To our readers, our advertisers, and the greater Maui community:
Aloha. I hope you are well on this beautiful day in Maui.
I am reaching out today to discuss changes that we are planning to make here at The Maui News—changes that I know will allow us to continue to serve you and our county as we move forward. Our goal, as always, will be to ensure that you, our readers, are well informed about the happenings here in Maui County.
The Maui News was founded on Feb. 17, 1900—five years before the forming of Maui County itself. In the ensuing 124 years, the staff at The Maui News have worked each day with one mission: to provide you with the latest information to help you live your best life and to be informed on the happenings here on our island. From reporting on the important news events, to celebrating the triumphs of our sports teams, to introducing you to local residents who are doing really interesting things, to highlighting upcoming events of interest, and even letting you know of traffic pattern changes—these are the essential pieces of what we have consistently provided to help you navigate and understand life here on Maui, Lanai, and Molokai.
That’s not changing. But how we deliver that vital community information to you will.
Just as The Maui News began as a weekly news publication before transitioning to daily print delivery, which later included providing news on our website, mauinews.com, we have made the entrepreneurial decision to evolve once again to best serve you and the community. As we’ve outlined to our staff, effective June 6, we will transition The Maui News to an operation that is focused on providing information to you with an as-it-happens, digital-focused publishing strategy, along with a weekly printed edition. That means the news that matters most to you will be delivered to you digitally in real time at mauinews.com.
We already know many of you and others outside of our print delivery area get their news from us online—nearly 3 million people visited mauinews.com in 2023. This is the future of local news—and moving there now will allow us to continue serving you in the most effective manner. It is also a well-known fact that many newspapers have made similar decisions in recent years, and that is the direction that most of the industry is heading. Focusing our resources on our digital offerings and a weekly print edition allows us to support the work that Maui needs most: local news and information about our community.
Our digital platform will become the go-to location in Maui for the latest news and other happenings. We also will provide dining recommendations, options for day trips for both locals and visitors, and much more. Obituaries will be updated daily at mauinews.com and there will be a digital community calendar so that you can stay abreast of the events you’d like to attend.
The community we’ve created for 124 years in our print product—chronicling all of Maui’s people, places, and important events, while also providing a voice for our residents on important matters—will continue at mauinews.com.
We also know that many of you will always want a printed newspaper. We love newspapers as well, so we will complement our digital-first approach with a robust weekly print edition. This edition, to be delivered each Thursday beginning June 6, will be filled with vital information that will help you plan your upcoming week. There also will be perspective on important matters from the prior week along with the regular features that you love, such as comics, puzzles, and advice columns. All of the obituaries and advertisements from the previous week will also be included.
In both our digital and our print presentations, our goal will continue to be to help move Maui forward. We will need your assistance to do that. Lend your voice to the important matters of the day through a letter that we can share with readers. If you’ve taken a great photograph, don’t hesitate to share it with us—we’d love to showcase it for your friends and neighbors. See news happening in your neighborhood? Let us know so we can investigate and share with others. Have a person in your circle who’s doing something extraordinary? Tell us so we can share their story with everyone.
We hope you’ll join us in this important endeavor to create a digital future that serves the Maui of today—and tomorrow. We think this is going to be an exciting shift, and we are committed to doing it well. We’ll keep you informed in the coming weeks on additional items, and as always, keep reading.