Honolulu Civil Beat is an investigative news website that practices watchdog journalism related to the U.S. state of Hawaii. Journalists and editors at Civil Beat have traveled to other U.S. held territories and military installations in the Pacific, reporting on current and historical events about immigration and other issues. Civil Beat is headquartered in Honolulu, on the island of Oahu, and is published by Pierre Omidyar, founder of eBay.
Contents
History
Omidyar launched Civil Beat May 2010 with a subscription paywall. Its founding editor was Pulitzer Prize winning journalist John Temple, former editor and publisher of The Rocky Mountain News. When Temple left to take a position at the Washington Post in 2009, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Patti Epler was promoted to executive editor.
In 2012, Huffington Post launched a Hawaii issues and travel-oriented site in partnership with Civil Beat. HuffPost Hawaii staff share office space with the Civil Beat staff.
In 2012, as part of an investigation of municipal law enforcement, Civil Beat sued the City and County of Honolulu for access to public records. The organization has also provided national pool journalists for visits by President Barack Obama and his family, conducted research and enterprise reporting on Hawaii's homeless population and its high mortality rate, and questioned the high cost to taxpayers of remediation of Kahoolawe island.
In 2016, Civil Beat employed a staff of 13 full-time journalists and three business department employees. The website has been awarded best news site in Hawaii by the Society of Professional Journalists each year since 2011.
Operation
Civil Beat has a board of directors that includes publisher Pierre Omidyar.
Civil Beat gets revenue from subscriptions along with funding from Pierre Omidyar. Other sponsorships have come from local businesses and nonprofits, such as the law firm of Alston Hunt Floyd & Ing, Appleseed Center and Honolulu Museum of Art which together provided underwriting for a reporting project in Micronesia, and D.R. Horton, which provided underwriting for a series on Hawaii's high cost of living.
In 2016, the publication became a non-profit and its paywall has been dropped.
Besides the partnership with The Huffington Post, Civil Beat has media partnerships with Hawaii Public Radio, KITV and Clear Channel/KHVH. Civil Beat provides content and analysis for other news organizations including National Public Radio.
Articles written by Civil Beat journalists have been featured in the New York Times and are often referenced and quoted in other news sources. Civil Beat staff contribute to local talk radio programs.
Civil Beat's competitors include the state's major newspaper, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.