Honolulu Civil Beat is a nonprofit news site that was founded in 2010 with the goal of bringing harder-hitting accountability journalism to Hawaii. Over the last 14 years, our mission has expanded to focus increasingly on civic engagement, using an ever-evolving mix of online storytelling tools and in-person events to provide citizens with the tools they need to bring about change in their communities and hold elected leaders accountable.
Our role as both a watchdog and a community convener was brought into sharp focus Aug. 8, when the worst wildfire in modern American history swept through the historic seat of the Hawaiian Kingdom, killing at least 101 people and destroying much of Lahaina. We quickly pivoted our entire staff to cover the disaster and its ongoing impact on the state, using every reporting and digital tool possible to meet the needs of our readers.
Over the course of the last 10 months, we have published more than 500 stories on the topic, held dozens of events and launched myriad new features to meet community needs, including a resource guide and FAQ section. We also used social media posts to crowdsource a timeline of the fires and used tools like Google Pinpoint to comb through hours of 911 calls and police body camera footage.
At the same time, Civil Beat’s reporting staff was exposing critical flaws in the state and county’s emergency preparedness and response, including the incompetence and absence of Maui’s top emergency management official and the history of failures in ecological management that laid the foundation for the disaster to occur. Our newsroom has played a vital role in pushing back against the longstanding culture of secrecy in the state, engaging the public in our efforts to fight for public records and hold government leaders accountable.
Our reporting on the Maui fires has been honored with several regional and national awards, including a National Headliner award and most recently was named a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Coverage.
The Maui fire coverage consumed much of our small staff’s time and energy in the past 10 months, and it will continue to be one of the most important stories in our state for years to come.
But our work has not stopped there. In the last year we’ve continued our Sunshine Project, an ongoing effort aimed at accountability, transparency and ethics in government and the media. Investigative projects included the aftermath of the fuel spill at the Navy’s Red Hill storage facility and a series of investigative columns on the secrecy shrouding the state child welfare services agency. A reporter spent months in the National Archives examining an unusual find — long-forgotten letters from Hawaii that hadn’t been opened in more than 100 years.
We’ve bolstered our reader outreach through a growing roster of public events, including neighborhood-focused storytelling events, Pop-up Newsrooms, and live streamed conversations with public officials.
