The
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, based in
Honolulu,
Hawaii,
United States, is the second largest daily newspaper in the state of Hawaii (the largest being the
Honolulu Advertiser.) The
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, and a sister publication called
MidWeek, is owned by
Black Press of
Victoria,
British Columbia,
Canada. The newspaper is administered by a council of local Hawaii investors.
Farrington Era
The
Honolulu Star-Bulletin was founded in 1882 by J. W. Robertson and Company as the
Evening Bulletin, publishing its first edition on
February 1 of that year. In 1912 it merged with the
Hawaiian Star to become the
Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
Wallace Rider Farrington, who later became territorial
Governor of Hawaii, was the editor of the newspaper from 1898 and the president and publisher from 1912 until his death. His son
Joseph Rider Farrington succeeded him and served as president and publisher until his own death in 1954. From 1962 it was owned by a local group of investors led by
Elizabeth P. Farrington and operated under a
joint operating agreement with the
Honolulu Advertiser that allowed the two papers to use the same printing facilities and sales personnel (the Hawaii Newspaper Agency) while maintaining separate fully competitive editorial staffs and providing Honolulu with two distinct editorial "voices."
Gannett Era
Gannett Pacific Corporation, a subsidiary of
Gannett Corporation and currently the owner of the
Honolulu Advertiser, purchased the
Honolulu Star-Bulletin in 1971 under the terms of the existing joint operating agreement. The terms of the joint operating agreement did not allow one company to own both newspapers, so in 1993, Gannett sold the Honolulu Star-Bulletin to Liberty Newspapers so that it could purchase the
Honolulu Advertiser. The
Honolulu Star-Bulletin's circulation was allowed to decline thereafter and staffing reduced.
On September 16, 1999, Liberty Newspapers announced that it planned to close the
Honolulu Star-Bulletin the following month. The decision was met with fierce resistance in the community and lawsuits were filed against Liberty and Gannett by the state and by concerned citizens' groups. The shutdown was postponed with an injunction by a federal district judge two weeks before the scheduled date of closure.
Black Era
In April 2000, Liberty Newspapers offered the
Honolulu Star-Bulletin for sale. The action once again threatened the closure of the publication, but in November of that year, Canadian publishing magnate David Black announced his intent to purchase the
Honolulu Star-Bulletin. When the purchase was finalized in 2001, the joint operating agreement came to an end and Black moved the paper's administration and editorial offices to new headquarters in Restaurant Row near
Honolulu Harbor. The newspaper is printed in
Kaneohe, on the presses of the
Star-Bulletin's sister publication,
MidWeek. (Black had purchased
MidWeek shortly before the
Star-Bulletin deal was closed -- and at a time when no one in the local business community was aware that it was for sale.) In 2006, entertainment columnist Tim Ryan was fired for plagiarizing a number of stories during his time at the
Star-Bulletin; similarities were first noted between Ryan's December 22 review of the
History Channel documentary "Secrets of the Black Box: Aloha Flight 243" and the film's
Wikipedia article.
Notable reporters
