Island News Service Planned by eBay Founder
Pierre Omidyar, eBay founder and Kahala resident and philanthropist, is planning to launch a local online news service, focused on public interest and civic issues affecting Hawaii's communities.
The venture, scheduled to go live early next year, will present original, in-depth reporting and analysis of local issues in Hawaii. The news operation will be a for-profit business and will include content generated by staff writers and citizen journalists. It will be part of the Peer News Inc. operation, the Hawai'i-based company that Omidyar and former eBay executive Randy Ching set up in 2008.
Omidyar said he will hire an editor, and for the startup he's using the help of Howard Weaver, a longtime news executive with California-based McClatchy Co.
The company will be challenged to be profitable. Thousands of online news sites have sprouted across the country in recent years in the wake of the news industry's downsizing. Only a few for-profit companies are doing well, such as West Seattle Blog and Baristanet in New Jersey.
"You need the investor of the caliber of Pierre to make this work," said Alan Mutter, a former newspaper and cable television executive who now writes a blog called "Reflections of a Newsosaur."
(resource: Honolulu Advertiser)