Star Bull buys Advertiser

[Frankie's Market]

Re: Star Bull buys Advertiser

Among those covering and/or commenting on the sale/purchase, Ian Lind had the best headline:

David Buys Goliath

Yep. But just to make it clear...."David" as in David Black, not the Star Bulletin operation.

As Ian pointed out in his follow-up blog entry today, the status of everyone working for the SB is up in the air at this point. Just because their employer is buying out the Advertiser does not guarantee them anything as far as job security goes. The only thing that appears to be a certainty at this point is that if there is no buyer for a standalone SB, then there will be a whole bunch from both dailes ending up on the chopping block to create a leaner, consolidated newspaper.

I feel for them.

[foolish heart]

Re: Star Bull buys Advertiser

This surprise move reminds me of that scene in "Gladiator" where the Empereror is getting advice from one of the Senators:


"I have been told of a certain sea snake which has a very unusual method of attracting its prey. It will lie at the bottom of the ocean as if wounded. Then its enemies will approach, and yet it will lie quite still. And then its enemies will take little bites of it, and yet it remains still. "


I'm not comparing Mr. Black to a snake, I actually admire and respect him very much.

What I am saying is, it would appear that all this time he has been making it LOOK like he was the wounded one...the weaker one...the one who was about to go bankrupt...when in fact, he was the stronger one.


I am very sad when thinking about the employees at both papers, and what the future may hold for them.

Like others have said though, with all of these media consolidations going on for the past decade...if anyone is still in this business maybe this is the moment when they say enough is enough and moved on to something else, perhaps with more job security, for themselves and their families.

If I had to give a speech to would-be journalists, it might be -- rethink your options.

[Walkoff Balk]

Re: Star Bull buys Advertiser

David tsunamis the Advertiser.

[Kalihiboy]

Re: Star Bull buys Advertiser

Really in this day and age what jobs are secure anymore? What type of occupation should college students go into to help insure they will have a job for many years to come? As always I think people should follow their heart and within reason do what makes you happy.

.....Don Rockwell and I keep in touch often and he tells me how will the morning news programs survive without the local papers feeding them a good chunk of the information they base their programs on?

[Frankie's Market]

Re: Star Bull buys Advertiser

Don Rockwell and I keep in touch often and he tells me how will the morning news programs survive without the local papers feeding them a good chunk of the information they base their programs on?

Hmmm. That really shouldn't be a problem for the Hawaii morning shows. By 6 am our time, news events on the mainland are already happening full-swing. Stuff that's been happening while we've been asleep,.... that should be the focus of the morning news shows. Not newspaper content which is already a day old.

[Kalihiboy]

Re: Star Bull buys Advertiser

Hmmm. That really shouldn't be a problem for the Hawaii morning shows. By 6 am our time, news events on the mainland are already happening full-swing. Stuff that's been happening while we've been asleep,.... that should be the focus of the morning news shows. Not newspaper content which is already a day old.

No. The local newspapers come out after midnight, online versions are up and running at least by 1:30am, which gives the morning news producers the information they need to help run the show itself. I've been there, done that, so has Rockwell and everyone else who has worked in the business before.

[Frankie's Market]

Re: Star Bull buys Advertiser

No. The local newspapers come out after midnight, online versions are up and running at least by 1:30am,

Yes, with the bulk of the articles dealing with events that happened the day before.

which gives the morning news producers the information they need to help run the show itself. I've been there, done that, so has Rockwell and everyone else who has worked in the business before.

True, some people have been there. Past tense.

But this is 2010 we are talking about, not 1980. This whole discussion is about a newspaper that is dying. It's dying because in a day and age of multiple 24 hour TV news outlets and websites that provide multimedia access to oodles of news stories on-demand, the traditional newspaper has become obsolete. Whatever newspapers that do survive will carry on in a trimmed down format. Fewer ads mean fewer pages, which in turn means less content. There's no getting around it.

Hawaii morning news shows needing the local newspapers for things to talk about? Whatever you say. I think that idea is totally obsolete. And the soon-to-be reality of Honolulu becoming a one newspaper city bears me out.

[Kaonohi]

Hawaii Newzpaper History (in part)

if there is no buyer for a standalone SB, then there will be a whole bunch from both dailes ending up on the chopping block to create a leaner, consolidated newspaper.

1. Hawaii Star and Hawaii Bulletin consolidate to form the Star-Bulletin.
2. Enter The Advertiser to compete.
3. Various machinations....
4. Star-Bulletin and Advertiser combine to form: The Star-Bulletin-Advertiser! Competing with... The Honolulu Weekly?

(Totally tongue-in-cheek. I'm sure the history is wrong or incomplete.)

K

[buzz1941]

Re: Star Bull buys Advertiser

What Rockwell is referring to is content that has been reported and edited, not raw material.

News content on the Internet largely comes from newspapers. It doesn't appear by magic.

[Kalihiboy]

Re: Star Bull buys Advertiser

What Rockwell is referring to is content that has been reported and edited, not raw material.

News content on the Internet largely comes from newspapers. It doesn't appear by magic.

Bingo! That is what I was trying to say, but you said it better. I think most people forget the fact that the news information they are getting on their IPhones, cell phone's, etc. are coming from the newspapers which prove how vital they are. Look at how much information are in the newspapers, how many paragraphs, look at the word counts, etc. what they are doing in television is editing all that information into short bits of information because of time constraints. If you want the full detailed information on something, I'd read the newspaper instead.

In fact I've had many current news producers, reporters, etc. tell me how hard it would be to do those morning news programs without the newspapers, so they rely on them a great deal and will continue to do so whether it be a two or one paper town.

Many of our best journalists are in the newspaper business and a great deal of them have moved on to television news (Leslie Wilcox, Bob & Denby Jones, Dalton Tanonaka, Greg Takayama, etc. and done a great job there as well.

[Frankie's Market]

Re: Star Bull buys Advertiser

What Rockwell is referring to is content that has been reported and edited, not raw material.

News content on the Internet largely comes from newspapers. It doesn't appear by magic.

Ah, but in turn, more and more newspaper stories are sourcing quotes and other bits of information/data from websites that do their own news gathering and research, like the Huffington Post and the Daily Beast. The distribution of news between the various mediums doesn't just move in one direction.

What can I say? Things are continually changing in the news biz. Some mediums are on the rise while others are faltering and have to adapt. It may pain some folks to hear it, but newspapers fall into the latter category.

[Kalihiboy]

Re: Star Bull buys Advertiser

Ah, but in turn, more and more newspaper stories are sourcing quotes and other bits of information/data from websites that do their own news gathering and research, like the Huffington Post and the Daily Beast. The distribution of news between the various mediums doesn't just move in one direction.

I agree, but it also goes both ways, you mention Huffington Post doing their own news gathering and research, well a lot of that information is coming from the newspapers. A story I did for the Bulletin in 2008 was in the Huffington Post, I've had RadioDailyNews.com, tvnewsinsider.com and many other outlets pick up my stories as well, which all came from the newspaper!

Many others can claim similiar experiences too I'm sure.

I think most of us would agree that the newspaper business did not prepare itself well enough for the internet, sad thing is they had many years to adapt, I've been online 15 plus years myself, so they have had time to figure things out. Unfortunately, the internet will be blamed for the decline of newspapers, record sales, movie industry, etc. and we have all contributed to the problem. We don't buy encyclopedia's anymore, we look it up in wikipedia or something similiar, we can get phone numbers online without even bothering to look into a phone book.

And that phone book is what all of the local stations said to look for to find information on tsunami evacuation zones and other pertinent information because at least most everyone has a phone book or too many they care to have!! Point being we still need newspapers, they continue to be a vital source of information, but the one thing the internet hasn't been able to match as far as I am concerned is advertising.

The classified ads, store coupons, job listings, promotions for events, stores, products, business related, etc. in newspapers are crucial to both the newspaper itself, but also to the client who is placing the ad. On the internet we complain about these annoying pop ads which are advertisements for something, something we evidently do not want to see or read! Perhaps that is one way the newspaper business will endure for years to come because of the strength of advertising.

I've placed ads in Craigslist and not had a single person contact me, but the same ad ran in the newspaper, I had over a dozen people contact me, the old fashioned way, via the telephone. Some may say newspapers are old fashioned and maybe I am a bit old fashioned too. But we are all relevant and I hope newspapers will continue to be that strong contributer to society that it has been for so many years.

[Nords]

Re: Star Bull buys Advertiser

Really in this day and age what jobs are secure anymore? What type of occupation should college students go into to help insure they will have a job for many years to come? As always I think people should follow their heart and within reason do what makes you happy.

"Be happy..." is the best advice, but if that includes "... and study engineering" then it's probably that much more employability.

Spouse thinks there will always be work for people who can bring order out of chaos. The problem is that there's not much recognition of when those skills are needed.

And that phone book is what all of the local stations said to look for to find information on tsunami evacuation zones and other pertinent information because at least most everyone has a phone book or too many they care to have!! Point being we still need newspapers, they continue to be a vital source of information, but the one thing the internet hasn't been able to match as far as I am concerned is advertising.

I think the stations missed an opportunity to overlay the tsunami evacuation zones on Google Earth maps that they could manipulate on a large touch-screen display... and imagine if you could bring up a tsunami evacuation app on your smartphone to tell you which way to go.

As display technology gets better, and text sizes easier to manipulate, I rarely find myself reaching for anything that's printed in four-point font. Just my presbyopia is probably going to send me scurrying for a Kindle in the next few years, let alone any other aging-related vision issues.

[Frankie's Market]

Re: Star Bull buys Advertiser

I agree, but it also goes both ways, you mention Huffington Post doing their own news gathering and research, well a lot of that information is coming from the newspapers. A story I did for the Bulletin in 2008 was in the Huffington Post, I've had RadioDailyNews.com, tvnewsinsider.com and many other outlets pick up my stories as well, which all came from the newspaper!

Many others can claim similiar experiences too I'm sure.

Of that, I have no doubt. But look at where the trends are heading.

If this was 1995, then yeah. I would say that the newspapers and the newswires were the places from which virtually all the news flowed from over the internet. But 15 years later, the tide has definitely changed. The online news-gathering organizations have been on the rise. Look at the Huffington Post. While the print publications have been shedding staff, the HuffPo has been hiring reporters who used to work for places like the Washington Post and Newsweek. And note that these reporters are paid, unlike the HuffPo's bloggers.

The news biz is like any other business: The consumer is the king. And where are people getting their news from?

Compete.com is reporting that when it comes to attracting unique visitors, the HuffPo has blown past both the online editions of the LA Times and the Washington Post. Not only that, but over the last 12 months, the HuffPo's audience has grown by nearly 50%, while the two newspapers are preaching to a shrinking gallery. That's cold, hard stats for you on where the trends are going.

I think most of us would agree that the newspaper business did not prepare itself well enough for the internet, sad thing is they had many years to adapt, I've been online 15 plus years myself, so they have had time to figure things out.

Frankly speaking, I don't know if there ever was any way for the newspaper industry to have prepared itself for the changes that were coming. About 14 or 15 years ago when most people in this state were still getting their home internet through dial-up, I went to this technology expo at Blaisdell where KHON was demonstrating some multimedia features that were still in the piloting stage, and I knew right then and there.....THIS is how people in the future will want to experience their news. Websites that offer a lot of on-demand video, not just dry text. And as a corollary of that vision, I knew that this gave the TV news organizations a leg-up over the print media folks.

Yeah, yeah. I know the Advertiser posts their own videos now. Better late than never, I suppose. But most of it is raw interviews or press-conferences. It's nowhere near as polished and digestible as what the TV stations offer on their sites.

Point being we still need newspapers, they continue to be a vital source of information, but the one thing the internet hasn't been able to match as far as I am concerned is advertising.

The classified ads, store coupons, job listings, promotions for events, stores, products, business related, etc. in newspapers are crucial to both the newspaper itself, but also to the client who is placing the ad. On the internet we complain about these annoying pop ads which are advertisements for something, something we evidently do not want to see or read! Perhaps that is one way the newspaper business will endure for years to come because of the strength of advertising.

I've placed ads in Craigslist and not had a single person contact me, but the same ad ran in the newspaper, I had over a dozen people contact me, the old fashioned way, via the telephone. Some may say newspapers are old fashioned and maybe I am a bit old fashioned too. But we are all relevant and I hope newspapers will continue to be that strong contributer to society that it has been for so many years.

Print advertising will always be important. But one thing you've overlooked is how those print ads are being disseminated. There's this thing called MidWeek which is mailed out to nearly every household on this island. And so successful has it been that they've even printed a "weekend" edition of MidWeek for the last five years. Obviously, those revenue-generating ads have been siphoned away from the daily newspapers. Heck, look at what David Black is doing. He's looking to sell or consolidate the Star-Bulletin.... but at the same time, he's hanging onto MidWeek. That pretty much says it all, as far as where the money is at when it comes to print ads.

As I earlier said, I feel for all the newspaper men and women, including you and Burl. I hope that both of you are able to be a part of a merged newspaper operation, if a buyer for the S-B can't be found.

[Kimo]

Re: Star Bull buys Advertiser

Ian Lind posts the termination letter all Advertiser employees are receiving this week.

No bumping, since everyone is being terminated effective closing of the sale. Star Bulletin setting up a management company to do rehiring - everyone welcome to apply for appropriate positions - to keep the Advertiser publishing.

www.ilind.net