Honolulu’s newest way to read the news, Honolulu Civil Beat, made its official debut on Tuesday, May 4, 2010.  The new online news site, created by Ebay founder, Pierre Omidyar, boasts a sleek yet simplistic layout and gives readers another outlet to read the latest news – with a twist. 

The website itself describes Honolulu Civil Beat to focus on its two main concepts – Content and Conversation.  As far as content goes, Honolulu Civil Beat doesn’t follow the traditional mold of online news sites.  Instead of separating news into different sections like news, editorials, sports, business, features, etc., the news site keeps its content together.  It also focuses on five important beats that affect the island community: Honolulu, Hawaii, land, money, and education.

Conversation is another concept Honolulu Civil Beat focuses on. The Conversation aspect allows readers to voice their opinions on the news served up on the site in a new way.  Like other news sites, readers are allowed to comment on articles.  But while most sites allow readers to remain anonymous in their posts, Honolulu Civil Beat prefers there to be no anonymous comments, so each member ‘will remain accountable for their own voice.’ Readers can also interact with the reporter-host of each article, allowing an open forum between the two.

What’s also different about Honolulu Civil Beat is the price you pay to read it.  In between the time of Honolulu Civil Beat’s open launch on April 21 to May 4, the site’s membership fee was at $4.99, and allowed members to create dialogue with reporter-hosts as an introductory offer. But after the official launch on May 4, the official membership fee is now at $19.99 a month.  While some content will be free for readers, paying subscribers will get much more content, as well as the ability to comment on articles.

However, the site does offer a 15-day trial membership for 99 cents, giving readers a sneak peek at what it has to offer. 

To find more about Honolulu Civil Beat or to start reading articles, you can visit the site at www.civilbeat.com.