Honolulu Civil Beat

Honolulu Civil Beat is an investigative news website that practices watchdog journalism related to the U.S. state of Hawaii.[1] Journalists and editors at Civil Beat have traveled to other U.S. held territories and military installations in the Pacific, reporting on current and historical events about immigration and other issues. Civil Beat is headquartered in Honolulu, on the island of Oahu, and is published by Pierre Omidyar, founder of eBay.[2][3]

History

Omidyar launched Civil Beat May 2010 with a subscription paywall.[4][5] Its founding editor was Pulitzer Prize winning journalist John Temple, former editor and publisher of The Rocky Mountain News.[6][7] When Temple left to take a position at the Washington Post in 2009, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Patti Epler was promoted to executive editor.

In 2012, Huffington Post launched a Hawaii issues and travel-oriented site in partnership with Civil Beat. HuffPost Hawaii staff share office space with the Civil Beat staff.

In 2012, as part of an investigation of municipal law enforcement, Civil Beat sued the City and County of Honolulu for access to public records.[8] The organization has also provided national pool journalists for visits by President Barack Obama and his family, conducted research and enterprise reporting on Hawaii's homeless population and its high mortality rate, and questioned the high cost to taxpayers of remediation of Kahoolawe island.

In 2016, Civil Beat employed a staff of 13 full-time journalists and three business department employees. The website has been awarded best news site in Hawaii by the Society of Professional Journalists each year since 2011.

Operation

Civil Beat has a board of directors that includes publisher Pierre Omidyar. [9]

Civil Beat gets revenue from subscriptions along with funding from Pierre Omidyar. Other sponsorships have come from local businesses and nonprofits, such as the law firm of Alston Hunt Floyd & Ing, Appleseed Center and Honolulu Museum of the Arts which together provided underwriting for a reporting project in Micronesia, and D.R. Horton, which provided underwriting for a series on Hawaii's high cost of living.

Besides the partnership with The Huffington Post, Civil Beat has media partnerships with Hawaii Public Radio, KITV and Clear Channel/KHVH. Civil Beat provides content and analysis for other news organizations including NPR.

Articles written by Civil Beat journalists have been featured in the New York Times and are often referenced and quoted in other news sources.[10][11][12] Civil Beat staff contribute to local talk radio programs.

Civil Beat's competitors include the Honolulu Star-Advertiser[5] and a local NPR affiliate.

Criticism of Civil Beat coverage

The site has been scrutinized and at times criticized for excessive coverage of political issues, campaigns and elections that have enjoyed funding or support from Omidyar and/or his wife, and the various philanthropies the couple are involved with.

References

  1. ↑ Mohammad Bahareth (April 2012). Kings of the Internet: What You Don't Know About Them ?. iUniverse. pp. 50–. ISBN 978-1-4697-9842-4.
  2. ↑ Mark Briggs (12 October 2011). Entrepreneurial Journalism: How to Build What's Next for News. CQ Press. pp. 119–. ISBN 978-1-60871-420-9.
  3. ↑ "Pierre Omidyar: from eBay to crusading journalism?". The Guardian, Dominic Rushe, 20 October 2013.
  4. ↑ Fariborz Ghadar (6 March 2014). Becoming American: Why Immigration Is Good for Our Nation's Future. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. pp. 62–. ISBN 978-1-4422-2895-5.
  5. 1 2 "Civil Beat Bests the “Newspaper of Record” in Hawai`i’s Online News War". Hawaii News Daily, By Andy Parx
  6. ↑ "Online news startups: Honolulu Civil Beat". Columbia Journalism Review, Feb 23, 2011, By Alex Fekula
  7. ↑ "The Paperless Press in Honolulu". Honolulu Magazine, Tiffany Hill 6 August 2012
  8. ↑ "SHOPO, Civil Beat make their cases on release of officers’ names". Honolulu Star Advertiser, By Dan Nakaso. Jun 19, 2015
  9. ↑ "Paying For Honolulu News Follow the money,". Hawaii Business, Jerry Burgis and Bev Creamer. June, 2011
  10. ↑ "Rep. Tulsi Gabbard: The Democrat that Republicans love and the DNC can’t control". Washington Post, Amber Phillips October 15, 2015.
  11. ↑ " Largest Payouts or Police Misconduct Lawsuits in Hawaii". NewsMax, By Tim Hrenchir , 10 Aug 2015
  12. ↑ "Honolulu Civil Beat poll reports Abercrombie leading Aiona in governor's race". Hawaii News Now, Oct 13, 2010

External links

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