ENOUGH?

ENOUGH?: We know of no one on the island who will deny that the local Kaua`i newspaper has hit rock bottom. No matter how bad it’s been over the past 25 or so years- and there have been some real stinkers- it is probably the worst overall product anyone has seen since the 1984 departure of Editor Jean Holmes.

The utter lack of even competent reporters- much less good ones- is shameful. But now there’s no excuse for it with literally hundreds of excellent experienced journalists losing their jobs in the “merger” of Honolulu dailies.

According to the story in today’s Advertiser

The Advertiser and the Honolulu Star-Bulletin employed roughly 880 people before a Feb. 25 announcement that Star-Bulletin owner David Black was acquiring the larger Advertiser from Gannett Co.

Star-Bulletin Publisher Dennis Francis said yesterday the Star-Advertiser will employ about 450 workers. The loss of about 430 jobs makes this one of the larger mass layoffs in Hawai`i in the past several years....

This is catastrophic," said Wayne Cahill, administrative officer for the Hawaii Newspaper Guild. "Not only is he (Black) closing a newspaper, he is dumping more than 400 good workers on the community."

But the fact most likely is that none will find their way to Kaua`i for one reason- the starvation wages paid to reporters at our “newspaper of record”.

Publisher Randy Kozerski has maintained the tradition of paying starvation wages according to some who have of late “inquired within” and there’s little doubt that he will not even make an attempt to lure any of the now unemployed former Advertiser reporters to Kaua`i with a reasonable, fair, living wage.

Unless of course the subscribers rise up and say “we’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take any more”.

Call or write Kozerski personally today (808 245-3681, ext. 221; rkozerski@kauaipubco.com) and tell him you’re canceling your subscription unless he pledges to hire some real reporters and put out a professional product.

Although it is a private business a newspaper has a civic responsibility to provide its readers with the news and information they need. And unless people demand it we’ll continue to have the dismal product we see today.

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Correction: In yesterday’s post we said in error that the `okina is a vowel. It is actually a consonant. We regret the error.