Gannett.
Another potentially worrisome bit of news from Waterfront Plaza. I've heard that in the Star-Bulletin's new production work flow, the last review before going to press will be made by the advertising folks. Pages will be set up and get their last tweaks in the newsroom, and then be sent for a final review upstairs by advertising staff. Questions abound. What happens if they want to change something? Who will make the final edits? If a problem is flagged, will it be sent back to the newsroom to be fixed? Some staffers are real worried about the situation, and wonder whether its been thought through any better than the rather haphazard "work at home" arrangements dumped on the newsroom at the last minute.
The newsroom was not a happy place on Friday. The source of the unhappiness was not my descriptions of the situation, despite the desire of some in our management to reduce the situation to such unrealistic terms. Visions of outside (or inside) agitators dance in their heads.
Staffers were greeted Friday morning with the vision of uniformed guards posted immediately outside doors to the newsroom, and others at each outside door of the building.
It gave that warm prison camp feeling to the day. I guess this is something like Gannett's version of a friendly farewell. At least we're assuming the guards are Gannett's gift to us, since Rupert wouldn't want to expend the money on such an unnecessary extravagance.
Speaking of Rupert....after reading yesterday's entry about Rupert's desire for memorabilia and my problem cat, Leo, one reader made this suggestion:Solve 2 problems at once, send Leo as a memento from Hawaii, and he can then pee on Rupert's desk, or foot, and you also will not have a katt around that pees on your toaster.I should assure both Leo and Rupert that I consider the consider the idea firmly tongue in cheek.
Once past the guards, several staffers expressed anger that a blessing ceremony for the new Star-Bulletin offices had been held the night before, along with a party attended by hundreds of people, and folks in the Star-Bulletin newsroom weren't even informed that it was going to happen, much less invited to attend.
A photo of the event appeared in the first edition of the S-B, captioned: "The Honolulu Star-Bulletin's new offices at Restaurant Row were blessed yesterday by Kahu Kaleo Patterson during dedication ceremonies."
One reporter commented: "I can't believe they ran that picture of the thing we weren't even invited to. It's so damn insulting." Someone quickly clipped the photo and added it to the newsroom bulletin board, adding the handwritten note;
"What are we-- Chopped liver?
Summing up the day was this comment overheard in the halls: "We're not coming over there as a happy group at all."Posting the link to the Advertiser's PM mockup in yesterday's entry apparently triggered a reaction, as the image was soon replaced with a "bomb" message. No explanation yet, but I'm guessing Gannett pressure resulted in the image being pulled from public view.
Here we go. The last Friday in the life of the Star-Bulletin as we have known it.I spent most of yesterday basking in the irony of the moment--congratulations from those recognizing the link between my reporting and the Rodrigues' indictment, and condolences over my termination by the Star-Bulletin. An interesting day in terms of emotional cross currents.
Word went around in the morning that Rupert Phillips has requested a suitable memento of his ownership of the Star-Bulletin. Phillips, who controls the general partner in the Star-Bulletin's outgoing owner, Liberty Newspapers Limited Partnership, is remembered among staffers mostly for his attempt to close the paper and run with the cash, and there were quite a few unprintable suggestions of what to send him.
[Thanks to Dave Donnelly for a close read and necessary edit: "I, for one, will miss your addition to the old S.B. But please, you have committed one of my greatest pet peeve perversities in today's edition of your diary. I'd expect it from many others, but not you. It's "Memento" and not "momento" as in, "One momento, pour favor." I even saw a new film called "Memento" in London. It may be too late for you to care, but I doubt it." ]It sounds funny, but except for going along with Gannett's monopoly scheme and trying to shut us down, Rupert was a pretty good newspaper owner and, looking back, the Star-Bulletin thrived during most of this period. He rarely visited Honolulu, and didn't appear to meddle in the daily operations of the paper. He had no interests in Hawaii politics, so we were on our own. I have a feeling that S-B staffers will be looking back with some nostalgia at those aspects of his term of ownership.
A S-B staffer spotted a broadcast story on the public blessing of the new Star-Bulletin offices, and wondered why none of the current Star-Bulletin crew appear to have been invited to the party. I missed the story, and any news of the blessing, for that matter, so have no answers.
Thanks to another friend for sending along this link to a mock-up of the Advertiser's new afternoon edition.
As my last day of employment draws closer, I can feel myself distancing from the Star-Bulletin in ways that I didn't anticipate, and quickly beginning to see advantages in a future without the constraints that this setting imposes. It's already feeling like an opportunity rather than a loss.
Of course, "opportunity for what?" remains the unanswered question. But in a line from Three Amigos, high on my all-time list of favorite movies: "Sometimes you can over plan these things."
My train of thought was just disrupted by a desperate dash to stop Leo from peeing on the toaster. Luckily, we searched out a plastic cover that just fits, so the toaster itself is safe even though I didn't get across the room in time. Unfortunately, one of the dishes of cat food between my chair and the counter didn't survive its flight after a direct kick across the floor, but there are lots of suitable cat dishes to be found in rummage rooms and thrift stores. Trust me on that.
Sorry about the delay in posting today's entry. The explanation is simple. I worked late last night writing up the big news of the day, and what is likely to be my final story for the Star-Bulletin--an account of the 43 count federal indictment of local labor leader Gary Rodrigues, who was the focus of my series of investigative stories beginning back in January 1998.The story is currently available in Starbulletin.com's breaking news section, but later today will be found on the main news page.
Since Meda and I share a car, and it seemed unfair to force her to hang around late into the evening to allow me time to finish the story, she was dispatched to Kaaawa to feed the cats, and I spent the night here in town. I couldn't do my normal early morning entry, since I haven't yet set up my computer in the small apartment I'll be using as an office beginning a week from today.
I'm saddened by the impact Rodrigues' indictment could have on organized labor, but it's a public vindication of my reporting. After all, no other reporter followed my lead on the Rodrigues story. I persisted, despite feeling like I was walking a tightrope without a safety net in tackling what many consider one of the most politically influential individuals in the state.
I really don't like to gloat, but Rodrigues has repeatedly made public statements, and published repeated articles in the union's newsletter, branding this newspaper the "Pilau Bulletin", and referring to me as its pilau reporter, using the Hawaiian word for stink, stench, or rotten. He's run my picture in issue after issue of Malama Pono, even at one point publishing a photo of a couple of our cats, which some might have interpreted as a threat. Rodrigues also crushed members of his own union who persisted in requests that he respond publicly to the allegations spelled out in my stories.
The indictments remind us that power, and the abuse of power, has its limits.
And after being treated as the invisible man in the newsroom for several weeks now, the news also gave me a grim satisfaction as a parting message to management of the "new" Star-Bulletin, a reminder of the kind of critical reporting they have chosen to exclude from its pages.
In the newsroom today, instructions have been posted regarding procedures for the final day of the Star-Bulletin on Wednesday, March 15. According to the memo, final paychecks will be distributed, paperwork concerning extension of benefits and retirement options will be available, and they'll be collecting keys, parking passes, and other corporate assets. Staffers will have limited access to the newsroom for several days in order to facilitate final removal of personal items.
"It didn't have to be like this," one staffer said yesterday, shaking his head at the shortsighted management decisions that have driven newsroom morale down through the floor.Just one week to go before the final edition, followed by the first morning edition of the "new" Star-Bulletin. And how much things have changed in a month. From the business side, developments appear to be positive and encouraging. From down in the newsroom, where the Star-Bulletin's human assets reside, there's been a slow but dramatic deterioration in the general mood.
One indicator is the startling difference between the reactions to reporter Rod Ohira's decision to move to the Advertiser last month and newsroom reaction to yesterday's news that writer Bill Kwon will follow.
The newsroom was split last month over Ohira's departure, although the overall reaction was negative, with hostile comments in the halls coupled with a somewhat resentful silence.
There was some sadness yesterday at the news about Kwon's decision, but the more common reaction was simple. Good for him. Serves them right! Them, in this case, being Black, Flanagan, and the rest of those calling the shots in these critical weeks. The consensus is that there have been and continue to be a series of very bad management calls, and under these circumstances a decision to take a better offer elsewhere, even across the hall at Gannett's Advertiser, is being seen positively as an act of defiance.
There continue to be struggles over money. Some stem from confusion over the new work at home plan, with disputes over whether the company will pay for necessary office furniture, desks and chairs, in staffers' homes. Guild rep Wayne Cahill was in the newsroom yesterday afternoon getting an earful of staff complaints.
More serious are remaining salary issues. Although the new contract with Black gave up pay "differentials", the provision was interpreted by staff to refer to shift differentials and other specific contractual items. But the new salary offers, first conveyed in the recent employment letters, simply swept everyone back to scale, even those who had received merit increases or had been previously placed above scale. Several of these cases remain unresolved as some staffers have balked at the salary cuts, but it isn't clear whether Black's Star-Bulletin management is going to negotiate these cases or adopt a "take it or leave it" posture. If it's the latter, there could be more key staff departures ahead.
Morale has been demolished, goodwill towards the "new" management almost exhausted. And the troops are being pushed into battle in a week.
The week started with Gannett's announcement that it has selected a site for it's planned new printing and distribution facility, projected to cost $70 million for the land and construction. Equipment has not yet been selected, and Honolulu Advertiser publisher Mike Fisch said the printing plant is not expected to be operational until sometime in 2004, leaving David Black's "new" Star-Bulletin with at least a three-year lead in offering advertisers and consumers high-quality printing.Fisch also confirmed that costly renovations to the news building are being deferred until after completion of the printing plant.
Rick Daysog wasn't able to add much to the Advertiser's version of the story, but did note that it's a "tentative" agreement rather than a done deal at this point in time. Cynics might wonder whether Gannett is really going to embark on such an ambitious project with its high price tag while the costs of doing business in the new competitive environment are not yet clear.
The sounds of packing were obvious in the Star-Bulletin newsroom yesterday. Trash bags being filled, boxes taped and stacked for the move, piles of giveaways appearing in common areas.
One staffer being pushed by management to retire has been advised by an attorney not to sign any retirement papers before March 14's termination date in order to remain eligible for severance pay, which for some staffers will be substantial. This issue has apparently been glossed over in communications from Liberty and from the "new" Star-Bulletin, which instead have stressed the need for applying for retirement immediately to assure continuity of income. However, it appears that anyone who officially retires prior to to the March 14 closing of the Star-Bulletin sale would technically not be terminated and, therefore, not eligible for severance. Those involved should probably protect themselves by obtaining legal advice before signing away any rights.
I was pleasantly surprised by the surreptitious approach yesterday by a Gannett/Hawaii Newspaper Agency staffer who admitted to reading and enjoying this diary each morning, and expressed appreciation for everything from the news of what's going on in the building to the views of Kaaawa's cats, dogs, chickens, pigs, and sunrises, and said mainland friends had been referred to this site as well. Excuse my run-on sentence, and Mahalo for your thoughtfulness.
The word spreading quickly this morning is that veteran S-B sports writer Bill Kwon will be moving to the Advertiser rather than accepting the "forced" retirement and marginal writing duties offered by the "new" Star-Bulletin management. No confirmation yet from Kwon, but several sources in position to know have confirmed the move. I hate to see the Star-Bulletin lose a writer of Kwon's quality and with his following, but under the circumstances I'll be sending him my congratulations and best wishes.
Cats are good at reminding us of the pleasures of simple things, like rolling in the grass and assuming the upsidedown position. This is Mr. Lindsey showing off for the camera (just click on the photo for a larger view).
It was subtle, and you could have missed it, but the fabled yellow hibiscus made an appearance yesterday in the masthead of Gannett's Sunday Advertiser.
The flower first appeared on the front page of the Star-Bulletin in November 1999 as an insider joke, a pointed reaction to a disparaging comment reportedly made by then-Advertiser managing editor Jim Kelly.
It was later incorporated into the regular design of the Wednesday S-B, and also made a curtain call in these pages as well.
But whether Gannett's adoption of the hibiscus was a continuation of this exchange or just another blatant example of copy cat design remains to be seen. Perhaps we'll hear more today.
I spent much of Sunday sorting through the stacks of folders and files, documents, notes, clippings, and other miscellany that has accumulated on, in, and under my desk over the last eight years. Some I scanned, some I saved, and most got dumped. More difficult than it sounds, since extra trash bins not available, and there weren't even any large garbage bags to accommodate all the paper. Those packing up had only kitchen garbage bags available, woefully inadequate to the task at hand.Among my disreputable looking stacks were fascinating remnants of past stories, like the partial transcripts from an Oklahoma court case and depositions from an unrelated Hawaii case revealing details of the relationship between two former Honolulu residents and the late Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown. The Honolulu couple, Nora and Gene Lum, later became the first to be convicted in the fundraising scandal that enveloped the Clinton administration. If I'm not mistaken, I was the first in print with stories about the Lums ties to the Clinton White House in late 1995, pointing the way for later investigative stories by the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, and others.
Then I packed up my Macintosh, which I've used since the company-supplied equipment became obsolete several years ago, and carried it out past the security guard who carefully noted its serial number along with my name.
With the papers, my last directories and books, and computer equipment moved out to the car, my desk was left a pretty lonely looking place to spend the next week and a half.
Rick Daysog has an interesting story coming, perhaps as early as today, or so I'm told. I'll be watching today's Star-Bulletin with great interest.
Gannett is still up to its tricks even at this late date. It was just about 6 p.m. when we got to the very busy inter island terminal at Honolulu Airport last week. As has been the case far too often, you could buy a morning Advertiser or Gannett's USA Today, but you couldn't get a fresh afternoon Star-Bulletin. The S-B rack was empty.
And complaints seem to come into the newsroom almost daily about late Star-Bulletin deliveries or non deliveries. Most people are unaware that their Star-Bulletin delivery has been managed by the folk's who own the morning competition.
Perhaps these problems shouldn't matter to me anymore, as several friends have suggested, but despite my own situation, survival of the Star-Bulletin protects the jobs of dozens of friends and coworkers, no small factor. It also promises continued competition, which will be positive in a number of different ways. The tricky part will be if the surviving Star-Bulletin fails to retain and reflect the spirit that has made it a good newspaper to read and a good place to work. Loyalties will be tested if it turns out to be a brand new paper hiding behind the Star-Bulletin name.It you missed it yesterday, the photo gallery has been updated again. Nothing special, just another week's views.
Bob Jones quickly retracted the specifics in the letter he sent out yesterday questioning Richard Halloran's hiring to run the Star-Bulletin's editorial section. In a message to S-B Editor John Flanagan, Bob said he "misunderstood Dick's statement to me that he was 'working for' the diocese on the same-sex matter to mean he was being paid to do the research."Halloran penned a longer explanation, a copy of which was sent this way:
...I have never been "employed" by the Catholic Diocese of Honolulu. I once volunteered to do research for the diocesan theologian on the issue of same-sex marriage. That consisted of going through the microfilms of the Star-Bulletin and Advertiser and compiling a record about the issue. I also compiled a short bibliography of books opposing and favoring same-sex marriage. I never wrote anything about the issue for the Diocese.
In addition to not taking money for this research, I paid for the costs of the research myself, mostly slipping coins into a microfilm machine to make copies.As a matter of record, I oppose same-sex marriage, as do a large majority of the voters in Hawaii. I support equal civil rights for everyone, including homosexuals.
Bob Jones's contention that I have "very conservative views" is his judgment. In my view of myself, I wander all over the middle of the road. I defy anyone to put a label on my politics other than independent.
Back in the newsroom, it seems that ten staffers are in the process of resigning from the Star-Bulletin in order to join the "new" S-B a bit early. One of them, George Steele, got a little choked up yesterday when he realized he might not ever see some of the retiring staffers again, at least not in the newsroom.
But getting a critical mass of Star-Bulletin survivors over into the Restaurant Row newsroom might help bring some order to the chaos that currently reigns. Decisions are still being delayed or not communicated, or, worse, made and then quickly undone. There also appears to be a bit of tension in some areas between Star-Bulletin staffers and folks who moved over from MidWeek, who have been functioning in the new offices for a while. One dynamic will obviously be a tug of war for authority between these two teams, the S-B unionized and unconventional, the other nonunion and more used to following orders.
A few staffers were under pressure to step out of bargaining unit positions into "exempt" management positions as part of this move but have hesitated after seeing the way Black's management have treated Diane Chang, who was apparently dismissed without being offered any severance package. Just "best wishes in your future endeavors" and out the door. That's not a confidence builder for folks considering giving up Guild protections.
And one staffer stopped at my desk yesterday, leaned over the partition and extended her hand along with a big smile. "I don't know what to say, and even when someone dies I know what to say."
Less than two weeks to transition day, Black Thursday, or whatever you want to call it, and the newsroom is aflutter with signs of movement.All are being advised to clean up and move stuff out now. Stacks of old cardboard boxes, flattened and ready for recycling, sit for the taking at one side of the city desk, along with tape to hold them together, although staffers are urged to be frugal with the tape. Staffers are to take personal items home and not to the new offices, according to current advice.
Perhaps the first ad for the Sunday Star-Bulletin appeared in this week's MidWeek, offering 6-months of the Sunday edition free for switching to AT&T long distance service. Obviously a sign of things to come. MidWeek, of course, is now also owned by Black and many of its operations are being merged with the new Star-Bulletin.
Also heard this week: All Star-Bulletin subscribers will be automatically be switched from HNA to the new S-B as of March 15, and will receive the first month of Sunday editions free beginning April 1.
Several more staffers will resign from the Star-Bulletin and move to the "new" Star-Bulletin on Monday, another small step towards a successful inaugural edition on March 14.
Today is the deadline for turning in signed copies of the employment offers received from Oahu Publications last week. A reminder sent out to all staff appears to indicate some letters have not yet been returned. What will happen if anyone declines to sign the letter and its broad confidentiality and post-employment secrecy clause remains uncharted territory.
MidWeek columnist and former broadcast anchor Bob Jones is circulating a letter raising questions about Black's choice to oversee the editorial pages, Richard Halloran.
According to Jones' letter, Halloran "has affirmed that he has been employed by the Catholic Diocese of Honolulu to research and write papers against same-sex marriage.
"I emphasize the word 'employed.' I care not about his personal flight nor his potential lightening at the S-B. It is only 'employed' that will bother me and others," Jones writes."If one has accepted money to propose a point of view, can readers ever be asked to accept good counsel?"
Coincidentally, the cover of the current MidWeek features the religious conservative Carol Gabbard, recently elected to the state school board. The cover teaser describes her as the "perseverant Carol Gabbard...pestered by gay activists who 'haven't accepted the democratic process.' "
There's a long history to the Gabbard issue, which has sparked the most heated public debate in the already hot battle over issues of gay rights and abortion rights. Although she is known as a religious conservative, she and her husband are longtime devotees of the former Chris Butler, now known as Jagad Guru ("teacher of the world"), and his cult-like band of Krishna worshipers.
It's always a blood pressure booster to see your name in an article by Bob Rees, so it was without pleasure that I found myself briefly in his cross hairs in the latest issue of Honolulu Weekly (Feb 28-Mar 6).Here's what Bob had to say, buried down in paragraph 16 of a 19 graph story bashing his favorite targets, the daily media, including both the Honolulu Advertiser and Star-Bulletin along with their newly announced print-broadcast partnerships.
"Also working against the Star-Bulletin is that some of its staff have taken to wallowing about in the mud of martyrdom. Reporter Ian Lind went so far as to maintain a Web-site diary of sorrow and woe, and then was surprised when the new management objected to his chronicling of their foibles."Dealing with Rees is always one of those "heads you win, tails I lose" propositions. If I had remained silent though these long months, Rees would likely have blasted me as another silent corporate lackey and sellout to the media monopoly he delights in railing against. But for attempting to actually commit journalism by describing the remarkable scene inside the news building, I'm taken to task by the Prince of Snides who casually dismisses this 18-month effort as "wallowing" in martyrdom, and a "diary of sorrow and woe."
Wake up, Bob. While you're blustering about the small stuff, including poor copy editing and mistakes made under pressures of daily deadlines, we've been living through a remarkable skirmish in the ongoing worldwide war over the future of journalism. Big Picture Time, Bob. Do we need the crayons to spell it out?
Remarkable isn't a strong enough word, but my vocabulary fails me this morning. Rees may not have noticed, but we've been living and working while extraordinary issues have been fought out around us. The Star-Bulletin stayed alive and kept publishing for more than a year under the terms of a federal court injunction, perhaps the only time in U.S. history that a newspaper was forced to continue publication by court order. This case broke new ground in the application of antitrust law to joint operating agreements, for years a critical issue in the attempt to slow the continued concentration of newspaper ownership.
Although my own personal situation didn't turn out well, this marks one of the few occasions when local opposition prevented the closure of a local paper in the face of monopoly pressures. The Star-Bulletin is going to survive, despite rough edges and some unresolved issues, and its survival will no doubt benefit the community.
I've tried to write from the battlefield in this brewing newspaper war. I began the online diary as an act of affirmation, although it hasn't been easy. There has been sorrow and woe for many along the way, no doubt, but also much more. Unfortunately, the common denominator in Rees' writing, a glib yet cruel meanness of spirit, apparently prevents him from acknowledging or appreciating the effort.
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