Tag Archives: Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Cheaper to die than to print an obit

22 Replies

When Jim Lindblad’s mother, Janet Scott Lindblad, died back in June, he thought it would be nice to have an obituary run in the Star-Advertiser. Although her adult life had been spent on the mainland, Janet spent her teen years in Hawaii, graduated in the Roosevelt High School Class of 1945, and retained lifelong emotional ties to the islands. Her son, Jim Lindblad, has lived in Honolulu for over three decades, and I’ve known him much of that time.

So Jim wrote up a narrative and asked the newspaper how much it would cost to publish on a Sunday. The answer: $1770.95. After a revision and a slight reduction in size, the amount dropped to “just” $1,522.26.

The quote was $95 per column inch, plus an additional $50 for the online version, and yet another $50 for a color photo.

Jim’s comment to me: “We paid far less than this to have the body cremated, and the company picked her up from her rest home and needed to store her for a week while we waited for the death certificate.”

“I find it difficult to believe the people I read about whose loved ones died are paying this kind of money for a smallish ad type obituary,” Jim said.

Welcome to the monopoly newspaper.

Jim declined to run the ad at that price.

“I decided my mother would not approve of me spending the $1500 or $1000 or even $500 were she here to help me,” he said later.

The bad thing, for the newspaper at least, is that it is taking advantage of families at their most vulnerable, and they don’t tend to come away with warm and fuzzy feelings towards the newspaper. Many are probably angry, as Jim was, about what appears to be an exorbitant price structure. And now that most classifieds have migrated to Craigslist and other online venues, this is one of the few direct interactions people are likely to have with the newspaper. Wouldn’t you want it to be perceived and remembered positively?

Yes, a free, bare-bones death announcement is available, but it’s not a satisfying memorial for a loved one.

Anyway, at the end of this exchange with Jim, I asked if he would like me to publish what he wrote about his mom. It will be indexed by Google, so other people will be able to find it. Jim agreed, so it appeared this morning as a separate item.

Jim and I would both be interested in hearing your thoughts about how obituaries would be handled in an ideal world, and what real-world alternatives there are today.

Drug testing at the Star-Advertiser?

12 Replies

Drug testing of reporters at the Star-Advertiser? Or just my misunderstanding?

Did you happen to see PBS Hawaii’s Leahey & Leahey last night, with guest Stephen Tsai?

This weekly program features father & son team, Jim Leahey and Kanoa Leahey in a 30-minute discussion of local sports that often wanders in political and social commentary. It’s always a well-done piece of local programming.

They introduced Tsai as the top Star-Advertiser reporter on the UH football beat.

Tsai responded that he had just taken a drug test (did he say “drug test” or “blood test”?) and hoped that his job at the Star-Advertiser is secure. It was said in a joking manner, but it didn’t seem to be a joke. However, I have to leave the door open because I haven’t heard anything else about such testing, which would likely raise a fuss. Hopefully I just misunderstood.

And I don’t see anything concerning drug testing on the Hawaii Newspaper Guild web site. Actually, the transition to the Star-Advertiser isn’t yet reflected there. Instead, there are still links to the Star-Bulletin and Advertiser. I suppose this reflects some disarray as the Guild goes through merger talks of its own.

Meanwhile, back at the Star-Advertiser

6 Replies

It was officially announced yesterday that Ben Wood, Helen Altonn and Mary Adamski are leaving the newspaper as of July 30 after agreeing to voluntary buyouts that are said to include the maximum severance called for in the Guild contract.

I’m told Frank Bridgewater pointed out that between the three, they have more than 150 years combined experience.

“Our loss,” says one friend in the newsroom.

Earlier, I received this comment/complaint from a Starvertiser staffer.

Some lower management types were put back in the union, but now have one day — one day! — seniority over the Advertiser hires. They weren’t given a choice. So some people who have been here more than a decade are now technically only been here five weeks. Earlier, some people were made management (without any managing duties) simply to make them easier to dispose of.

And a proposal to merge the Hawaii Newspaper Guild with a number of other bargaining units has been moving forward.

Members of the Executive Committee of the Media Workers Guild endorsed a merger outline Saturday that could create a powerhouse communications local in the West, uniting the San Francisco-based Guild, the Hawaii Newspaper Guild and Oakland-based CWA Local 9415.

The tentative outline suggests the merged local be called the Pacific Communications and Media Guild. It would be a diverse alliance, one of the largest in the CWA, with more than 5,000 members drawn from industries including newspapers, language services, broadcasting, cable TV and regional, long-distance and cellular telephone service.

The units involved: Hawaii Newspapers (three bargaining units), Hearst (San Francisco Chronicle and SFGate), MediaNews Group (three bargaining units), McClatchy Newspapers (three bargaining units), California Federation of Interpreters (four regions), Printing Trades (multiple units), Guild Freelancers, New Media (online news and nonprofits), Radio and TV (KPFA), Cable Communications (Comcast), Telephone (Bell legacy), Long-Distance (AT&T), Mobile Communications, Manufacturing, etc.

And, speaking of California, former Advertiser & Star-Bulletin reporter Rick Daysog certainly hit the ground running in his new job at the Sacramento Bee. Check out his rapidly growing story list.

List of local directors dropped from “Views & Voices”

13 Replies

Here’s an interesting comment from a reader:

An interesting comment by “Abcde” in your blog not long ago referred to David Black’s local investors.

” …According to previous news reports, Black’s local investors include Jeffrey and Lynn Watanabe, Duane Kurisu, Larry and Claire Johnson, Island Holdings Inc., Dan Case and C.S. Wo & Sons Ltd., all very familiar names, very local, and in most cases (no pun intended) all very Democrat.

Is it fair to apply any amount of public or private pressure to these local investors? Can they continue in good faith to donate to Democratic causes and look the other way while severance packages are being held up and hourly wage employees are laid-off with barely a goodbye and thank you for all their hard work? It would be nice to hear from these local investors if they truly believe their newspaper is being a good community stakeholder. Or is it just a pure business investment void of any social conscious? … (sic)”

After examining newest print edition and web version of SA, I see no mention of local investors and their names.

Does this mean that Black and Co. no longer have local investors as previously published, or does this mean that the new S-A has decided that for whatever reason, no mention of local investors is going to be standard business/publishing policy?

Before the Bulletin/Advertiser merger, local investors of Black Co. were prominently published on the Editorial section of the Star-Bulletin in small and fine print if I’m not mistaken.

Now there is no mention of Black’s local investors in print or online. Is this a newsworthy item?

I just pulled two newspapers out of our recycling stack, a Star-Bulletin and a Star-Advertiser.

Both papers have a “Views & Voices” spread with editorials and letters. On the left hand side, the old Star-Bulletin had a list of its publisher/editors followed by a list of the board of directors, which included the local investors. The Star-Advertiser inherited the same layout, but there’s just blank space where the directors’ list used to be.

To the reader, it looked like those were directors of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Not so. “Honolulu Star-Bulletin” and “Honolulu Star-Advertiser” are just trade names registered by Oahu Publications, and they were Oahu Publications’ directors.

Does the removal of the directors signify anything? State business registration records show they continue to serve as directors, at least at their last official filing. It’s hard to say what else this might mean, if anything.