Editorials
Thursday, March 15, 2001This is an exciting day as we launch a newspaper that is at once fresh and new, yet steeped in 119 years of tradition in Hawaii. We promise you a first-class newspaper. Tradition gets a
few new twistsThe Star-Bulletin's new owner,
David Black, summarizes his vision for
this newspaper that is beholden to
the people of Hawaii.As you can see, the new design is bright and clean. The Star-Bulletin will have a new morning edition that will be sold on the street and on the neighbor islands, while the time-honored evening edition will be delivered to homes on Oahu. The Sunday edition, to be launched on April 1, will have the national magazine Parade, a vibrant travel report, an authoritative business review and revitalized pages of reportage and commentary.
To produce the paper, the best and brightest from the former Star-Bulletin have been joined by newly hired reporters and editors, graphic artists and advertising and circulation staff, all with extensive experience. We have formed a partnership with television station KITV for news gathering, investigative reporting, polls, health coverage and weather reports. Similarly, we will work with channels KFVE and KHNL on coverage of sports at the University of Hawaii.
Much of what will go into producing and delivering the recharged Star-Bulletin will be out of sight. Our newsroom at Seven Waterfront Plaza has been equipped with state-of-the-art computers and software to build our pages. The advertising offices in the same building have been furnished with the latest in efficient and therefore less costly processes. Our circulation department has signed up 36 contractors to deliver papers to 800 coinboxes, 600 dealers and 600 carriers. We have acquired a superior press facility at MidWeek and are expanding that plant so that we can print a full slate of sharp color pictures and advertisements.
All of this, and more, will go into the best newspaper we can publish. We will focus intently on your need to know, to give you the facts and explanations needed to provide for your families, to do your jobs and to be entertained. We will seek to inform every reader so that he or she can take an active part in the political, economic and social life of Hawaii and America.
This has always been Hawaii's newspaper, as contributing editor A.A. Smyser so ably points out elsewhere in these pages. We are but the latest stewards of the Star-Bulletin in its long history. This is an independent newspaper beholden to the community of which it is part. News judgments and editorial positions will be decided here by editors and writers with roots deep in Hawaii.
A word about competition: The Star-Bulletin will compete vigorously and fairly in news reporting, advertising sales and circulation, all to the benefit of our readers, advertisers and employees. Some people have been skeptical about our chances of survival because our main competitor is part of a formidable and well-financed corporation. Clearly, the support of this community will be vital to our success in providing another source of news, analysis and editorials. With that backing, we intend not only to hold our own but to excel and flourish.
The new Star-Bulletin has been built from the ground up during the last few months. It reflects fresh thinking and taking advantage of new press equipment and the latest technology to deliver the best daily paper that we know how to produce. Best gets better
Star-Bulletin editor John Flanagan
offers a look at the new morning
and afternoon newspaper.This is in marked contrast to the usual redesign of a newspaper, which can be like repairing a moving train or a ship at sea. The daily demands of deadlines limit editors to tinkering, adding a feature here, changing a typeface there.
Keeping readers informed, educated and entertained is what this newspaper is all about. We've expanded our news columns to provide more local, national and international news, business coverage, a colorful new weather page, an expanded features and comics package, a new Weekend entertainment section and more timely and complete sports coverage. The editorial pages will offer wide and diverse points of view.
Everywhere, we've kept the best of the old Star-Bulletin. Readers can still look forward to Corky Trinidad's cartoons on the front and editorial pages. Kokua Line will give advice, chastise lapses in aloha and offer mahalo for kindness. Charles Memminger's Honolulu Lite will brighten your day three times a week and soon on Sunday, too.
At the same time, we're adding columns, features and personalities, including a serial called My Kind of Town by Don Chapman, The Buzz in local business by Erika Engle and Kalani Simpson's insights on Hawaii sports.
A dynamic, competitive spirit is driving our news gathering with a fresh urgency to excel. Starting today, we're going to press twice a day to bring morning readers a distinctive choice while continuing to serve our faithful afternoon home subscribers.
In Hawaii, readers expect a morning newspaper to have the local news and sports coverage from the day before, while an afternoon newspaper provides today's news today -- especially from Wall Street, the nation and the world. The new Star-Bulletin will take advantage of its twice-a-day press schedule to print morning and evening editions Monday through Friday.
On Saturdays -- and on Sundays beginning April 1 -- the Star-Bulletin will be delivered in the morning to make sure we're available when most people want a weekend paper. We're preparing the Sunday edition and excited about the features it will offer.
Rarely does a person -- let alone a newspaper -- get a chance to start over, almost from scratch. We're trying to make the best of that unique opportunity and we welcome you along for the ride.
Published by Oahu Publications Inc., a subsidiary of Black Press.Don Kendall, President
John Flanagan, publisher and editor in chief 529-4748; jflanagan@starbulletin.com
Frank Bridgewater, managing editor 529-4747; fbridgewater@starbulletin.com
Michael Rovner, assistant managing editor 529-4751; mrovner@starbulletin.com
Lucy Young-Oda, assistant managing editor 529-4751; lyoungoda@starbulletin.com
Richard Halloran, editorial director 529-4790; rhalloran@starbulletin.com
Ed Lynch, city editor 529-4758; elynch@starbulletin.com
Nadine Kam, features editor 529-4759; nkam@starbulletin.com
Stephanie Kendrick, business editor 529-4757; skendrick@starbulletin.com
Cindy Luis, sports editor 529-4782; cluis@starbulletin.com
Dean Sensui, photo editor 529-4791; dsensui@starbulletin.com
Blaine Fergerstrom, webmaster 529-4840; bfergerstrom@starbulletin.com The Honolulu Star-Bulletin (USPS 249460) is published daily by
Oahu Publications at 605 Kapiolani Blvd., P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, Hawaii, 96802.
Periodicals postage paid at Honolulu, Hawaii. Postmaster: Send address changes to
Star-Bulletin, P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, Hawaii 96802.
