The Ke Alaka‘i team took a trip down to Honolulu to visit the biggest daily newspaper distributor on the island, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, on Aug. 29. The team learned about design and online skills to improve the BYU-Hawaii magazine and its online presence.
During the trip, the team met with a few of the newspaper’s editing and online teams and had the chance to discussion people’s job responsibilities and the work environment.
What is the Star-Advertiser?
Taken from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s about us section on its website, the present newspaper is the result of two Hawaii newspaper companies unifying, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and the Honolulu Advertiser.
Found on Staradvertiser.com it says, “The Honolulu Star-Advertiser published its first edition June 7, 2010, combining the best of the 128-year-old Honolulu Star-Bulletin and the 154-year-old Honolulu Advertiser.”
“We hope to bring together the best of the people and put out a great newspaper,” said the Star-Advertiser’s majority owner, David Black. “It’s quite important the paper continues to have elements from each of the dailies. We want readers to feel comfortable.”
What we learned
Employee Michael Rovner, the manager editor/designer, worked for the Star-Bulletin before the merger, the smaller of the two newspapers. He said, “We were the underdog, the smaller paper, [but] we try to keep people together… As you can all see, the place is littered with personality.”
Originally from Guam, Rovner is also a member of the Church and serves as a counselor in the bishopric of the YSA ward that meets in Kailua. He also came to campus on Sept. 29 as part of the Ke Alaka‘i staff’s Fall orientation.
Around the newspaper’s office, signs on the ceilings designated the different work areas assigned to employees. Areas were designated to sports, editing, design online, current events, politics, business, editorials, and more.
“If you want the truth or the facts, the Star-Advertiser is the place you can to go,” said Rovner. “We can entertain, we can make you stop and go, ‘Oh, wow.’ The paper doesn’t have to be the same every day. I want to make you pause and look at whether – a headline or anything. I enjoy that.”
To make the layout of the newspaper interesting to read, Rovner said they also “believe the paper should have some consistency.”
From the style guide, the designers strive to make the newspaper appealing to look at, while keeping it easy to read and organized in a journalist way. The Ke Alaka‘i team was shown specific fonts and styles that help print to compete against the appeal of online media.
How to make money online?
“That is the question everyone is trying to answer, said Rovner. “If you can come up with a money-making model, that’s the silver bullet.”
Joel Kight, engagement editor, said content found online “is centered on engagement. Part of engagement is making sure the readers feel connected to you.”
By using social media, Kight commented on how the Honolulu Star-Advertiser does its best to answer comments, share tweets, update Facebook and post videos on Instagram. By using tools such as Chartbeat, employees are able to track which stories are receiving more attention. This allows them to better cater to their readers.
“We try to consistently make upgrades on the site,” said Kight. “Being mobile friendly is important as well. We want to make meaningful and concise push alerts.”
To learn more about the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, the Ke Alaka’i invites readers to visit their website or look for their paper copy of the newspaper.
Writer: Dani Castro