Alternative Media Showcase: Maui Time Weekly
I have showed my bias toward the continental United States in my profiles on alternative newspapers and magazines over the last two weeks. The Hawaiian Islands have some great local publications that seek to eschew the mainstream media. The Maui Time Weekly shows the fierce competition among different islands in Hawaii for the attention of travelers and residents.
This weekly publication has a circulation of 18,000 that is distributed throughout Maui. This number is one of the lowest among members of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies due to the island’s small size. The publication’s demographic profile includes 55% of readers who are female, 31% who are aged between 35-44 and 35% who have attended college. Maui Time Weekly works with Alternative Weekly Network for some of its published material and advertising.
There are several aspects of Maui Time Weekly that show the uneven nature of the publication. I love the idea that writers of the Time Weekly participate in a regular podcast to help put voices to the publication’s written materials. The trite articles on denim jeans and other banalities published under the “Restless Native? banner could be left behind in favor of something more substantive. The true draws of the Maui Time Weekly are the publication’s excellent cover stories.
These cover stories span different layers of gravity and region importance to attract different types of readers. The March 20th cover story is a profile of author Jill Engledow who has written a book helping mainlanders and foreign travelers to life in Maui. This week’s cover story highlights the gross destruction of forests in Southeast Asia due to subsidies given by the state legislature for palm oil projects. I can look beyond weaker entries in the Maui Time Weekly as long as they supply compelling cover stories via their website.
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