View Point
Friday, September 17, 1999

Star-Bulletin will be
missed by many

Honolulu Star-Bulletin closing Oct. 30th after 117 years

When a city loses a newspaper, its like a death in the family, except many of the citizens may not immediately realize how serious it is.

During all my years competing against you from my desk at the Honolulu Advertiser, the Star-Bulletin ran a professional newsroom that produced good journalism.

Now, there will be news stories that go uncovered, opinions that go unpublished. Public dialogue will be the poorer for it.

Whether this is the inevitable product of changing lifestyles, a sluggish economy or the corporatization of American journalism, it's a damn shame. Thanks for trying to keep two voices alive in Honolulu. We'll miss you.

Gerry Keir
Former Editor,
Honolulu Advertiser
Via the Internet

I've truly enjoyed my nearly three decades of knowing and working with so many of your good people -- too many to name, but with many great memories. I'm going to miss the second news voice, the great writing, creative layouts and Honolulu's best comics section.

To all Star-Bulletin staffers, past and present, a very sincere aloha and mahalo.

Joel Kennedy
Via the Internet

Hear that sound?

It's the huge sigh of relief going up from smoke-filled rooms in which powerbrokers plot, the sound of smug satisfaction from those who prefer that their dealings not be made public, the gleeful laughter from well-entrenched political incumbents, manipulators of the facts and the spin doctors. They have won.

The Star Bulletin has been silenced, not by political pressure, but by economic expediency.

And that other sound? A huge sigh of resignation from those of us who have believed that the Star-Bulletin was the only "real" newspaper in town; the only source of investigative journalism, a balanced editorial page and just plain old STYLE.

You will be sorely missed. Honolulu will not be the same.

Gary Langley
Kaneohe
Via the Internet

The Honolulu Star-Bulletin will be remembered for publishing the "Broken Trust" stories. The people of Hawaii owe you a big mahalo.

Bob Loew
Via the Internet

The impending death of the Star-Bulletin is tragic. In the past few years, the afternoon daily has become the much-needed counterpoint to the morning daily.

It was, after all, the Star-Bulletin that was brave enough to endorse Linda Lingle for governor, to print "Broken Trust" and to take on UPW head Gary Rodrigues. Hawaii will lose an important, contrasting voice.

The democratic process requires an informed electorate. But now, the electorate will get its information from a monopoly daily newspaper that has failed to prove any investigative or editorial prowess, and 10-second sound bites on the evening news.

Kevin Yim
Via the Internet

Betty Farrington must be turning over in her grave.

The Star-Bulletin has excellent reporters and columnists, and its editorial cartoonist is among the best in the country.

I am devastated at the prospect of losing my afternoon friends. We need as many journalistic voices as possible to keep our community well-informed and dynamic. To hear that the Bulletin is shutting down, on the heels of the news that the Sun Press community papers are closing, is terrible news, indeed.

We have finally become a one-newspaper town. We are all losers because of this.

Denise De Costa
Kaneohe
Via the Internet