The one thing that frightens journalists the most and how you can help

Shaka Santa and Tutu Mele at Honolulu Hale© 2017 All Hawaii News

As a journalist, I've taken on powerful politicians and big-bucks corporations. I've weighed in on weighty issues and haven't hesitated to call it as I've seen it.

Government officials have gone to federal prison under my watch; government contractors have lost multi-million-dollar jobs.

But there's one thing that absolutely terrifies me: Asking for money to support my work.

Journalists were always taught not to ask. That was a job for the Sales Office, the Advertising Department. We were taught to be scrupulous about avoiding possible conflicts of interest.
Some journalists won't even take a cup of coffee from a source. That's starting to change, as bloggers join the news field and create one-person operations.

Unless you're public radio, asking for money isn't easy.

But every once in a while, I just have to grit my teeth and ask.

All Hawaii News is not public radio. Nor is it a nonprofit -- at least not on purpose. For nine years, it's just been my labor of love, five days a week.

Putting All Hawaii News together each day takes more than two hours of reading, culling and aggregating from almost 20 different media sources, so as to provide the top political and government news from all the Hawaiian Islands.

This is a one-woman show. I usually start at 5 a.m. so folks can read the news highlights with their morning coffee or on their smartphones during their daily commute. (Not while they're driving, of course.)

I've been doing this for nine years. Even on vacation.

Internet rumors to the contrary, I haven't made a fortune. But I appreciate every single person who finds I do a valuable service and supports my work. I am especially appreciative of the small cadre of consistent supporters.

So here's your chance, faithful readers.

It's the perfect holiday gift for the struggling blogger.

It would be very meaningful to me if those who find All Hawaii News a helpful news blog to keep you in touch in a hurry, or that @allhawaiinews is often first with political and government news updates, to help put a little jingle in my holiday.

I've moved All Hawaii News' "keep the news coming" donate button to the top right of the homepage. Just click and donate using PayPal or a major credit card. You can even click a button to send an automatic monthly payment.

How to donate:

1.     Click the donate button at the top right of the page.
2.     Donate using a major credit card or PayPal account.
3.     Send an email to nclauer@gmail.com to get your name and/or link on the sponsor list. (otherwise, your gift will remain anonymous)

A donation no matter how modest would be a vote of confidence in my efforts.

Mahalo, Mele Kalikimaka and Hau'oli Makahiki Hou from All Hawaii News!

Signed,
Publisher, aggregator, columnist, editor and chief bottle-washer Nancy Cook Lauer

Happy Thanksgiving! Mahalo to our sponsors. ... You can be one too!

Pig taken from an imu for a feast © 2016 All Hawaii News

Mahalo.

That's the Hawaiian word for "thank you," and it means more now than ever, as we celebrate Thanksgiving with family and friends.

"Ohana" is the Hawaiian word for family, and "hoaloha" means friend.

But generally, in Hawaii, friends are considered family, so "hoaloha" isn't all that commonplace. Instead, an older man is called "Uncle," an older woman, "Auntie," even if the speaker doesn't know you. It's a term of respect, even if you might be a "haole," (white person), "Kepani," (Japanese) or otherwise non-Hawaiian.

"Thank you," "family "and "respect" are terms to remember this holiday season and today more than ever. We need to pull together, to emphasize our similarities, not our differences.

Hawaii has been called a melting pot, but even better than that, it's a mixed salad, all the various components contributing their own unique flavor while not losing their identity, so that the whole is even greater than its parts. That's what makes Hawaii special, and helps it serve as a model for our troubled nation.

It's a good time for All Hawaii News to say mahalo nui for your support over the years (More than eight years!) by reading, subscribing and contributing to this blog.

No fake news here! Instead, your All Hawaii News curator is up before the sun every weekday, compiling and curating the top news from dozens of vetted sources -- real news by real journalists -- and providing it in one aggregated site by 7:30 a.m. every weekday. (Usually earlier!)

All Hawaii News is a labor of love. I've been doing this day in and day out for eight years now. Advertising is kept to a minimum.

Small contributions from loyal followers help pay to keep All Hawaii News online. A donation no matter how modest is seen as a vote of confidence in my efforts.

How to donate:

        Click the donate button at the top right of the page.
        Donate using a major credit card or PayPal account.
        Send an email to nclauer@gmail.com to get your name and/or link on the sponsor list. (otherwise, your gift will remain anonymous)

Mahalo to everyone who clicks, comments or contributes to All Hawaii News. I can't do it without you!

Nancy Cook Lauer

We interrupt your daily news blog to ....

We interrupt your daily aggregate news blog to take a short break. There may be sporadic coverage over the next two weeks, for which I apologize.

In the meantime, this would be an excellent time to add a few bucks to the tip jar, to help keep the news coming.

All Hawaii News is a labor of love. I've been doing this day in and day out for more than six years now. Advertising is kept to a minimum.

Small contributions from loyal followers help pay to keep All Hawaii News online. A donation no matter how modest is seen as a vote of confidence in my efforts.

How to donate:

1.   Click the donate button at the top right of the page.
2.   Donate using a major credit card or PayPal account.
3.   Send an email to nclauer@gmail.com to get your name and/or link on the sponsor list. (otherwise, your gift will remain anonymous)

Mahalo to everyone who clicks, comments or contributes to All Hawaii News. I can't do it without you!

Nancy Cook Lauer

Lucky 7 awards. Where All Hawaii News brags about its awards and asks for your help

2015 awards from Society of Professional Journalism

Lucky 7.

That's how many awards All Hawaii News has won from the Society of Professional Journalists, Hawaii chapter since this blog's inception in 2008.

Last week's Excellence in Journalism awards gave us two more.

Top awards for solo news blog. Smaller finalist awards for best overall news website in Hawaii, right alongside HuffPost Hawaii. All Hawaii News will never be more than a finalist in this category as long as our friends at Civil Beat keep doing their good work. Don't forget to send them some loving too.

Awards are wonderful. They tell me I'm on the right track, providing your daily recap of government and political news. I rely on news outlets throughout the state for the top news that is curated starting at 5 a.m. weekdays. No webscraping or automatic processes can handle the job that needs to be done by hand. The posts are usually supplemented with my own photography, from as many islands as I can visit given my limited time and budget.

But unfortunately, awards don't pay the bills. I'm using the cut-rate Blogger platform, but there are still expenses.

All Hawaii News is a labor of love. I've been doing this day in and day out for almost eight years now. Advertising is kept to a minimum. And, so far, I've managed to stave off the dreaded popup ads. No guarantees though.

Contributions from loyal followers help pay to keep All Hawaii News online. A donation no matter how modest is seen as a vote of confidence in my efforts.

How to donate:

1.       Click the donate button at the top right of the page.
2.       Donate using a major credit card or PayPal account.
3.       Send an email to nclauer@gmail.com to get your name and/or link on the sponsor list. (otherwise, your gift will remain anonymous)

If you can't donate, no worries. Feel free to like and share the daily news through your favorite social media, using the links provided, or simply copying and pasting the URL into your news feed. The more the merrier!

This blogger's greatest challenge: Keeping the news alive

The greatest challenge to running a one-person news aggregate blog is this:

How do I take a vacation?

Because All Hawaii News collects and highlights the day's top government and political news, it's simply not possible to prewrite and schedule posts.

I usually find some time on vacation days to skim through my long list of media sites and post the best of them for the day. I need to keep on top of the biggest news of the day anyway, even if I am on vacation.

Sometimes, I'll write a few articles in advance and substitute them for the daily aggregate. However, with vacation looming and articles not prewritten, this doesn't appear to be one of those times.

So, please bear with me, loyal readers, if the schedule is a bit erratic over the next couple of weeks. Everyone needs a few days off, especially with an exciting gubernatorial election coming in November.

All Hawaii News isn't fancy, but it wins awards. You can read what the judges said here.

By the way, this would be a perfect time to help keep the news alive.

All Hawaii News is a labor of love. I've been doing this day in and day out for more than five years now. Advertising is kept to a minimum.

Small contributions from loyal followers help pay to keep All Hawaii News online. A donation no matter how modest is seen as a vote of confidence in my efforts.

How to donate:

1.     Click the donate button at the top right of the page.
2.     Donate using a major credit card or PayPal account.
3.     Send an email to nclauer@gmail.com to get your name and/or link on the sponsor list. (otherwise, your gift will remain anonymous)

Mahalo to everyone who clicks, comments or contributes to All Hawaii News. I can't do it without you!

Signed,
Publisher, aggregator, columnist, editor and chief bottle-washer Nancy Cook Lauer

The one thing that frightens journalists the most and how you can help

Shaka Santa and Tutu Mele at Honolulu Hale (c) 2013 All Hawaii News

As a journalist, I've taken on powerful politicians and big-bucks corporations. I've weighed in on weighty issues and haven't hesitated to call it as I've seen it.

Government officials have gone to federal prison under my watch; government contractors have lost multimillion-dollar jobs.

But there's one thing that absolutely terrifies me: Asking for money to support my work.

Journalists were always taught not to ask. That was a job for the Sales Office, the Advertising Department. We were taught to be scrupulous about avoiding possible conflicts of interest.
Some journalists won't even take a cup of coffee from a source. That's starting to change, as bloggers join the news field and create one-person operations.

Unless you're public radio, asking for money isn't easy.

But every once in a while, I just have to grit my teeth and ask.

All Hawaii News is not public radio. Nor is it a nonprofit -- at least not on purpose. For five years, it's just been my labor of love, five days a week.

Putting All Hawaii News together each day takes about two hours of reading, culling and aggregating from almost 20 different media sources, so as to provde the top political and government news from all the Hawaiian Islands.

This is a one-woman show. I usually start at 5 a.m. so folks can read the news highlights with their morning coffee or on their smartphones during their daily commute. (Not while they're driving, of course.)

I've been doing this for five years. Even on vacation.

Internet rumors to the contrary, I haven't made a fortune. In fact, all of my sponsors, no matter how supportive, have barely put enough together to pay my cable bill.

So here's your chance, faithful readers.

It's the perfect holiday gift for the struggling blogger. Never fear, I don't expect enough to quit my day job anytime soon.

But it would be very meaningful to me if those who find All Hawaii News a helpful news blog to keep you in touch in a hurry, or that @allhawaiinews is often first with political and government news updates, to help put a little jingle in my holiday.

I've moved All Hawaii News' "keep the news coming" donate button to the top right of the homepage. Just click and donate using PayPal or a major credit card. You can even click a button to send an automatic monthly payment.

How to donate:

1. Click the donate button at the top right of the page.
2. Donate using a major credit card or PayPal account.
3. Send an email to nclauer@gmail.com to get your name and/or link on the sponsor list. (otherwise, your gift will remain anonymous)

And watch for future innovations, such as an annual eBook listing the top news for the entire year. It's a work in progress I hope to complete before the year is out.

Meanwhile, a donation no matter how modest would be a vote of confidence in my efforts.

Mahalo, Mele Kalikimaka and Hau'oli Makahiki Hou from All Hawaii News!

Signed,
Publisher, aggregator, columnist, editor and chief bottle-washer Nancy Cook Lauer