On Friday, the daily Honolulu Star-Advertiser appears to have been hit by the same forces that have battered nearly all media — the coronavirus.
“In heartbreaking news for the local community, Hawaii’s largest daily newspaper — which has recorded history in the making for generations of kamaʻāina — will cut 29 newsroom staff at the end of June,” Star-Advertiser reporter Kristen Consillio shared on Instagram.
Hawaii News Now also reported the news on Friday:
The layoffs come after the company eliminated its Saturday print edition and promoted its digital version after informing its subscribers that the coronavirus crisis — mixed with changes in the way readers consume news — was placing an extraordinary strain on the newspaper’s financial operations.
Honolulu Civil Beat reported a total of 31 positions will be eliminated, including “15 of the newspaper’s 34 reporters, two photographers, three page designers, seven clerks, three graphic artists and a web designer.”
At the end of March, like many news organizations, the Star-Advertiser furloughed staff, Honolulu Civil Beat reported.
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser started publishing in 2010. Before that, the Star-Bulletin published for 128 years, according to the Star-Advertiser’s site, and The Honolulu Advertiser published for 154 years. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser was formed when Black Press, a mostly Canadian publisher that was already the owner of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, bought The Honolulu Advertiser from Gannett. More than 450 jobs were eliminated in the merger of the two newspapers.
The Star-Advertiser is the largest daily newspaper in Hawaii.
Poynter reached out to Star-Advertiser for comment. We’ll update if we hear back.
Kristen Hare covers the business and people of local news for Poynter.org and is the editor of Locally. You can subscribe to her weekly newsletter here. Kristen can be reached at khare@poynter.org or on Twitter at @kristenhare.
