Honolulu Merger Offers Peer News Opening
Pierre Omidyar and John Temple are moving forward with their Peer News Hawaiian start-up, and they were just given a gift. As David Black buys Gannett’s Honolulu Advertiser, with intent to merge with his own Star-Bulletin (two papers that have seen Monopoly board game-like trading), they’ll be one metro daily left, and it will be slim. If Peer News (the name seems problematic from here on the Mainland), can execute at a high level, it can move into a vacuum — and make the case for a homegrown news product and ad venue. Related question: If Gannett’s looking to reduce its newspaper holdings, what will it be getting into, other than the necessity of further reducing debt?