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The Star-Bulletin beat the competition with a headline story this morning announcing that St. Louis football coach Cal Lee will step down after this year's football season. The move follows weeks of controversy after Damien Memorial High School announced it would refuse to play St. Louis and forfeit its games instead.Earlier in the week, we were treated to another one of those "stories within a story" where the really interesting part remains untold. This time the Star-Bulletin and Advertiser both reported, apparently based on a press release from Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono's office, the appointment of state Rep. Guy Ontai as director of a new Pacific American Research Center in Honolulu. So far so good.
First question. If we're in desperate need of research on these social issues, why isn't that research being done at the University of Hawaii, East-West Center, or other academic center where trained staff are available?
So maybe this isn't really about research. The first clue: What qualifications does Ontai have to direct what is described as "the first national research center" to "inform policy makers at the federal, state and local levels about the education, health, employment and housing needs of Pacific Americans." The story simply describes him as a high school physics teacher. That certainly wouldn't jump Ontai to the front of the line for a top policy research position of any kind, much less with a fledgling center with national pretensions.
Here's the way Ontai described himself in an earlier campaign pitch:
I am a retired Major from the US Army Corps of Engineers. I am a graduate of the Kamehameha Schools in 1974 and the US Military Academy at West Point in 1978. I have also received a Masters in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M. I. T.) in 1985.I don't know Ontai, but I do know that there are entire academic disciplines devoted to the kind of research that could provide policy guidance in education, health, employment, housing, and other social characteristics of our Pacific American population. Physics isn't one of them.
So if it wasn't Ontai's qualifications, why was he appointed? Who appointed him? The stories don't tell us this, either. If this is about politics, why is Hirono, a Democrat, appearing so prominently in the appointment of Ontai, a Republican? Does this job aid Ontai's political career, and Republican prospects, or act as a diversion?
How is this "national center" being funded? Hirono's press release says the Pacific American Foundation, apparently the parent of the new research center, "was awarded $162,290 in grant funding for the first year of operation." The Advertiser story says the funds came from the federal Administration on Native Americans.
And what is the Pacific American Foundation? A quick check raises a lot of additional questions. The foundation is based in Washington, D.C. Kamehameha Schools' Mike Chun was chairman of the board until replaced last year by former Kamehameha trustee Oswald Stender. Chun's wife, Bina, is the chief operating officer of the foundation here in Honolulu. Hints that there's a lot more going on than meets the eye.
Isn't this fun? It's obviously fertile ground for further investigating.
Ooops. Overslept. Missed the morning's deadline. And walked right into the Day of the Rat, part II.It started yesterday on our return from the morning walk. The coffee, on autopilot, was ready and waiting. So we sat down with the Star-Bulletin's AM edition, coffee, and immediately noticed Kili and Wally staked out around the antique Chinese chest against the wall next to the table. They looked like a favorite toy had been accidentally hockeyed under there. So I got down on hands and knees, got my head down low for a good look, right into the large brown eyes of a pretty big rat. It appeared that someone--we've got a suspects' list--carried this critter inside, played a while, and lost interest, letting it seek refuge. The problem is that there are miscellaneous stacks of old dishes and strange gewgaws like the orange Lucite chicken napkin holder, near precarious stacks of assorted Treasure Craft that hasn't made it to the wall or a cabinet yet. Rat chasing could easily wreak havoc.
So the coffee sat cooling while I got a broom and plastic container, and trapped Mr/Ms rat, then delivered it outside and gave it a substantial head start on the now disinterested cats.
So this morning I was late. It started when I finally threw Leo out and closed the cat door about 3:30, which made it possible to sleep a bit longer. Then I popped up, well after 5 AM, obviously late. Let Silverman in for his morning snack, the sound of which brought Wally to the screen door. Then I heard sounds of leaping and thumping down the hall and went over to prevent any casualties. Too late. There was yesterday's rat, already dispatched but serving as a perfectly good exercise vehicle for Ms. Kili, who hadn't been on my original rat hunter suspect list. Take a note. And this time I had to take the remains and fling them out into the jungle down the hill behind the house. All before coffee, or even juice. Probably a good thing.
Tune in this weekend for the first episode of Little Grass Shack, a local home improvement program airing on Oceanic Channel 16--Saturday, July 7 10:00am & 4:30pm, and Sunday,July 8 10:00am & 1:30pm. It's edited by Star-Bulletin photo editor Dean Sensui, who started seriously playing in the video field back in 1993, when the Star-Bulletin was facing its first threat of potential shutdown.
Dean commented on one lesson he's learned from the experience of breaking into the video business:
While putting together all this stuff, I learned something about the true cost of business: Cheap isn't necessarily good for your bottom line. If you don't have the resources a client needs to accomplish a specific task, you're not going to get the job. Clients don't care what you saved on equipment or software. They just want to see it happen.Right you are.
Luckily, it was a very quiet 4th of July. Only a few fireworks out here in Kaaawa, although several bombs went off that sent scared cats flying back into the house looking for places to hide. Harriet ended up in the dust and grunge under our bed for several hours, and Ms. Kili spent the night snuggled next to me with her head burrowed under the sheets. But all the pack seems ok this morning.More feedback on the recent SPJ "Excellence in Journalism" competition. I was reminded that the Star-Bulletin was in limbo early this year as entries were due in various local and national competitions. The paper was still owned by Liberty Newspapers, but the sale to David Black was scheduled to close in mid-March. In the meantime, Liberty (and it's JOA partner, Gannett) were trying to keep expenses to a minimum and to avoid contributing to the Star-Bulletin's post-sale success, even prohibiting staff from using on-the-job time to work on transition issues.
So Liberty/Gannett said they would only pay for a token number of entry fees. Black, although only the prospective owner at that point, agreed to pay for an additional batch. But other entry fees ended up being paid by individual staffers who thought their work deserved to be considered. That didn't seem unreasonable.
As one staffer commented: "what bugs me was that since we were all limited in the number of entries we submitted, it was obvious we would not win as many as usual....it turned out that we still outdid the advertiser, but not by the wide margin we normally did. I blame this pettiness on gannett and rupert - they obviously wanted us to do worse than usual. what's funny is the 'tiser STILL couldn't beat us."
A day of positive spin about Gannett's paper? Ouch. But they've earned it.Dave Shapiro's back in print, thanks to the Advertiser. Shapiro is the guy from Hilo who survived the Gannett experience the first time through and, as the Star-Bulletin's managing editor, gave the paper it's news sense and backbone. His "Volcanic Ash" column appears in today's Advertiser, and will appear weekly, as it did in the S-B. There's obviously someone at the Advertiser with good judgment. They've been able to pick up some of the best from the old Star-Bulletin--Shapiro, Paul Carvalho, Rod Ohira, Dan Woods, Bill Kwon.
And speaking of the Advertiser, someone in their editorial mix is pushing solid government reporting that puts accountability up front. Kevin Dayton's story on Sunday's about the state's contract with a private prison company wasn't flashy, but Kevin went after documents that other reporters have ignored. And Monday's piece by Lynda Arakawa on care home inspections was another example. The Advertiser's capitol bureau is doing super work!
I asked someone for an explanation of the "remnant space" referred to in yesterday's bit about the squeeze on advertising clients. Turns out it's the space that can't be sold or results from a last minute cancellation. Sales managers say 'fill the space' and it's offered very very cheap to selected companies at the last minute. But not, apparently, if the company also advertises in the Star-Bulletin.
With Lizzie out patrolling the mauka border these days, Harriet has been left to entertain herself. She just isn't as concerned about the forays into our yard by Anna Banana, the adventurous next-door cat.
Harry's also taken up sleeping in a spot in the hallway just outside our bedroom door. She neatly curls up with a clear view of our bedroom and, just in case, the living room. I am really not sure what she's watching for, if anything, but it's clearly her comfort zone, at least for now.
Ms. Harriet
Ms. Lizzie
The Star-Bulletin's 4-section format was delivered as scheduled yesterday, although the business section was a bit thin. It was all wire service copy with the exception of Erika Engle's column. Also noted: a full-page S-B house ad trumpeting the awards won in the SPJ competition, including Diane Chang's, which must cause a bit of heartburn on both sides every time the ad runs.And this reaction to yesterday's mention of sales pressures at Gannett's Advertiser:
In reading your diary entry regarding the pressure the Advertiser if putting on its sales reps, I was reminded of a conversation I had last week with the advertising director of one large local company (which shall remain nameless). I was told the company's Advertiser classified sales rep had informed the company they would no longer be eligible to purchase remnant space if they continued to advertise in the Star-Bulletin.Whoa! That's predatory, anticompetitive hard ball right out of The Chain Gang. That could be a turnoff to someone purchasing space for a large account, and I wonder if it will backfire in this small town atmosphere?
Someone else wrote to confirm Gannett managers sitting next to some sales staffers as they make phone calls. I guess they're trying to kick it up a notch, but it must create a lot of job stress.
FYI--The Pacific Business News story about the online news war is now available online.And here's a historical footnote courtesy of Star-Bulletin writer Burl Burlingame:
One of the funny little things about the Advertiser going online is that I registered honoluluadvertiser.com in my name, just to see how long it would take them to discover they didn't own their own address. Took nearly a year, the knuckle heads. Sold it to them for a $25 profit, because the point had been made! Wish I hadn't now.This brief report was sent my way concerning the pressure being put on the sales staff over at the Advertiser. It would be interesting to hear more.
the company is really pushing us to sell all kinds of new products... internet, tv, logos, hot off the press, and island weekly. we have to fill out daily goals on how many we plan to sell. we're being sat with to make sure we're offering these products and then have to turn in daily reports on how many of these we're selling. they also said that they will be monitoring our calls.
It was kind of a slow week on the photo front, but I scrounged just enough reasonable images to update the photo gallery, as well as another round of the dogs we meet on our morning walks through the streets of Kaaawa and along the beach.
More "Mornin' Dogs"
It's a very gray, dark morning in Kaaawa. No rain yet, but very heavy clouds. We got started nearly a half-hour late this morning, so all the regular tasks are backed up. I just poured my first cup of coffee at 7:47 and sat down in front of the computer. Wally immediately jumped into my lap and assumed her favorite position. And now I'm staring at the blank screen and wondering what can possibly be said.
In lieu of coherent thought, here's yesterday's photo of the Hauhele Street duck, who appears to be favored by several households along one end of the street here in Kaaawa. He treated us to a "fly by" one morning, several long swoops overhead before circling around and landing just at his takeoff point. Actually, I have no idea whether this is a he or she duck. "He" just slipped out.
Guard duck on duty
I finally picked up my copy of the latest Pacific Business News with its front page story by Ben DiPietro on the Net war between the Advertiser and Star-Bulletin.DiPietro reports that the Star-Bulletin's Don Kendall and John Flanagan refused to comment for the story, leaving webmaster Blaine Fergerstrom to lay out the S-B's numbers and approach.
One thing the article fails to point out is that prior to the March 15 end to the Joint Operating Agreement between Gannett's Advertiser and the Star-Bulletin, Gannett first tried to prevent the Star-Bulletin from starting a web site until the Advertiser could catch up. When that didn't work, Gannett used its powers under the JOA to block the Star-Bulletin from selling ads on its site, and later, when the Advertiser belatedly went online, attempted to steer advertising to the Gannett paper. Just another instance where Gannett threw its weight around in an anticompetitive, monopolistic manner. It's a part of the story that deserves to be told in detail.
An interesting end to today's entry. My spellchecker got to "DiPietro" and suggested "deportee" as the correct replacement.
And a final aside regarding PBN. The beginning of this week's Scoops column by Debbie Sokei reads like it was pulled directly from last week's entries here at iLind.net. The SPJ contest results, Diane Chang irony, and Daysog's School of Journalism made up about 1/3 of her weekly column. I'm flattered. The news food chain at work.
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