I've been a reporter with the Honolulu Star-Bulletin since the beginning of 1993. The Star-Bulletin is part of a Joint Operating Agreement with the Honolulu Advertiser, owned by Gannett.
When the Star-Bulletin's owners suddenly announced plans in mid-Sept 1999 to close the paper in exchange for a payment of approximately $26 million, we were stunned, devastated, and angry. Within days, I began an informal record of what it was like in our newsroom in the midst of the closure.
When antitrust lawsuits stalled the closure, the diary continued, growing into a larger project than I had anticipated.
Today, everything has changed. We've got a buyer after a sale that was pretty much forced down Gannett's throat by the pending litigation, and we go independent on March 15. Directly into a war with the Honolulu Advertiser.
We've been through a lot. We've made some newspaper history. And there's a long way to go.