Final Days? A Newsroom Diary
December 16-31, 1999

December 16, Thursday

In the last few days, I received a very thoughtful series of messages from a former Gannett reporter on the mainland, who just read about our situation. This brief excerpt is reprinted with the writer's permission:

I already worked on one paper that got gobbled up by another, which in turn was bought by Gannett, so I know exactly what it's like to line up outside a conference room and go on an "interview" while your paper's days are numbered. I wouldn't wish that day on my worst enemy; I really will remember it, the reactions of people, forever (and I was one of the lucky few who did get a job, though "lucky" is a relative term; two years later, I became a Gannett employee!)

I know you and your colleagues are still waiting one way or another for the next shoe to drop, and the consequences could be severe for so many people. I've been thinking myself about how the industry wound up in such a horrible monopolistic state - I'm sure this has crossed your mind, too, and the minds of people at other papers who have been Gannettized.

I asked a few friends who still painfully work on Gannett papers. Not one knew about the problems you guys are having.

I was surprised to hear that Gannett reporters haven't heard about the situation out here in Honolulu, and have started trying to remedy the situation. But if you know Gannett folks elsewhere in the country, please pass along the URL of this site. The more, the merrier. Many thanks.

 

December 17, Friday

I've noticed that things appear back to normal at the Xerox building along Nimitz Highway, which we pass mornings and many evenings on the way to and from the news building. A few days ago, a laughing couple was walking from the building towards the parking lot, which created a jarring image to overlay the images burned into our collective memory in the wake of the massacre. I'm sure that sense of normalcy within Xerox is fragile, at best, and questioned or fractured by the simplest of circumstances.

The dynamics in the news building are similar. Most things appear to have returned to normal, but there's a layer of collective paranoia resting just below surface appearances. We can all tap that paranoia, and have several times this week when the a series of problems delayed the Star-Bulletin for hours. Our first edition was over two hours late coming off the presses today, and we had similar delays yesterday. Eye contact between reporters instantly communicates a shared query: Are these delays part of a Gannett plot? It was hard to avoid these feelings, even when they had to crawl and scratch through more rational sensitivities to emerge on the surface of consciousness.

We heard today that the 9th Circuit court has rebuffed Gannett's attempt to get a rehearing on its appeal of the preliminary injunction issued by Judge Kay in Honolulu. Saturday's paper will carry the story, I suppose. That's another blow to Gannett's legal strategy and ego, and comes less than a week before the "drop dead date" of the agreement to shut down the Star-Bulletin.

Meanwhile, there are other signs tensions may be easing. The heavy tinting came down from the doors of the executive offices upstairs, allowing passersby to see inside once again. Happy Holidays, folks.

December 18, Saturday

I found this little tidbit buried in a footnote in Gannett's annual report for 1995:

1993: In January 1993, the Company completed the acquisition of The Honolulu Advertiser and the sale of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Consideration for this purchase was approximately $250 million and included the issuance of 1,980,000 shares of the Company's common stock from treasury valued at approximately $100 million and the assumption of certain liabilities of the acquired business. Concurrent with these transactions, the Honolulu joint operating agreement was amended to provide the Company with a greater share of profits from the operation. Proceeds from the sale of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin in excess of carrying value were accounted for as a reduction in the acquisition cost of The Honolulu Advertiser.

Another thought provoking item is a two-year old article from Columbia Journalism Review ("What happens when Gannett takes over") which assesses what happened to two family owned newspapers after being taken over by Gannett. It would be interesting to do a similar detailed account of the changes experienced in our two newsrooms since 1993. Anyone looking for an interesting dissertation, here's your chance.

December 19, Sunday

The three-month anniversary of the premature announcement of the Star-Bulletin's death slipped by on Thursday without notice. Funny how time and circumstance have mellowed our perspective.

We've adapted to our circumstances in a way similar to what happens when someone you know is diagnosed with a potentially life-threatening medical condition. Initially is the heavy dose of fear, anger, along with a period of living each moment with the dreaded knowledge at the center of consciousness. But you settle in over time, you have to in order to get up each morning and make it through another day, and soon you're living with the knowledge, it's a part of you, but it no longer remains an anchor dragging you down. Three months, and we're still alive, and Gannett just lost another round.

The morning gave us another green flash at sunrise, seen from Kaaawa as the sun rose directly over Molokai and, in the distance, Maui.

It's decision time for Gannett and Liberty Newspapers, as the Dec. 23 "drop dead" date of their agreement to shut down the Star-Bulletin hits.

The week also brings the winter solstice, which arrives with an unusual full moon. But exactly which day is Hawaii's solstice is a bit confusing. I consulted the Internet oracles this morning and came up with this confusing information:

The winter solstice occurs on December 22, 1999 at 2:32 a.m. Eastern standard time, according to one set of figures derived from the Scientific Astronomer Mathematica package, and at 2:44 a.m. EST according to the U.S. Naval Observatory. But that translates into 9:32 or 9:44 p.m. in Hawaii. So I guess that means the winter solstice in Dec. 22 on the mainland and Dec. 21 in Hawaii?

December 20, Monday

Only a few days until Gannett's decision deadline. Will they let the agreement lapse and try to slip away from the lawsuits?

There's a bit of nervousness in the newsroom about it, although it is very low-key compared to the earlier periods of anxiety. I was stopped several times during the day by staffers wondering what I think is going to happen. There's a growing concensus that the agreement will lapse. We will see shortly.

 

December 21, Tuesday

I was out of bed before 5 a.m. today, feeling like a kid on Christmas. My main computer came home yesterday after delayed repairs, and this was my chance to get it all set up and rewired. It's strange to realize how much I've missed this beast, and how disruptive it's been to my work routines. Even though we invested in a laptop to use as a backup, it wasn't the same.

So I was deeply relieved when the system started without incident. No sparks, no crashes, no lost data.

An edited version of the first part of this diary made its appearance on BlueEar.com yesterday, and has drawn its share of comments. If you have a chance, check it out.

 

December 22, Wednesday

Apologies to all who had trouble reaching this page yesterday through existing bookmarks. With both computers back in operation, I had to fix some internal links, which rendered your bookmarks obsolete, I'm afraid. I didn't think of it at the time, until an unhappy reader let me know the situation. All fixed now, I hope.

When there isn't much news about our situation, folks in the newsroom rely instead on bits and pieces of information, speculation, scenarios reified into rumor, comments taken out of context, and other flights of fancy. Yesterday was no exception.

A newspaper agency employee comments to a S-B staffer: "You've only got until February." A reference to Gannett's motion to dismiss, now set for February? Or to some yet unannounced plan to offer this paper up for sale and, when no buyer emerges, go through the same routine again?

Then more gloom and doom speculation. Will they zap our Saturday edition soon? Is the newsreel certain to be cut? Will they whittle away at the newsroom budget with Rupert's consent? There are so many possible combinations when it comes to bad news.

This self-portrait with my wife, Meda, was taken yesterday at sunrise on the beach in Kaaawa. A friend sent it back to me last night after discovering the mysterious ship Star-Bulletin flying the large yellow hibiscus sail, and above it the famous, "Yes, we are open" sail. Strange things happen around the winter solstice, they say.

In case you missed the symbols, check out earlier entries on the yellow hibiscus and the "We are Open" sign.

 My friend, Marnie Weeks, had this to say about her handiwork: "By the way, the subliminal on that piece is: the ship is a replica of the Bark which sailed under Capt Cook (when he was a Lieutenant) on his first Pacific voyage -- to Tahiti and Australia. Cook was 40 years old, and the ship was given the hopeful name of 'Endeavour'."

December 23, Thursday

It's over. For now. Unless things changed dramatically overnight, which in this situation is always a possibility.

The news: An attorney for Liberty Newspaper Limited Partnership, owner of the Star-Bulletin, disclosed yesterday that there is no plan to extend the agreement with Gannett that would have closed the Star-Bulletin, and that there are no negotiations under way to do so at this time. Unless extended by mutual agreement today, the agreement lapses.

Gannett officials in the company's Virginia headquarters were unavailable for comment, and Mike Fisch, who heads the Hawaii Newspaper Agency, said he wasn't even in the loop on this decision.

A scheduled hearing on Gannett's motion to dismiss the state's antitrust lawsuit had already been postponed at Gannett's request.

It appears that, as predicted earlier, Gannett is probably taking this as an opportunity to extricate itself from the lawsuit, a move that appears likely to eventually succeed.

The expiration of this agreement does not, however, signal that we're back for good, nor does it really remove the uncertainty that we're all feeling.

As one staffer said to me today, the next time they probably won't make the "mistake" of allowing a lag between an announcement and the actual closure of the paper. It will probably be a simple: "You're closed, go home." Although this couldn't happen until the injunction is lifted, and probably will require negotiations to eliminate or reduce the chances of a subsequent antitrust challenge, at some point in the intermediate future we'll be back in the position of feeling, with good reason, that each day might be our last, and each edition of the paper could be the last to reach our subscribers and the public.

It will be interesting to gather reactions in the newsroom today.

December 24, Friday

We made newspaper history over the past three months, the first time that a planned closing has been blocked by a community's reaction. That's sort of a "royal" we that includes all of us here at the Star-Bulletin, the unions that represent employees of the Hawaii Newspaper Agency, folks over at the Advertiser & Gannett, the lawyers on both sides, the members of the community who spoke out in so many different ways in support of our newspaper, including advertisers, subscribers, and those we didn't know who came and walked the picket line in front of the news building on our behalf. We all made waves, big time. Thank you, thank you, one and all. What a ride!

That said, however, reactions to the news ran the whole spectrum.

At one end is a former reporter turned editorial writer, who is convinced this now locks Gannett into letting the JOA, and consequently the Star-Blletin, run the full remaining 12 years. He believes there is no way around the antitrust considerations that have been identified by the current litigation.

In the middle somewhere was this staff message sent out by editor and publisher John Flanagan:

"Whatever happens next, today we close the book on the Sept. 16 plan to shut the Star-Bulletin. Congratulations to one and all. The Grinch, it appears, will not be stealing Christmas, after all. Here's to a 118th year of Honolulu Star-Bulletin!

On the other end are cynics who are going to enjoy a toast to winning this round but know that the next round has already begun, that somewhere out there highly paid executives and lawyers are plotting their strategy.

The expiration of all the labor contracts in June 2000 set the stage for whatever move Gannett will make, in this view, and those negotiations (or at least the posturing that goes along with them) are already underway.

In any case, the Star-Bulletin prepared a holiday card this year, with a merry "ho, ho, ho" opening up into this photo, captioned simply: "We're Still Here."

This was a staff photo actually prepared to run in then-planned final issue of the Star-Bulletin on October 30. When the injunction was issued by the court blocking any moves to close the paper, the final issue went into limbo, to be geared up as each court hearing approached. "Just in case" was the mode we operated in. Now, though, its transformation into a holiday card signals our changed circumstances.

Be happy and safe over the holidays.

December 25, Saturday

We certainly expected a very different Christmas than this one. When this saga started, the Christmas holidays seemed to be very far off in the future. I think all of us expected to be in new jobs, or at least new circumstances without jobs, by this time. Instead, most of us have hunkered down at the Star-Bulletin, scanning the horizon for signs of the next Gannett attack while trying to find the spirit to do our jobs under conditions of essential uncertainty.

 

December 27, Monday

We've been reminded that it isn't always sunny in Hawaii. It was a weekend of rain, and more rain, and some very strong winds mixed in along the way. Monday's arrival was welcomed, even after the holiday weekend, because it brought some sunny weather.

Very little was being said around the newsroom today about Gannett's decision to walk away from the deal to close the S-B.

A striking comment came from a colleague who visited BlueEar.com, which has reprinted excerpts from the initial weeks of this journal.

"It immediately brought back the intense feelings of those days," he said, referring to the tumultuous weeks when it appeared the paper's closing was unavoidable. "It made me sick to my stomach. I had to stop reading."

 

December 28, Tuesday

All remains quiet. Gannett has still not commented on the lapsing of the agreement to close the Star-Bulletin, and the silence is ominous. The only comments have come from Alan Marx, the attorney from the Nashville firm of King and Ballow who nominally represents the Liberty Newspaper Limited Partnership, owners of the Star-Bulletin.

The firm has a national reputation for its union-busting posture. Its self-description, found on the King & Ballow web page, promotes antiunion "successes":

"King & Ballow exclusively represents management in National Labor Relations Board election campaigns.  Over the past several decades, our attorneys have helped employers decertify more than 200 unions and have conducted several hundred campaigns against union organizing efforts throughout the United States.  Extensive preparation, extensive knowledge of the employer's business and a thorough and professional work product have enabled King & Ballow's attorneys to achieve the desired results for our clients."

A quick 'net search turned up several mentions of the law firm's role in several newspaper wars, such as in San Diego. Another article notes the firm's ties with Wackenhut, the private security service:

When the Union-Tribune Publishing Co. brought in the Tennessee law firm King & Ballow to handle its contract negotiations, King and Ballow fired all the Union-Tribune security guards and hired new guards from Wackenhut. Bringing in Wackenhut is standard procedure when King and Ballow enters a newspaper labor dispute. The Newspaper Guild complains that the tactic is meant to intimidate employees.

Unfortunately, this sounds all too familiar.

December 29, Wednesday

I received several emails today, and a few queries in person, from people who were a bit frantic that the savestarbulletin.org site has been "down" for several days. It seems some of you reach this diary via a stop at savestarbulletin, and with it being down, well...utter deprivation and chaos. The situation being what it is, of course, Gannett was the immediate suspect. Did they sabotage the site? Did they somehow pull the plug?

A quick check turned up the word that the ISP's server actually did crash. No outside interference. No Gannett plot. At least this particular problem has not resulted from a Gannett plot. Who knows what else is lurking in those corporate minds.

December 30, Thursday

It was a relatively quite day, and a stressful evening. The short version: we've got eight cats (not our fault. Out here in the country, stray cats can identify the "feline friendly" homes) and the stray pre-New Year fireworks have several of them freaked out. We're trying to cope by bringing them all inside, but they aren't used to being confined together in one place, so we are all--cats and people--stressed. I'm writing this on an iBook, with an insistent 12 pound gray cat competing for the lap. Actually, she's occupying most of it while the computer balances out towards my knees.

Savestarbulletin.org is still unavailable, but apparently still the result of natural causes.

Tidbit of the day: according to TheCounter.com, 226 or 8 percent of the first 3038 hits on these pages since the beginning of November originated at Gannett. Very interesting. Hi, guys.

December 31, Friday

Savestarbulletin.org is still "down". A Y2K victim?

Hawaii will be one of the last places in the world to roll over into the new year. It will give us time to ponder how things have gone elsewhere in the world.

Please take a moment to pause during your celebrating for a toast our modest, although perhaps temporary, success. We're still publishing two months after our scheduled demise, and looking forward to much more. To the Star-Bulletin's 118th year, and third century of publishing!

 

Continued...

 
Since 11/2/99