December 16-31, 2000 [next two weeks] [prior two weeks]
Today: December 31, 2000 - Sunday
This was the week that our most recent pair of kittens, Lizzie and Harry, suddenly figured out the cat door. For three months, they've watched other cats miraculously appear and disappear through this portal, an opaque plastic flap tucked into the corner of the door out to our back deck. The key, I think, was that "outside" had little meaning for them as neither kitten had been outside since we rescued them.It was Christmas Eve when we arrived home from dinner with my parents, arms loaded with presents, and Harry took the opportunity to race out the door as we came into the house, She then spent the next half hour in unrestrained freedom. All we saw what a blur as she raced back and forth across the yard. Dirt, grass, and trees were all equally attractive to her. When she finally slowed down just enough to be retrieved and brought inside again, that seed of knowledge had been planted.
Monday morning, we went off on our daily walk as normal, and when we returned, both kittens were right there, but on the other side of the cat door, outside looking in.
A year ago, I didn't believe there was any realistic way the Star-Bulletin would survive another 12-months and end the year with at least its intermediate future assured, and with more than a fighting chance at long-term survival. I guess that I couldn't couldn't yet conceive of being on the other side of that cat door. We still haven't experienced the pure exhilaration of the kittens' first romp in the yard, but the first few weeks out from under Gannett's corporate thumb might come close.
It is, I think, going to be a happy new year.
A strange thing happened yesterday.Paycheck envelopes were distributed. Inside was a bonus, but not a "normal" bonus. This one was apparently triggered by the bonus provision in the new contract approved by Guild staffers at the Advertiser and the other unions representing employees of the Hawaii Newspaper Agency. A different contract from the one between the Star-Bulletin's employees and the paper's owner-in-waiting, which has been signed, ratified, and goes into effect on March 15.
Apparently there was some considerable confusion over the status of Star-Bulletin staffers during this interim period. Our new contract with Black has not gone into effect because the newspaper doesn't belong to him yet. We're currently covered by the Guild contract which expired back in June. But under the terms of that contract, there was parity between the Advertiser and Star-Bulletin. So when the Advertiser and HNA approved a new contract which included a 2 percent bonus at ratification, some eagle eye asked whether this bonus provision would apply to us as well. Apparently the answer was affirmative. Just one of those unanticipated consequences.
Stranger things have happened, but not in a while.
The private guards employed by HNA are undergoing workplace violence training this week. It's probably just a prudent corporate move in this post-Xerox world, but it casts an ominous shadow.
It seems like almost every day someone in our newsroom has a new incident to report where Gannett's Hawaii Newspaper Agency, along with our outgoing owner, Liberty Newspapers, are doing something else to the Star-Bulletin's detriment and continuing to make the transition period as difficult as possible. Whether it's failing to fill open positions, or forgetting to fill Star-Bulletin street racks, it's been a continual irritation because we know how much harder each incremental move will make our jobs.I expected one of the parties in the antitrust case to take the issue to the judge by now, but apparently it hasn't happened. Now there's a sense that we might not be able to rely on others, and legal action by a group of reporters is a possibility that's being tossed around. There have been exploratory contacts with attorneys and background discussions. I don't know where this might go, but there's good energy in doing more than waiting.
Work on the Star-Bulletin's new newsroom down the street at Restaurant Row is proceeding full speed, with drywall going up and wiring being laid. Seeing visual progress provides some visceral sense that we're really making progress and moving rapidly towards freedom from Gannett.
It's interesting to note what positions were conspicuously absent from the new AJR job ads: managing editor (Frank Bridgewater is currently "acting"); city editor (vacant); assistant city editor (we're short). Also nothing on the technology side, as in support for reporters working at home with Macs for the first time, or another assistant webmaster position to at least contribute to handling the Sunday online edition. Whether these are oversights, positions to be filled through other channels, positions with particular people already selected, or just positions that won't be filled, we don't know and will probably just have to wait to see.I just took a quick look at the entry for last year on this date, which looked at the union busting reputation of King & Ballow, the law firm which represents the Star-Bulletin's current owner, Liberty Newspapers Limited Partnership. It's good to be reminded of such things, especially as we face the potential chaos between now and March 15.
Perhaps we should all at least consider the opinion offered by one diary reader:
Not being on the inside, I can see your view that a contract says that you folks will have 30 days after the final issue to clean out the office. Thus, possibly no real sweat.Ha, Ha.....<dry sarcastic editorial comment>
However, this past week things have gotten very very very ugly. You are now looking at a mega multimillion dollar newspaper pissing war. When the original buy-sell was written, Black had not yet announced that he was buying MidWeek. Thus, possibly everyone felt that they had the SB by the stones and the throat. No internally owned printing plant available. After the MidWeek purchase, everything on the face of the island changed. The whole flavor of the SB purchase changed. The whole competitive picture changed. The Tizer people were obviously passing large square bricks. Now with the Advertiser going to add a pm., and the SB adding an am, everyone is going for the jugular, forget the stones. I would caution to <not trust> any sale contract terms at their face value. Yes, the SB will transfer on 3-15., the judge will see to that. How many fingers, toes, and vital pieces and organs that will come along, will have to be seen. Do not plan on any Gannett cooperation in any way. Do not be surprised if a lot of things never appear at transfer time.
I have a bad gut feeling that there will be a lot of petty arguments as to who owns what paperclips. Everybody......<READ MY LIPS>...get all of your critical stuff off-site now.
Plan to be able to write and publish off-site immediately after 3-15, with no reliance on the old office. Actually removing any reliance on the current office for personal professional existence, ASAP, would be extremely prudent for those who plan to move on to the new SB.
Just my 2 cents.
With a big block of staffers on "use it or lose it" vacations, we're getting a preview of how short staffed we're likely to be through the March 15 transition unless some way can be found to carry over vacation days earned during those first two and a half months. No one is anxious to lose nearly 25% of their annual leave, but burning it all in this limited period will necessarily put quite a crimp in our normal operations, not to mention all the additional transition work to be done.A rumor circulating over the weekend says David Black made two offers to purchase Pacific Business News along with MidWeek, but both offers were rejected, which seems quite plausible. The second part of the rumor says PBN's publisher, Larry Fuller, and editor, Gina Mangieri, are hoping for possible management spots in the new Star-Bulletin lineup. These are wholly unconfirmed rumors, and were being aggressively peddled to S-B staffers, so there are obviously some hidden politics driving the rumor mill that are as interesting as the rumors themselves.
One article we've been waiting for is listed in the contents of the current issue of American Journalism Review, although it's not included among those available online:
Week of Dec. 26, 2000, through Jan. 1, 2001: The Pulse of Paradise
By Lucinda FleesonAfter a new owner rescues it from a near-death experience, Honolulu's aggressive Star-Bulletin gears up for a battle against Gannett's dominant Advertiser.
Lucinda had the bad luck of a deadline that preceded the blockbuster announcement of Black's acquisition of MidWeek and, of course, last week's announcements of all-day editions by both the Star-Bulletin and Advertiser. But we're all interested in her take on things and look forward to the story. Hopefully someone will fax an advance copy to our newsroom (808-523-8509).
December
26, 2000 - Tuesday
[If you're visiting for the first
time, click
here for a little
background]
"HONOLULU STAR-BULLETIN IS HIRING." That's the headline just posted on the American Journalism Review's online JobLine, where two ads are soliciting applications for a variety of positions at the Star-Bulletin.One seeks "reporters, copyeditors/page designers, sports copyeditors, features staff and a News Editor," while the other targets "a Sales Director, Retail ad Manager, Classified Manager and, of course, motivated salespeople."
One ad promises "...an exciting opportunity in a competitive situation." That's obviously right up there in the running for understatement of the week.
Now there's a new worry. Is David Black just a real wily guy with a modest, "ah shucks, we won't be adding any staff" public line while preparing to do just the opposite? Or are we all competing with potential new hires for our current jobs? From what we've seen so far, I'll bet on the former.
The "green flash" made another appearance as the sun made its appearance on Saturday morning. This one seemed to last about two seconds, and left us standing there alone on the beach whooping and shouting.
And, if you missed the banner, I've added a current photo gallery, where I'll rotate current photos every couple of days rather than keep devouring storage to archive all the sunrise and cat pics. Click on the banner to check it out, and check back every couple of days to see what's new.
Merry Christmas, folks. I'm "on holiday" from the diary today, but it's not permanent. Back tomorrow.
|
|
|
|
It's Christmas eve morning, no newspaper news to tell, so time for a personal confession: I'm a secret dog fancier. There, I've said it. Just don't tell the cats.
The first stop on our walk every morning,which at this time of year is around 6:15 a.m., is right around the corner, where a string of Christmas lights snakes out from the nearest house and wraps around the stop sign, turning it into part of an exuberant country tableau.
Two sweet dogs live there, one gold, one red. Kolohe and Ricky. Both large and happy, they seem to spend half their time sitting crazily in the windward rain as if being wet and bedraggled is nothing out of the ordinary for a country dog, the other half under one or another of the assortment of old cars scattered around their yard.
But they're alert in the early morning, waiting, and come loping out of the darkness as we approach because they know something special: I'm the guy with the dog bones.
That's right. I admit to being partial to cats, but I've got a growing list of canine friends as well. The secret is the pocket full of Costco's finest dog bones, purchased in 15 pound boxes, that I carry on our walks. There's only one dog we pass who has consistently resisted any handouts, although several of their human companions have asked us to limit our rewards to kind words.
Ricky & Kolohe, Kaaawa.
There's Ricky and Kolohe, then on rare occasions the Hopkins' black lab up the road behind the fire station, then Tiki and Opu who live down along the ocean near the park. On the walk back from the beach, there's Hina, who lives with Liz, our occasional cat sitter, and only gets a bone when she's chained close to the back fence, then Kahiko (who doesn't get a bone), and right next door Daisy and her sister, both jet black with occasional drops of white, who yip, bark and snap with glee but don't get any bones either. Finally, just at the end of our street, a new addition to the routine, the one we call "dancing dog", a brown, happy dog who focuses on us from her post at the top of her driveway as we turn the last corner, stands up, scratches her back end, then begins the obviously joyful romp down the block to meet us at the corner of Haahaa Street, where she sits and accepts the bone and a few pets before trotting back coyly towards home.There was a For Sale sign in front of her house, which recently came down, and when she didn't appear for three days last weekend, we thought she had moved away before we even learned her name. But she was back this week, so maybe there's still time.
What a week it's been, starting with contributing editor Bud Smyser's 80th birthday, running through former managing editor Dave Shapiro's pizza bash for staff at lunch on Thursday, and then all the stress producers chronicled here. I'm not sorry this one's over.The Diary's fleeting brush with censorship led Erika Engle's column in the issue of Pacific Business News that arrived on Friday.
Here's an excerpt:
Lind says the issues revolving around the transition and daily diary entries are "very complex" and he thought he had been sensitive to those concerns."I thought I was going to be able to walk the tightrope--but there are other people on the same tightrope, and we're not all leaning in the same direction at the same time," Lind says.
Not a bad statement of the problem. Wish I had thought of it earlier.
Friday was also a day for shared looks of frank amazement as the prospect of an expanded and protracted war with Gannett sank in. What is going on? As one reporter quipped, "what's next? We'll both buy television and radio stations, and extend the war across the spectrum."
Rick Daysog was up early to get David Black's comments on the Gannett/Advertiser's move to an afternoon edition that will compete with us directly. We will begin an early edition to distribute on the street and on neighbor islands in direct competition with Gannett for the first time. Unless there's so much advertising that the news hole is forced to shrink, there will be lots of space to fill, always a great prospect for reporters who have something to say.
The expected Friday court session was apparently canceled or postponed, so there was no news yesterday on the continuing conflict over transition matters.
We hear there's a consultant at work on a redesigned "new look" for the Star-Bulletin. It seems the one constant is going to be change for a while.
The dark storm clouds that covered the dawn yesterday appear to have been portents of what was to come later in the day. |
|
And at least one television station reported last night that the Star-Bulletin will match Gannett's move with a morning edition of our own. We'll certainly hear more about that today.The clue to the real meaning of the Advertiser's announced move to afternoon is hidden in one of Mike Fisch's comments buried down in their story this morning.
Fisch is quoted as saying "he expects to develop a daily circulation for both Advertiser editions equal to the combined current circulations of The Advertiser (now 106,590) and the Star-Bulletin (59,748)."
Fisch said a year ago that if the Star-Bulletin closed, the Advertiser alone would capture circulation equal to the two paper's combined circulation. At that time, the statement had one primary purpose--to justify maintaining their advertising rates for a single paper at the same level that is currently charged to run ads in both papers. The move angered their big advertisers, and contributed to the potential that the Star-Bulletin now has to wrest significant advertising accounts away from HNA.
It will be interesting to see whether yesterday's announcement is also being used by Gannett as a justification for demanding continued high advertising rates. Keep in mind that Black said publicly last week that he has offered the largest advertisers new rates set at 45 percent of HNA's combined rate. That's a cut of more than half. This has to be putting tremendous pressure on HNA and Gannett.
"Never mind." The phrase from the late Gilda Radner's character, Emily Litella, is an apt label to cover the events yesterday. When I got to my desk Wednesday morning, I was immediately summoned upstairs to the Star-Bulletin's executive offices for a meeting with Al Portner, who has been sent out here by Liberty Newspapers to ride herd on the transition period. Diane Hastert, one of Liberty's local attorneys, was also present at the meeting.Following the meeting, which lasted less than 10 minutes, Portner issued a brief written statement addressed to all Star-Bulletin newsroom staffers and other interested parties. The statement says, in relevant part:
"In his 12/20/00 entry, Lind claims he was threatened with termination unless he ceased publication of his diary. Lind has been made aware there never was and is no threat to his continued employment under Liberty ownership.....Liberty Newspapers does not censor its reporters in the proper and responsible exercise of their first amendment rights and responsibilities."The statement was posted on the newsroom bulletin board without further comment.
I heard later in the day that Black, Gannett & Liberty are due back in court today, presumably to deal with Black's complaints about handling of transition matters. Perhaps Judge Kurren will assist in setting clear and reasonable parameters for the next three months.
The Final Day. |
There are now two Star-Bulletins, the one that is putting out a daily newspaper, and the parallel universe of the new Star-Bulletin, which is being created in a 100-day sprint. David Black has assembled a parallel staff and team of consultants, and they're already in overdrive. There are some folks who are moving between the two universes, but for now the two worlds remain distinct and separate. |
I couldn't resist stopping for more cat photos yesterday morning when I looked in and saw Lizzie and Leo bathed in great backlighting from a window immediately behind them.
Leo spent Sunday at the vet in our continuing attempt to separate physical from emotional problems behind his unfortunate proclivity for "spraying" almost indiscriminately, including claiming me on at least one occasion. So Leo was not a happy camper after a day of poking, prodding, and testing, and Lizzie was in just to check him out and, perhaps, provoke him a bit.
Lizzie & Leo
In three months, on March 18, the "new" Star-Bulletin's first Sunday paper will be sold on street corners and delivered to homes of subscribers across the state. In three months. That's 90 days. Neither the product, nor the company, nor the publishing infrastructure exist yet, although they're farther along than before the MidWeek deal.Gannett and their proxy, Liberty, are still screwing around with inane edicts prohibiting planning for or implementing the transition, or at least blocking any management employees (meaning editors) from engaging in such activities.
Perhaps its time for a general uprising, with editors proceeding to engage in normal planning necessary for the survival of the paper. Nothing that costs Liberty anything, nothing that impacts the current Star-Bulletin, just work above and beyond. But work that clearly violates the edict.
Liberty could, theoretically, fire them all. But Liberty faces some real problems. First, both Liberty and Gannett are under a court order which says, in part: "Defendants shall refrain from taking any actions that may cause any material adverse change in the business, including loss of subscribers and advertisers, or financial condition of the Star-Bulletin as a viable going concern."
Firing or even disciplining key staff for carrying out duties that are required in the normal course of business would appear to be a substantial violation of this provision of the injunction.
In addition, of course, even "at will" employees have some rights, and I would expect that getting fired as the result of an antitrust conspiracy would generate grounds for additional legal claims that could end up costing Rupert some bucks.
It would also, of course, lead to a barrage of glaringly bad publicity for both Gannett and Liberty, and at this stage everything that looks bad for them reflects positively on the Star-Bulletin. And, in three months, community support will make a big difference in our favor.
Events probably won't play out this way. Black said last week that he will take the issue back into court. But it's an interesting scenario, nonetheless.
Burl
Burlingame writes: "I have a friend who likes your site because of
the kitty pictures, so here's another banner for you!"
So click on the new banner for an introduction to the current cats of the household.
Dave Donnelly, don't touch that mouse.
First things first. Momma needs a good home. This momma cat and her kittens were rescued several months ago by Star-Bulletin reporter Rick Daysog, who already has a house full of cats.
The kittens have been adopted, but mom needs a home. I'm told she's a sweetie. She's now been spayed, and has all her shots. Home with a safe yard preferred.
Anyone interested? Please let me know, and I'll put you in touch with Rick and his wife.
Now the rest of the question and answer session following David Black's Dec. 13 speech to the Honolulu Community-Media Council.
Q: Will non editorial employees be unionized?
A: I hope not. I think its a lot easier to manage an organization that isn't organized.Let me be clear. I think the union movement is very important in our society. There are lots of times when owners are acting in such a way that employees need protection. I don't think that's always true.
I think there are times--where everybody is a shareholder and working together--when bringing that third party in hurts the organization.
We have very good relationships with unions. But if two parties work well together, sometimes bringing in a third party with an agenda makes things difficult.
Q: Is the library situation jammed up by Gannett?
Yes it is, unfortunately. They said we couldn't have the morgue.I got pretty passionate, because it's the heart and soul of newspaper.
How can you write story if you can't go back and see what's happened before. But they said, "no, its ours".
We went around and around. In the end, we have access to the morgue, both written and pictures, for a period of time, I think it's 3 years. During that time, we're allowed to copy as much as we want.
So we'll be busy beavers.
Q: What differences do you see between Canada and the U.S.?
There has become a belief that only one daily can survive in each city, but that's certainly not a belief held outside of the U.S. Until very recently, Toronto had four paid dailies and three free dailies, all aimed at slightly different audiences.So I was more optimistic than executives from the U.S., who tend to believe it only works with one paper in each city.
Q: Do you have a succession plan?
Good lord! I haven't turned my mind to that. Anabeth and I have 4 children. Two girls. The youngest just married and moved up near Alaska. Her older sister is a marine biologist. Neither of those two girls has any interest in business.My sons are interesting human beings. One is a writer for an alternative newspaper in Vancouver, and his brother is in house construction. But the love in their life is rock & roll, and they're piling into a van soon and going to seek their fortune in LA.
I 'm in this position. I don't have to sell out to retire. There's certainly lots of money coming out of the company, and so I don't intend to stop.
"It's fascinating," Black said. "I don't happen to subscribe to everything in it. I don't find evil, this is just plain competition, but perhaps they took it one step too far, and certainly we've seen that to date."
"I'm not knocking anyone working at the Advertiser or HNA, but this company has a history and culture which strives and does everything possible to create monopolies for itself. I don't happen to believe that's necessary nor healthy for society. So read it, The Chain Gang."
Click here to order your copy from Powells.com and support this diary at the same time.
As you can see, I've shifted the current Newsroom Diary entry here to the home page of iLind.net, a much shorter address to remember. Please add this address to your browser's list of favorites. And I'm changing the order of things further, keeping the latest entry at the top and pushing earlier entries down the page, so that the latest word is available at first glance. I'll continue to archive entries in two-week blocks. To reach the older pages, use the "Prior 2-weeks" or "Go to (date)" choices from the menu to the right. If all this fails to work, which is always a real possibility, well, I'll just change everything back again, I suppose.
Going over my notes from David Black's speech to the Media Council, a few of the responses to questions might be of interest.Q: How will your political feelings be reflected as far as editorial policy?A: I've had to wrestle with this lots.The way I do it--I try to make sure we have best possible publisher and editor, and let them go to it. I don't call on a daily basis. I rarely send a column out. I try not to let my leanings and feelings interfere. I believe in a strong, fair minded newspaper.
Q: Have you set up a "virtual newsroom" anywhere else?
A. No, this is experimental. It's only become possible in the last year or two, with the accessibility of high speed Internet connections, DSL and cable. I don't think its happened anywhere yet.Most of my papers are in much smaller towns, where it's not that hard to go from home to office to story. Here, there's a lot of wasted time with traffic. What's the point, really, in driving form home to office, to sit with editor, get an assignment assignment and go out. You might as well talk on phone and go directly to the assignment.
Now that there are digital cameras that do a good job, we can make those available to reporters. Not an attempt to replace professional photographers, but to bring more visual interest into the paper, to get more hands into the process.
It may also be that some copy editors can work from home.
But we've organized a great new office at Waterfront Plaza, and that might reduce the number of people who want to work at home.
Q: Don't you lose the esprit de corps that a physical newsroom provides?
A: That is the big danger here, and if we find its not working, we'll have to change gears. But we can counter by bringing people together frequently, maybe a couple of times a week.I hope to get phone calls where you can see person you're talking with. The technology is remarkably inexpensive and terrific. You can buy little eyeball camera for $30, and headset for another $30, and download all the software for free. With high speed link, you can talk and see the person you're talking with. It's really terrific.
So new technology might break down some of that problem.
Q: What are your thoughts about moving further ahead with neighbor island circulation?
A: Yes, as you know, the Star-Bulletin currently has very little circulation off island. I think it was part of JOA, but I'm not sure of the history.We will get out there and get competitive. We have to build subscription numbers as well as overall circulation. Nothing is going to be left unturned.
And we've hired a terrific circulation man, who was director of circulation at the Omaha Nebraskan, a very large paper distributed over the entire state, so he really knows his stuff.
He was a marine and married a Hawaii girl, so he's coming home. In fact, he's due to arrive tomorrow.
It's getting closer to sunrise and time to walk, so I'll finish off the Q&A's tomorrow.
Search this site,
courtesy of the folks at Atomz.com
Since 11/2/1999
\*/.;
