There's a new addition to the media landscape in Hawaiʻi: Aloha State Daily. The news outlet is exclusively online and aims to cover a range of topics from politics and arts to sports and the economy.
Leading the site is A. Kam Napier, who was the editor-in-chief of Pacific Business News for a decade.
"It may be the beginning of the end for certain formats, but I think it's the beginning of the beginning for new ways to do journalism," he said.
Napier added that this is an exciting time to start something new.
"What we'd like to offer people is our curiosity about the beats that we cover, our access to the people that we're able to reach — maybe the idea that we would be asking different questions of the sources than other outlets might ask," he told HPR.
Napier said the site officially debuted on Jan. 13 and currently has five reporters. He said that Aloha State Daily is privately owned, and its investor has Hawaiʻi-ties.
"He's a high net worth individual. That's about all we say about that. This person would really rather people look at Aloha State Daily and pay attention to the news that we're doing and the work that the crew is doing."
Aloha State Daily's sister publication is Cowboy State Daily in Wyoming. According to business filings and Honolulu Civil Beat’s The Sunshine Blog, the owner is Wyoming billionaire B. Wayne Hughes Jr., or Bradley Wayne Hughes Jr.
Hughes also founded American Commercial Equities, a real estate investment firm whose portfolio includes the shopping center in ‘Āina Haina.
This interview aired on The Conversation on March 11, 2025. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m.
