3/25/20 #kihei
Will Maui Time be next? Almost six years ago we lost a weekly newspaper. Can the community prevent another loss?

After over two decades of publishing, Maui’s “alternative” newspaper, the free weekly Maui Time (MT), is experiencing a severe financial hardship which may cause it to cease publishing. Anyone who has read it is aware who are the vast majority of advertisers. Under the sudden changes on Maui we see all around us, there is little need to plug your business if it is closed. So if all those eating, drinking and entertainment entities stop advertising all at once, the MT business model can collapse.

Here is the message from the publisher Tommy Russo.

MauiTime Needs Your Help – Support Local Journalism

March 24, 2020 by Tommy Russo 

Aloha Everyone!  Publisher Tommy Russo here. 

For almost 25 years, MauiTime has been a constant presence in our island community, but never have we been more challenged to serve you than in the past eight days. We have rushed to bring you the latest information on the COVID-19 crisis, publishing more than 70 news stories in our print edition and on our website. We were the only Maui newspaper to ask questions at the governor’s most recent press conference, and we want to continue providing that coverage for our community in the weeks to come.

But we need your help to do so. MauiTime, fiercely independent and locally owned, is seriously teetering. The fallout from COVID-19 has shut down local restaurants, shops, and entertainment venues—our most loyal advertisers. In the past, they made it possible for us to offer you MauiTime free of charge. But that entire business model revolves around you congregating with others—eating out, going to shows, shopping at local stores. And now that our advertisers are hurting, we’re hurting too. We need your help to make it to the other side of this crisis.

If you have the means, we are asking for financial assistance to MauiTime so we can keep providing you with important news and stories you won’t see anywhere else. We know there are many others who also need your sympathy and concern right now. But getting crucial information to as many people as possible needs to be a priority for our community, now more than ever. We take our responsibility to Maui very seriously, and we want to keep informing you as long as we are able.

Producing MauiTime has never been easy, but with much of our revenue stream gutted by the economic fallout from COVID-19, it’s going to be very difficult for us to continue without your immediate help. If you have the means, please donate what you can and—if you’re feeling especially generous—we have a way for you to make recurring donations.

Maui needs strong coverage of local news more than ever before. We’re the only news source you can trust to tell the whole story, not just the story angle Maui’s establishment wants you to see. Help us continue keeping you informed by donating to MauiTime. 

It’s a crazy, scary time—but everyone here at MauiTime is committed to being  here for you. Please help in whatever way you can.

Much aloha, 

Tommy Russo
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