We're 145 years old today

To our readers:

It was 145 years ago today in a small wood-frame building on Merchant Street that Henry Whitney, a Kaua'i-born printer, published the first issue of the Pacific Commercial Advertiser.

The first issues of his newspaper contained stories, editorials and advertisements in both English and Hawaiian, and an annual subscription cost $6. He dedicated the newspaper to the interests of the 70,000 people then living in the Islands and promised to independently cover the news and "frown with imperious scorn" on officials who fell short in their duty to the public. Whitney gathered news by "ship-chasing," dispatching fast boats to intercept arriving merchant vessels off Diamond Head to get the latest news reports from the world.

In 1921, the name of the newspaper was changed to The Honolulu Advertiser to better reflect its focus on the community.

Like Hawai'i, The Advertiser has been transformed in ways that couldn't be imagined nearly a century and a half ago. While Henry Whitney had to scramble to find reliable news to publish, today there are so many sources of information that one of our primary jobs is to help you sort through the noise and clutter.

But what has stayed constant is our commitment to this community. We thank you for your support and promise every day to do our best to live up to our slogan, which isn't so different from the promise Henry Whitney made on July 2, 1856:

To be Hawai'i's Newspaper.

With aloha,

Michael J. Fisch
Publisher