Good Independent Journalism Matters More Than Ever

My parents escaped dictators, communism and fascism for a better life. They knew that democracy was intertwined with fact-based media.

If you count the five years I delivered newspapers as a kid, I have worked in the news business for 55 years. I am proud of the work my colleagues and I did – we were never perfect but most of us worked hard to provide accurate, useful and timely information that was fundamental to people’s lives and to democracy.

As I look forward to retiring as editor in chief of Hawaii Business Magazine midyear, I worry equally about the future of our democracy and the future of good independent journalism because they are so intertwined.

I initially learned of that connection from my parents; it wasn’t anything they said, but what they did. They led hard working-class lives but they made time to read newspapers and watched TV news almost every day because they were also dedicated citizens of their adopted country.

They had escaped dictators, communism and fascism in Europe and knew how important democracy was to their present and their children’s future. They understood journalism was fundamental to that equation. Watergate reinforced that lesson for me.

Money Problems

The local news media faces many huge challenges, but money is fundamental to all of them. Every organization depends on money coming in: For the news media – whether for-profit or nonprofit – that means money from advertising, circulation, grants, donations, sponsors or sugar daddies.

Nationwide and in Hawai‘i, local media used to be owned by local residents who were among the richest people in town. (As the old joke goes, “Freedom of the press belongs to those who own one.”) Think Cec Heftel (KGMB), Chinn Ho (Honolulu Star-Bulletin) and Thurston Twigg-Smith (Honolulu Advertiser).

Many of them and their families made their money from the news media because the news business was profitable. Today it is more common for local media owners to be based on the continent or to make money in another field before buying or launching local media.

At the turn of this century, Honolulu’s two dailies had about 200 news staffers total. Today, the merged paper, the Star-Advertiser, has about 40 and is owned by Carpenter Media and its finance partners on the continent.

Hawaii Business and its sister magazines – Honolulu, Hawai‘i and Hawaii Home + Remodeling – are some of the few exceptions among widely distributed, for-profit local media. As our motto proudly declares, we are locally owned. Thank God our owner is Duane Kurisu because profit-driven we aren’t. But neither are we flush with cash.

Our reporting can be found in our print magazine and at hawaiibusiness.com, where it’s free for everyone. That means more people read our stories – I like that. But the web ads pay a fraction of a penny per view – and that’s impossible to like.

Almost a Vow of Poverty

For those in the trenches, journalism was never a path to affluence but most jobs paid middle-class wages, and in Hawai‘i, that made possible a decent family life with children. There are now fewer jobs and the salaries of many of those no longer lead to a middle-class family life here. That’s why so many journalists have switched to careers in corporate and government communications and PR. That happened a lot in the past, too, but became a flood during my career because the pay and opportunities are almost always better.

Yes, the internet provides more choices for where to get your news, but it also provides a million sources of misinformation. And it’s disrupted the business model of local news. Good reporting takes time, energy and money, and usually involves explaining nuance and context. Simple lies can be created in a few seconds for free – and too many people prefer simple answers.

I feel guilty about retiring when the future of American journalism and democracy are in such jeopardy. But age and exhaustion forced my hand, and I want to enjoy my life in Hawai‘i more.

But I will stay engaged. And if you care about our democracy, please also invest your time and money in good independent journalism, both local and national. Recent history here, on the mainland and abroad proves one will not survive without the other.