Monday will be two months exactly since we formally launched Civil Beat.

Sometimes it feels like it’s been a year. Other times it’s very clear that we’re still building our foundation.

To me, perhaps the coolest thing from last week was how we live streamed the Beatup at our headquarters and how people across the country participated in a live online chat about what we were talking about as we were meeting. From Hawaii to New York, there were comments about what it means for Honolulu to be a one-newspaper town. (Out of deference to one of our members, I’ll acknowledge that we have many newspapers, but only one major metro daily newspaper.}

As you may have noticed, I’ve been writing quite a bit about the newest news organization in town, because I believe its work becomes even more important now that there’s just one daily newspaper. What was fascinating, and encouraging, to me about the Beatup was that what our guests really wanted to talk about was Civil Beat and what we need to do to be successful. They had concerns about the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, but it seemed like they were resigned to not being able to influence its direction. It showed me that after just a couple of months we have people who care about what we’re doing. That’s a good sign. But just as I’ve been criticizing the Star-Advertiser, they had their own questions and suggestions for us.

When I say sometimes it feels like we’ve been at this for a year, I mean that sometimes it feels like we’re in a groove. The reporter-hosts are providing original, thoughtful reporting that I believe will help you understand local issues. They’re sharing their experiences.

• Drought Puts Hawaii Ranchers Up the Creek by Michael Levine gave a real feel for the lack of rain was affecting ranchers.
• Principals Without Power by Katherine Poythress showed the reality of the limits of a public school principal’s power in hiring, at a time when the conventional wisdom is that they need more.
• Hawaii GOP Runs Radio Ads to Recruit Candidates by Chad Blair was another example of how he’s able to point out what one-party dominance means in Hawaii. Radio ads to recruit candidates?
• New Top Administrator for State Pension Fund by Noelle Chun told of the new top guy at state pension fund. It’s just the tip of the iceberg of what’s coming from Noelle on that topic. With studies raising questions about its health, she’s been asking tough questions and the results will be coming soon.
• Grand Vision, Big Questions for Oahu Electric Car Plant by Nanea Kalani was part of a package of stories she did on electric cars in Hawaii. We’re committed to going further in our reporting, and I think this first contribution from the former Pacific Business News reporter was an example of the kind of reporting we intend to deliver. The other stories in that package were The Story of Electric Cars in Hawaii and Hawaii Part of Huge U.S. Push by CT&T .
• Facilitating Justice for All by Catharine Lo began to explore the issue of access to justice in Hawaii. This was another example of an experienced Hawaii journalist contributing to Civil Beat.
• Finally, Ten Years, Ten Endangered Species Indictments by Michael Levine was an example of how we’re going to be focused on serving you. When indictments were handed down against Kauai’s electric company in May, we filed a Freedom of Information Act request to try to determine how rare it was to have criminal charges against a corporation in an environmental case. Nobody would talk on the government side. But Michael determined through the records that he obtained that it was very rare. Similar filings had occurred just 10 times in the entire United States over the past 10 years.

When I say sometimes it feels like we’re still building our foundation, it’s because so much of what we do we do for the first time.

• Where’s the Beef? No Reason to Oppose Civil Unions was the first editorial from Civil Beat’s editorial board: Pierre Omidyar, Randy Ching, Sara Lin and me. All of us have been writing signed pieces, but we feel like there’s a place for editorials that represent a consensus of what Civil Beat’s leaders have come to believe about an important issue after thorough reporting on the topic.
• Civil Beat Publishes Corrections Policy is an example of how we’re still developing our own policies. Last week we published our corrections policy. Before that we published our policy on using unnamed sources in stories, Read About Civil Beat’s Policy on Anonymous Sources.
• Marking Holiday with Essays on Independence, my short article introducing our Independence Day essay project, seemed simple enough. But the effort to invite people in the community to write for the site had its own complications, given that we had never done it before. If you missed the kick-off piece Friday by Hawaiian Studies Professor Jonathan Osorio, I encourage you to to back and read it. It will give you food for thought this holiday weekend.

There’s much more to do. But for now, we’ll take a break.

DISCUSSION: Share your thoughts in our discussion.