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WHEN the Gannett Co. announced in 1992 that it was putting the Star-Bulletin up for sale and buying the Advertiser, our staff feared that no buyer would be found and our newspaper would close. Staff got wake-up call
But few people in the community cared. There were no protests about a one-newspaper town, few angry letters to the editor, little outrage from politicians.
We only had to look at our own readership research to see why. Our surveys showed that readers saw little difference between the Star-Bulletin and the Advertiser. We were Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum to them and they saw no reason to care whether there was one of us or two.
We on the Star-Bulletin staff took it as a wake-up call. When Liberty Newspapers Limited Partnership bought the Star-Bulletin in 1993 and gave us new life, we devoted ourselves to showing the community the value of having two newspapers in town.
Our decision to publish the "Broken Trust" essay when our competitor hesitated was a key factor in the downfall of corrupt Bishop Estate trustees. Reporter Rick Daysog followed "Broken Trust" with many exclusive stories on trustee misconduct.
Team effort produced hard-hitting special reports on government secrecy, Hawaii's struggling economy, trouble in our schools and the power of public employee unions. Rob Perez protected Hawaii consumers with his work on inflated gasoline and consumer prices. Christine Donnelly's in-depth report put Rice vs. Cayetano in perfect focus and Cynthia Oi, Crystal Kua and Rod Thompson did the same with the Dana Ireland case. The indictment of Gary Rodrigues didn't surprise our readers who followed Ian Lind's stories on the labor leader's dealings.
A lot of newspapers talk about being agents of positive change in the community. We did it.
We weren't a great newspaper -- we never had the resources to even dream of that. But with soul, guts and love for Hawaii, we had great moments that brought us a string of national and local awards unprecedented in Hawaii journalism.
More importantly, when Liberty Newspapers decided in 1999 to take a buyout from Gannett and close the Star-Bulletin, the indifference that existed in 1992 was gone and the community rallied to our defense. Federal lawsuits filed by the state and a citizens' group ultimately forced the sale of the newspaper to Canadian David Black, who takes over March 15.
BLACK, a small-market publisher until now with an ego the size of the Northwest Territories, saw an opportunity here not apparent to anybody else. While other bidders for the Star-Bulletin offered a scaled-back operation that would need large subsidies to survive, Black proposed an expanded newspaper financed with his own money.
Opinion is divided on whether he's visionary or delusional. He's thinking so far outside the box that I wouldn't guess at the outcome.
It remains to be seen if Black can publish a quality metropolitan newspaper that upholds or, hopefully, surpasses the best traditions of the Star-Bulletin. The Advertiser is a fine newspaper with deep pockets and will put up a formidable fight for readers.
As Gov. Ben Cayetano said in noting recent Advertiser improvements, "Nothing like good, spirited competition to keep everyone on their toes."
Whatever side of this you've been on, it's historic and exciting. My place in the new universe, if any, isn't yet clear. I hope to find a home for Volcanic Ash, but if that doesn't work out it still has been a joyous ride that I wouldn't have missed for anything.
Bulletin shutdown archive
David Shapiro can be reached by e-mail at davids@aloha.net.
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