i L i n d . n e t

The Star-Bulletin reports today on plans by Elite Pacific Properties to auction off a portfolio of properties next month.

The story stems from a press release distributed by the company.

The first sentence of the release describes the need to be creative in “a slow real estate market”, but the notion that Hawaii’s real estate market is slipping isn’t mentioned anywhere in the S-B story, although recent data certainly seems to indicate that’s the case.

Let’s see. The rest of the world has been reading about Paris Hilton’s arrival on Maui yesterday, although I’m not sure whether it’s been news here yet.

Meanwhile, the State House has unveiled its new Hawaii House Blog after an informal dry run.

It isn’t just the mainstream press that’s feeling the pinch from corporate management. This story from The Nation describes the situation at L.A. Weekly since it was taken over by New Times Media a couple of years ago.

Two recent comments here deserve mention.

You know, one of the reasons I stopped subscribing to home delivery, was the plastic bag. Now every paper, every day is encased in at least one, sometimes two, plastic bags. I would guess that most are never even necessary. On some days, none are. It was a constant battle to get the delivery people to just put it in a dry spot. When I was a kid we delivered papers (oh boy here we go) and we had to find a way without plastic bags. Was no big problem that I recall. It’s kind of scary just how much plastic that is.

The reader has a good point. In those old days, you knew the route and where to put the newspaper at each house so that it would survive until read. Today’s approach is simpler but environmentally insensitive.

And here’s an insight offered up by Keith Kamisugi several days ago:

From the Bulletin article: “Shelton said public information officers are becoming more important than ever since newsrooms are smaller.”

What I read this to mean is that PIOs, i.e. PR people, are becoming “more important” because shrinking news staffs are relying more and more on the content provided by the sources they cover.

Isn’t that the sad truth!

I caught a few of our cats in a little interaction this week. Harry was an innocent bystander as Silverman met Toby out in the front yard. The lesson: Looks can be deceiving. Just click on Harriet’s photo for more of this Friday’s felines.