Hawaii reporters seeking a way to keep Japanese-American news outlet alive
By Diane Ako
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HONOLULU (KITV) — An Island News exclusive about an effort to save a defunct Japanese-American newspaper: The newly unemployed editor of the Hawaii Herald shares what former staffers are doing to continue the legacy of their newspaper.
The 43-year-old Hawaii Herald’s last edition was on Friday due to sharply falling readership. Sister newspaper Hawaii Hochi is closing on Dec. 7, on its 111th anniversary.
Vince Watabu, Vice President of Operations for parent company Hawaii Hochi Ltd., admits, “The newspaper businesses around the world are dying.”
The seven Herald staff laid off are hoping to start reporting somewhere else in January.
Editor Kristen Nemoto Jay shares, “We are in connection with the Zentoku Foundation, a nonprofit organization in California. It has been sharing and perpetuating Japanese-American stories for the past seven years.”
It’s also been partnered with Hawaii Herald since 2019. The Foundation approached the Herald, inviting it to merge with two other Japanese American newspapers on the West Coast.
Nemoto Jay says, “There’s a fundraiser to help these three papers to continue the stories moving forward.”
She emphasizes this isn’t a matter of Zentoku Foundation “saving” Hawaii Herald. That entity would dissolve, and be replaced by the concept of telling hyper-local stories that matter to Japanese-American communities.
They hope to raise $20,000 to launch in January. Nemoto Jay says the details are still finalizing, but the idea would be to start off publishing stories online, and seeing where that goes.
To donate, go to: zentokufoundation.org/save-the-papers-donation-page
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