80
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES             H.R. NO.              
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                     HOUSE  RESOLUTION
  URGING LIBERTY NEWSPAPERS TO CONTINUE PUBLICATION OF THE
    HONOLULU STAR-BULLETIN AND TO ACTIVELY SEEK A BUYER TO
    PRESERVE TWO INDEPENDENT DAILY NEWSPAPERS IN THE
    COMMUNITY.



 1        WHEREAS, on September 16, 1999, Liberty Newspapers Limited
 2   Partnership, owner of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, announced
 3   that it would cease publication of the newspaper on October 30,
 4   1999; and
 5   
 6        WHEREAS, the Star-Bulletin has been a distinguished
 7   independent daily newspaper and editorial voice in Hawaii for
 8   one hundred seventeen years; and
 9   
10        WHEREAS, the Star-Bulletin reporters, columnists,
11   cartoonists, editorial writers, and photographers have won
12   numerous awards for incisive reporting, thought-provoking
13   commentary, and delightful satire; and
14   
15        WHEREAS, the Star-Bulletin is one of only two major-city
16   daily newspapers that ably reports on events statewide and
17   nationally, and is distributed statewide; and
18   
19        WHEREAS, closure of the Star-Bulletin will silence an
20   important competing reportorial and editorial voice in the
21   State of Hawaii and the City and County of Honolulu; and
22   
23        WHEREAS, closure of the Star-Bulletin will result in loss
24   of jobs for nearly one hundred talented newspaper staffers and
25   fifty or more employees of the Hawaii Newspaper Agency; and
26   
27        WHEREAS, in observance of the Newspaper Preservation Act,
28   15 U.S. Code ��1801-1804, Liberty Newspapers has published the
29   Star-Bulletin since 1993 under a joint operating agreement not
30   to expire until the year 2012; and
31   
32        WHEREAS, the intent of the Newspaper Preservation Act is
33   "to preserve the publication of newspapers"; now, therefore,
34   

 
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                                  H.R. NO.              
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1        BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the
 2   Twentieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session
 3   of 2000, that Liberty Newspapers is urged to continue
 4   publication of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, cease its efforts to
 5   terminate the current joint operating agreement with the
 6   Honolulu Advertiser, and actively seek a buyer for the Star-
 7   Bulletin in order to preserve publication of separate and
 8   independent daily newspapers in the community; and
 9   
10        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this
11   Resolution be transmitted to Liberty Newspapers Limited
12   Partnership, owner of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Gannett
13   Pacific Corporation, owner of the Honolulu Advertiser, and the
14   United States Department of Justice.
15   
16 
17 
18 
19                         OFFERED BY:  ____________________________