A few years ago, we visited a friend in Seattle, a city with two excellent newspapers. Next to the fireplace in her living room, stacked like firewood, were a dozen unread copies of the Seattle Times still rolled up and tied with rubber bands. Digital Pulse
of ParadiseOur friend was at a busy time in her life, so it wasn't surprising that she didn't have time to read the news. Still, the sight of all those unread papers made an impression on me. The effort and care that goes into publishing a newspaper is wasted if people don't read it.
For almost three years, we've been publishing an online edition, starbulletin.com, delivering news and information for and about Hawaii to more people. We've learned that most of our online readers simply can't buy or have today's paper delivered today.
Online readers include travelers on business trips or planning Hawaii vacations. Others live on the neighbor islands in places where we can't offer home delivery. Many are college students and Hawaii transplants on the mainland and around the world. Local readers tell us they check the headlines online at work and then read the print edition at home.
We don't know how many unread Star-Bulletins are stacked in people's houses -- not many we hope -- but the computer tells us exactly how many readers open our online edition. That number is growing steadily and already averages more than 11,000 a day.
John Flanagan is editor and publisher of the Star-Bulletin.
To reach him call 525-8612, fax to 523-8509, send
e-mail to publisher@starbulletin.com or write to
P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, Hawaii 96802.