Beyond the "Final Days":
A Newsroom Diary
by Ian Lind, Star-Bulletin reporter
Beyond the "Final Days":
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**Thanks for visiting. This online diary began as a personal attempt to simply be a witness to the death of a century-old newspaper when the Star-Bulletin's owners, Rupert Phillips and his Liberty Newspapers Limited Partnership, announced their intention to close the paper after the Oct. 30, 1999 edition. In exchange for closing down the Star-Bulletin and terminating the JOA with Gannett's Honolulu Advertiser 12 years early, Phillips would receive a cash payment of $26 million from Gannett, which would be left with a monopoly in this market. But instead we've won and will survive under new ownership. Please browse and get a sense of what it's been like. For more information, visit the first few entries back in September 1999. Or jump right to today's entry. And, of course, feedback is always appreciated. |
What an incredible day it was Thursday. By mid-afternoon the word hit the newsroom: Black is in the deal to stay, and it's full steam ahead! We had the story online before the Advertiser or AP even knew what had happened.What a feeling it is, being out from under that terrible weight of uncertainty and, beneath it all, unstated fear. Now we can see the hard work ahead, but that's a known, quantifiable, clear problem that we can address head-on. And it's something we can deal with and impact through our own efforts, unlike the limbo of the past 15 months. Everyone in our newsroom is suddenly looking around at the world with a newly refreshed attitude, or so it seems.
In a story this morning, the Advertiser quotes publisher Mike Fisch:
Advertiser Publisher Mike Fisch said yesterday, "We are pleased that things are going forward and we look forward to March. We have a number of exciting things that we are planning, and we look forward to being able to introduce them."Lots of exciting things. Like the new security guard now posted in the library all night who arrived unannounced, without notice to most library staffers.
And by the end of the day Thursday came news of Gannett's latest exciting thing: a "take it or leave it" contract offer thrown down on the table just a day or so earlier, with a demand for acceptance by today at 5 p.m. or else. The demand for immediate acceptance was made despite the fact that Gannett's negotiators have been unavailable to discuss or explain the offer. Copies of the proposed contract, which would cover all the remaining unionized employees of the Advertiser and the Hawaii Newspaper Agency, were posted on bulletin boards yesterday.
I haven't seen the proposal yet, but I'm told it is less draconian than earlier company offers. It would raise the cost of health benefits, and offers no salary increases over the proposed two year term, but does add several small "bonuses" and promises no layoffs during its term. Whatever the specifics, however, the "take it or leave it" presentation obviously invites automatic rejection.
Is this Gannett's attempt to provoke a walkout? It doesn't seem to make a lot of sense, but it sure appears to be the case.
And then come the complexities. Until March 15, when we begin independent publication, the Star-Bulletin is operating under the terms of the now expired Guild contract. How would we be impacted by a breakdown in talks on the new contract, which will not cover us after the sale. Will we be sucked into this new labor dispute that doesn't really impact us in long term? Are we out from one mess just in time to get clobbered by Gannett from an unexpected direction? Stay tuned.
It wasn't quite dancing in the aisles, but it felt that way throughout the day on Friday after a morning announcement that S-B buyer David Black has also signed a deal to take over RFD Publications, the publisher of MidWeek, the state's largest circulation weekly, which also has the presses where the new Star-Bulletin will be printed.In one bold move, Black gets control of the presses, an advertising, marketing, and administrative structure, vital advertising accounts, and a 280,000 circulation weekly. The possibilities of the combination with the Star-Bulletin are awesome.
And there probably will be dancing in the aisles at next weekend's Star-Bulletin Christmas Party!
Rick Daysog was able to get a story on the deal into our 2nd edition and in the "breaking news" section of Starbulletin.com, which posted the story shortly after 11:30 a.m.
Rich's story was shamelessly ripped off three hours later by Gannett's Honolulu Advertiser online edition, which used a long AP rewrite of Rick's piece as their featured "breaking" story without a single added comment or interview based on their own reporting, and again without attribution to the original source. Three hours was plenty of time to do a bit of work instead of resorting again to this quasi-plagiarism.
The 'Tiser story drew loud groans and grumbles across our newsroom when it was announced in a staff message, but even that couldn't bring down the buoyant mood. It was smiles and handshakes throughout the day.
I initially noted the potential for a MidWeek/Star-Bulletin combo back on August 16, when I suggested it would make good sense for the Newhouse newspaper group, then MidWeek's owner, to put in a bid on the Bulletin. The fit seemed obvious.
Then, after Black surfaced as the leading bidder for the S-B, an anonymous tipster contacted me with an ominous scenario: Black, he claimed, was merely bluffing by putting in a public bid for the Star-Bulletin, while concealing his real intention to buy RFD and MidWeek. Most of his chain of papers are weeklies, after all, and that's the business he knows best. This tipster advised me to prepare for Black to pull out of the S-B deal at the last minute, leaving us to fold as soon as Gannett could return to court and lift the injunction.
There have been further rumblings, but I avoided mentioning them in this diary, knowing that Rick was digging into the story and fearing that the combo deal, if actually in the works, might be blown by premature disclosure. I've been saying for months now, though, that a bigger deal was most likely in the works, several recent hints appeared to lend credence to the positive scenario.
Announcement of the MidWeek deal instantly bolstered staff confidence. Now we don't simply hope that we can compete--we know we can compete and will have the resources to do it, and we're all eager to get at it.
Meanwhile, I received an unconfirmed report this morning that the Hawaii Newspaper & Printing Trades Council has tentatively approved Gannett's "take it or leave it" contract offer and will be presenting it for ratification votes of its respective unions. There was a lot of talk, and little information, about this contract offer yesterday, so we'll we watching carefully for confirmation of this report.
I've been getting lots of reactions to Black's deal to buy MidWeek.Here's an example from a Star-Bulletin staffer:
I am now convinced we're going to be able to compete with Gannett.I wasn't until today.
Midweek has always been like a baby rottweiler attached to Gannett's leg. Now we own the rottweiler. Maybe we can sharpen his teeth and make him an even meaner rottweiler. Maybe some day he'll gnaw that leg right off.
Best move Black could've made.
Meanwhile, the winter season has returned to Kaaawa. There have been several days with big surf breaking outside the reef, and strong surges washing up to the beach. There are more high tides, which bring the turtles down to this part of the coast where the water is otherwise too shallow for them to graze.
Sunrise now isn't until approximately 6:53 a.m., which means that many days we've already left the beach and are walking home before the sun actually comes up.
This makes weekends special, when we can delay our departure so that we arrive down at the beach at the appropriate time.
Some good friends have taken advantage of the good deals available in Hawaii's real estate market these days to buy property and move 25 minutes closer to town.
They're pressuring us to follow suit, but can't do it because we can't currently conceive of giving up our relationship with the dawn.
The kittens continue to grow and get themselves into trouble, although they still haven't figured out the wonders of the cat door, through which the big cats managed to miraculously appear and disappear in an instant.
Instead, during those occasional moments when they slow down, they find a vantage point and enjoy the outside world from a distance, observers rather than participants.
If the Internet had ears, they would be burning this morning after Star-Bulletin staffers exchanged comments in reaction to a column published yesterday by recently retired Advertiser editor Jim Gatti. We were not amused, you might say."Gatti's either clueless, uninformed or deluded," one staffer responded.
There's just too much wrong with Gatti's portrait of Gannett as victim unfairly charged with plotting the Star-Bulletin's demise. And while I might want to give the departed editor a bit of leeway, the experience of the past year runs directly contrary to his imaginative scenario. From the pettiness of the last-minute steam cleaning to disrupt a press conference by critics, to Gannett's attempts to scuttle any potential sale by withholding information, to the efforts to restrict S-B circulation, and then to deny us our history by making it as difficult as possible to retain archival records of the Star-Bulletin's 118-year history, all underscore Gannett's relentless corporate scorched-earth tactics which burned up any residual goodwill they might have enjoyed.
An article in today's Advertiser assesses the impact of the Star-Bulletin/MidWeek combo, and drops in this interesting comment to mull over:
"In essence, the problem is going to be for Gannett that Mr. Black knows how to compete and the (joint operating agreement) that's been owned and operated by Gannett for 29 years has completely lost the internal knowledge of how to compete," said David Cole, editor and publisher of NewsInc, a California-based newsletter on the newspaper business. "I'm not just talking about news. I'm talking about advertising and circulation. Gannett does not have a history of being in competitive markets. This is going to be a very interesting situation for Gannett."Very interesting...
Meanwhile, back in the newsroom today, we'll be assessing the meaning of the newest arrival, an emissary representing current Star-Bulletin owner Rupert Phillips' Liberty Newspapers Limited Partnership. He's moved into a Star-Bulletin office, and apparently will remain here through the March 15 transition.
There was speculation Friday over his assignment, and hopefully more will be known by today.
The surf has been booming overnight. The crashing roar of each wave is followed by a deep rumbling as rocks and bits of coral are tumbled and mixed on beach. We'll see the results in another hour when we get down to the shore.Advertiser staffers are scheduled to meet on Thursday to vote on their new contract. I'm told Gannett's "take it or leave it" contract was significantly modified and improved before being accepted by union negotiators, including the addition of a 2% raise in one year, no changes in the medical plan, and free parking for all. It's hard to see any reason to turn it down, and ratification is expected.
We didn't learn any more about Rupert's emissary or what he's up to, but there were some fears that he might intervene directly and cancel Saturday's scheduled Christmas party. We're in a "wait and see" mode, although whether Rupert would risk the reaction to such a move seems questionable. Apart from his attempt to close the paper, he hasn't previously meddled overtly in newsroom affairs.
Politicians and other public figures have a rule they must learn to live with: Don't do anything that you wouldn't be willing to see on the front page of the daily newspaper.Just when we thought we were past all the really big problems, a policy issue emerged somewhat unexpectedly yesterday that had sparks flying in heated conversations among staffers in our newsroom. I have to clarify the underlying facts before writing about it here, but it involves a key issue that the Star-Bulletin's new management will have to apply the public figure's rule to. Is that policy one that we would print for the world to read?
So far, staff who have heard about the issue are split. Some immediately say "fight it". At least one prominent voice says "live with it."
The bottom line is that we're not out of the woods yet after all, but some additional fact checking is necessary before I can say whether the problem is real or, as has happened so often through this whole experience, a reflection of our heightened sensitivities. Enough said for now.
Sunrise, Kaaawa, Hawaii. December 5, 2000.
No need to abandon the lifeboat just yet. I haven't heard all the details, but the crisis that I noted so obliquely yesterday appears to have been largely resolved after further discussions. Or so I've been told.Wednesday's Star-Bulletin carried a brief notice of a job fair to be held next month:
The buyer of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin plans to hold a job fair next month to fill more than 100 openings.Oahu Publications, a local unit of Victoria, British Columbia-based Black Press Ltd., said it tentatively has scheduled the job fair on Jan. 13 at Waterfront Plaza.
The company plans to hire more than 100 new positions, including posts in classified sales, telemarketing, accounting, advertising sales, display advertising and advertising production. Resumes can be sent to Oahu Publications' offices at 500 Ala Moana, Tower Seven, Suite 409, Honolulu, HI, 96813.
There was some scurrying to assure that copies of this notice were posted on Hawaii Newspaper Agency bulletin boards. And I suppose this also means that the lease has been signed for office and newsroom space, since they're using the new address for applications.
Staffers were grumbling about a rumored edict by Rupert's emissary declaring all associated with David Black or the Save Our Star-Bulletin group disinvited from the guest list for Saturday's staff party. A bit of the Scrooge in the air, eh?
The Dec. 11 issue of Business Week includes a story looking ahead to the newspaper wars in Honolulu, San Francisco, and Seattle, which leads with the white knight named David Black here in Honolulu.In the midst of other complexities, we're stuck with a vacation quandary. The scheduled March 15 closing date for the paper's sale means that we'll accrue 2-1/2 months of vacation under the current ownership, which will have to be used up by March 15 or lost. No one is anxious to turn this benefit back to Rupert, but everyone burning off their bits of vacation early in the year will make it hard to complete all the tasks that need to get done by March 15. It's one of the slew of problems to be wrestled with in the weeks ahead.
The newsroom mood is upbeat, but it's hard not to feel left out of the flurry of decisions being made by Black's crew as they push the key things forward--planning the new facilities, ordering everything from carpets to computer systems, etc. Architects, contractors, and technicians are already at work on a rush basis. It's going to be a challenge to keep everyone informed as much as possible, and to create windows for real participation, so that we can all be rowing in the same direction during these crucial weeks.
But, so far, those who have been privy to the early decisions feel that Black's team is extremely competent, and have been trying to convey their confidence to the rest of us.
Yesterday was my dad's 87th birthday. He celebrated by taking his boat out on a two-day fishing trip to Molokai and back, with a younger crew to do the heavy lifting. Hopefully some of his longevity genes washed downstream to me.
Interesting signs of life. Apparently David Black's "new" Star-Bulletin opted for a long lease on the new office space rather than a shorter, 5-year option, expressing a level of confidence that is beginning to be contagious. Closer to home, there was word going around earlier that the Hawaii Newspaper Agency credit union wants to maintain its relationship with the Star-Bulletin and retain our staffers as members.There were teams from Price Waterhouse coming through the newsroom Friday afternoon attempting to inventory all equipment, including ancient file cabinets, broken chairs, etc. It wasn't clear just whose team they were working for.
There's a scenario causing some concern across the hall at Gannett's Advertiser. It goes like this: The contract voted on this week is for two years, but it's retroactive to the expiration date of the prior contract back in June, leaving about an 18-month term. There's a niggle of fear that Gannett will bail out when the contract expires, redeploying its assets into a market without the daily competition. Gannett's pattern is to acquire paper in small and medium-size markets where competition isn't a factor. It's also true that the Hawaii operation has underperformed Gannett's expectations, largely because the Hawaii economy was down for so long. In addition, Gannett needs to invest in a new printing facility, involving an estimated cost of more than $50 million for land, construction, and equipment, and the main news building desperately needs renovation, which has been deferred again for unspecified reasons. Whether these add up to enough reason for Gannett to sell out and leave the Advertiser to find another owner is one of those questions without an answer, for now at least.
Tonight we fill Murphy's and celebrate, again. I'm sure we'll toast to another 118 years.
Current and former Star-Bulletin staffers and friends gathered again last night at Murphy's in downtown Honolulu to celebrate the season and our survival.
Click on the handsome couple to the right for some photos of the evening.
It was a more subdued holiday atmosphere than last year, although that could have been the product of our relatively early departure and care taken to remain mindful of the long drive back to Kaaawa. "Relaxed" may actually be a better word than "subdued". Attendance was smaller, in part because of a reduced guest list, and we didn't experience the emotional charge of the standing room only crush or the frenetic edge honed by uncertainty and the looming unknown.
Two true stories of Hawaii for those who imagine that everyone is tracking the 2nd month of election day in minute by minute detail.
On Friday morning we were on the road heading into work, listening to Honolulu's "all news" radio station at 650 AM (the radio frequency, not the time). We perked up as they announced that the Florida Court rulings on the absentee ballot issues were to be announced, and then the broadcast shifted live to Tallahassee for the announcement. "Good morning," said the court spokesperson, as you could hear papers being shuffled, the nation and world poised in anticipation of the announcement...and suddenly without warning Hawaii's all news station suddenly cut to a canned report on local sports. Listeners who didn't immediately jump to another station lost the opportunity to listen to history being made.
Kaaawa sunrise. December 9, 2000.Later in the day I was at my desk when the phone rang. It was one of those occasional wrong numbers that happen from time to time. An older local male intended to call circulation and instead reached my desk.
"Star-Bulletin?" he asked? "Where's my newspaper? I never get my newspaper."
I tried to explain that he had the wrong number, but that was rowing against heavy seas. But I thought to deflect him.
"Oh, you know, the paper might be late because the Florida Supreme Court announced it's ruling in the presidential election case right on our deadline, and they probably stopped the presses to get that story in." I thought it sounded good, and was probably true.
The caller replied quickly: "Election? Election? What do you mean? The election was last month! Where's my paper?"
I gave up, told him the paper was late and suggested he call back if it wasn't in his hands in a half hour. Of course, I made sure that I wasn't at my desk just in case he misdialed again.
Maybe he works at a news radio station.
I guess that we left the party on Saturday night just before the food and free drinks ran out, leading to at least one call for a pizza delivery later in the evening. We also just missed Newspaper Guild staffer Wayne Cahill's appearance, which I'm told drew spontaneous applause.Star-Bulletin staffers were also buzzing Saturday night about the screw-up following the U.S. Supreme Court's move to halt the counting of ballots in Florida. It seems the presses were stopped in order to replate the front page with the news, and folks distributing the paper were given additional copies, anticipating increased Star-Bulletin sales due to the grabber headline, "The Count is on Hold". There was about an hour delay while the replating was supposed to be done.
But lo and behold, when the bundles were opened, no new headline. So distributors got stuck with papers that didn't sell, which backed up and meant that copies of the final edition with the new headline weren't even distributed, since earlier copies were still in place. It was a major screwup that cost everybody up and down the line.
No explanation was available, at least when it was being talked about Saturday night. Maybe today we'll hear more.
Disappearing act: Sunday's Honolulu Advertiser included a scathing letter to the editor from UH Law Professor and former state Bar Association president Randy Roth, taking issue with departed editor Jim Gatti's account of how the Advertiser blew the great Bishop Estate/"Broken Trust" story. Roth laid the problem all at Gatti's feet, and in very strong terms. The letter got prominent play in the print edition, but I couldn't find it this morning in the online edition. It isn't among the online letters, or under the "opinion" heading. Very interesting...
Our early morning walk started in the light of the full moon, which cast strong shadows even at 6 a.m., and then transitioned as we reached the beach into a dramatic sunrise, which eventually yielded the first green flash that we've seen in several months. Today's flash was also unusual because it could be seen as the sun rose over the island of Molokai, rather than directly over the ocean. In any case, quite a morning, perhaps a sign of the momentous nature of the day's events.
Kaaawa, Hawaii. Monday morning, December 11, 2000.
With the U.S. Supreme Court deliberations dominating the day, it was actually a relief to be waiting anxiously for word about something other than the fate of our newspaper and our jobs. I think we're slowly refocusing and reengaging with the rest of the world as we shake off that inward looking gaze. It's overdue personally, and can't do anything but help the Star-Bulletin.Cutting expenses is apparently the game of the month, with Rupert Phillip's man upstairs now taking a sharp pencil to all requested expenditures. This means the absolute worst travel schedules and flights for reporters who have to travel, and we're realizing that there may not be any Star-Bulletin contest submissions paid by company funds, which will probably reduce the overall number of entries. If Rupert also prohibits use of company time and facilities to prepare entries, it could cut off most entries. That's one very direct way to eliminate the bragging rights that we've had in recent years.
This nice bit of feedback came in a couple of days ago:
Just a quick word to say how much I enjoy your diary every morning. Today's (Sunday's) entry was priceless. I live on Maui and subscribe to the Maui News and Sunday Advertiser, but I'm looking forward to switching over to the new Sunday Bulletin when it starts publishing...and, if the new owner has it together, he'll make you a featured columnist.C. R
Kihei, MauiComments like this make my search for an exit strategy a lot more difficult.
It's a cozy little scene this morning. It's just after 5 a.m., very dark. I'm in the living room writing this on a Blueberry iBook balanced on my lap, and stretched out across the front edge of computer, spilling over onto my lap, is Lizzie, the now something over 5 pound former kitten rapidly becoming a cat. She's purring loudly and occasionally giving in to the urge to bite a passing finger. This is a weird behavior that several of our rescued cats have displayed--getting relaxed and happy means it's time to gnaw on something, and fingers are just about the right size. We've decided, in the absence of any real data, that their mothers brought small things for them to crunch up as small kittens in the wild or semi-wild, and that was always a happy circumstance. And so here we are, ready to resort to the small bottle of bitter orange is necessary. Usually, though, Lizzie (and Harry) will got to sleep after a few unsuccessful finger snaps, and hopefully they'll outgrow it soon. Well, we can hope.
There's a lot of interest in David Black is scheduled speech today at a special meeting of the Honolulu Community-Media Council, where he is expected to discuss his blueprint for competing with Gannett's Advertiser. I suspect a lot of Star-Bulletin staffers will be timing their lunch hours to take in this talk.Notices went up yesterday indicating that one of the unions voted down the contract proposed by Gannett and already approved by the Guild, and since there's a solidarity pact among the different unions, this means the contract cannot be approved until the issue is resolved. The ILWU apparently wants to go back to the bargaining table over a single issue impacting district managers in charge of distributing the paper, and are waiting for the company to respond.
An interesting question has also come up about the status of Star-Bulletin employees between now and March 15. We have in the past bargained jointly with the Advertiser staff and shared the same contract terms, and although we just approved a new contract with Black, it doesn't kick in until the termination of the JOA. So some in our newsroom wonder whether we ride on the Advertiser's coattails for the next 3 months.
Now I'm going to wander into the ethernet for the text of the Supreme Court decision. Amidst the chaos of initial reports last night, I chose to eat dinner and try to have a normal evening, and leave time to absorb the decision this morning.
ALERT: David Black's speech at noon was a direct attack on Gannett's "arrogant, legalistic, monopoly-loving eastern bureaucracy".
David Black was very effective in making his point in yesterday's speech. There were several real zingers in addition to those mentioned in Rick Daysog's story, which went online within hours of the noon presentation.Black said, for example, that Gannett and Liberty have said they will not turn over the subscriber list or carrier routes until the morning of March 15, the same day that the JOA ends and the first issue of the independent Star-Bulletin are supposed to roll off the presses. Obviously, that's a move that would make it impossible to put a paper in subscribers' hands that day, and perhaps for several days.
Black added another detail, saying that he had proposed an October 31 closing, so that he could have taken control of the Star-Bulletin immediately, with a transition of several months to move the operation out of the building. According to Black, Gannett rejected the idea of an immediate closing and instead insisted that they retain control of our operations throughout the "transition" period and until the day the Star-Bulletin vacates the building.
Of course, although we're supposed to be out on March 15, Gannett and Liberty have also decreed that nothing can be moved prior to that date, and that editors can't even speak with Black or his staff.
Black took the opportunity to plug Richard McCord's book, The Chain Gang, another devastating analysis of Gannett's corporate culture.
Black also suggested that employment offers from the Advertiser or the Hawaii Newspaper Agency are questionable because their revenue will fall sharply when the JOA ends, necessitating cutbacks and layoffs in their operations.
Black said, in response to questions, that most of the top 150 advertisers had pledged to place half of their daily newspaper budget into the Star-Bulletin for the next three years at a rate of 45 percent of HNA's current combined rate, an indication of interest that cemented his commitment to this deal. And he noted that the ability to offer an advertising package including the daily Star-Bulletin and weekly, MidWeek, would be "compelling" to advertisers.
At least three television stations had news crews there to cover the speech.
This is all sure to reverberate for a while, especially through the news building.
"This probably means war." That was online media columnist Jim Romenesko's one-line comment yesterday accompanying a link to the Star-Bulletin story about Gannett, with the "arrogant, legalistic, monopoly-loving eastern bureaucracy" comment duly highlighted.In our newsroom, the buzz has been inventory. First the teams tagging everything, then checking, and now reconciling. What happened to your old computer, etc. Staffers are confused about whether this count is being the "good guys" or "bad guys", and as a result what our attitude towards it all should be.
One editor told a reporter this week that he can't even comment on the directive preventing management staff from having contact with Black. "No comment" was the response to a question about the directive's scope.
I was disappointed that the glare of the week's media interest bypassed Rupert Phillip's alter-ego, Al, who is sitting upstairs now and interfering in all sorts of things. He's pinching Rupert's pennies, I guess, and also trying to monitor enforcement of Gannett's "no contact" edict. We still don't know what else he's up to, although there's a definite sense that folks are scurrying around trying to avoid running into him unnecessarily.
There's also a lot of talk in other parts of the Hawaii Newspaper Agency about the possibility that following the 18 month contract, Gannett will come down with layoffs. The credibility of Gannett's managers is rather low.
I talked with a staffer out back by the loading dock yesterday who said there's a interest in whether Black's hiring plans will have room for them, and they're hoping to get in contact with Black or his staff soon. Some staffers say they're interested in jumping to the new Star-Bulletin.
"If we go, bang, he's up and running on day 1," I was told.
Sunrise in Kaaawa. Tuesday, Dec 12.
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