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TheBuzz
Erika Engle
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Environmental news editor is devising an Oahu online newspaper
ADS POSTED on the online bulletin board craigslist rarely generate buzz in newsrooms and among news junkies, but a solicitation for "news journalists" has done just that.
Not that anyone has mentioned jumping ship over it, mind you.
Jim Crabtree, the executive editor of Environment News Service, said he is exploring the creation of a Web-based Oahu community newspaper to battle the "big boys" online.
Crabtree and his wife, Sunny Lewis, who is the environment reporter for Hawaii Public Radio, established Environment News Service in Vancouver, Canada, in 1990. They moved to Hawaii in 1992 after coming here on vacation.
Jim Crabtree doesn't have many good things to say about newspapers in today's world. Before his news service days, Crabtree was among the first reporters for the San Francisco Bay Guardian, an alternative weekly known for its disdain for anything corporate.
"The online news platform is not being taken advantage of by the fishwrappers, and in the end, the community is left on the sidelines," he said.
Crabtree isn't ready to say much about the paper he's planning. The craigslist ad describes ambitions for hard-hitting stories, late-breaking local news and personal stories from around Oahu.
Responses to the ad, posted in early July, came from people who've always wanted to come to Hawaii, from diverse spots as Spain and Indiana. "Holy mackerel, the talent just poured out," Crabtree said.
However, he said, "I would never bring somebody over here from the mainland to cover local news."
Crabtree has a delivery system and resumes from local talent but no sales team yet. He also doesn't have enough hours in the day, he said. He still heads the Environment News Service, compiling international environmental stories from a network of writers -- none of whose bylines appear on the site.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin. Call 529-4747, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210, Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached at:
eengle@starbulletin.com