Thomas Heaton

Honolulu Civil Beat

Our focus is on investigative and watchdog journalism, in-depth enterprise reporting, analysis and commentary that gives readers a broad view on issues of importance to the community. The philanthropic gift that Pierre Omidyar gave to create Civil Beat in 2010 began a unique opportunity for Hawaii to develop a non-commercial media platform whose mission it is to inform and educate Hawaii residents so they can make good decisions about vital issues. Civil Beat has quickly become one of the most respected news sites in Hawaii. Our journalists have won dozens of state, regional and national awards and Civil Beat has been named the best news website in Hawaii for the past five years by the Society of Professional Journalists. Civil Beat also hopes to foster community discussion by providing a place where citizens can debate important issues in a civil manner, free from cheap shots and personal swipes. We do that through encouraging a wide variety of reader-submitted Community Voices, public events and through our integrated Civil Comments platform.