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History
In a world striving for media accountability and freedom of the press, the Honolulu Community-Media Council has stood as a touchstone for the past 38 years. In response to the banning from City Hall of a Honolulu Star-Bulletin reporter by then mayor Frank F. Fasi, the Rev. Claude DuTeil approached the editors of Honolulu’s two major dailies and a representative of the mayor’s office to resolve the situation. Each in turn suggested an idea that had been taking root on an experimental basis in six Mainland cities—the press council. After gaining the support of Jim Richstad, a University of Hawaii journalism professor, and Harlan Cleveland, the university’s president, Du Teil brought together more than a hundred community members and media representatives at the Community-News Media Conference to discuss the idea. After a successful event, thirty-three men and women joined in pushing for a press council for Honolulu. Following months of planning, on November 16, 1970, the fledgling organization took form. Heading the council was a man who gave instant credibility to the new organization—Judge Robert Corbett, considered the father of the family court system. Jim Richstad served as the council’s first executive director. Almost immediately the young group took a stand calling for the state’s governor to conduct more regularly scheduled press conferences. The council’s push for greater press freedom would again focus on the ban of yet another Star-Bulletin reporter by Mayor Fasi. Despite the availability of the council as a mediation resource, the newspaper and the mayor instead resorted to the courts to settle their differences. When Fasi subsequently banned a reporter from the Honolulu Advertiser, yet another suit was filed. Though its attempt to file a friend of the court brief in the latter case failed, the council’s language regarding standards for news conferences found its way into the final decision. The council also has worked to keep bias out of the media. As the reporting of political polls became more crucial in local races, the council created standards for the methodology underlying political polling and for the reporting of results. In response to a complaint by a journalist that the University of Hawaii’s Board of Regents was making key decisions behind closed doors, the council called for more access for the media to its decision-making meetings. Rebuffed by the regents on its recommendation for more openness, the council would later take an active role in the 1974 passage of Hawaii’s “Sunshine Law,” which mandated open meetings for government proceedings. The council would also make a commitment to track legislative attempts to limit media access. In 1975 Jim Richstad resigned as executive director and was replaced by Ah Jook Ku, 65, who would serve in that position for the next quarter century. The council was less crucial to the effort to open up access to judicial proceedings through cameras in the courtroom. Supported by the chief justice of the state Supreme Court, the effort proceeded with council efforts relegated primarily to the role of sponsor of community forums on the topic. The Honolulu Community-Media Council would also play a prominent role in the passage of open records legislation in 1988. For the council, the open records legislation proceeded logically from its efforts to secure open meetings. The resulting legislation would establish the Office of Information Practices, which over the years has opened government records to the news media, helping to keep the public informed about With more than a hundred mediations in its history, the council has helped arbitrate complaints by politicians and against politicians during much of its history. Not surprisingly, Mayor Fasi would play prominently in the mediations, including one against him filed by the City Council chair, and later one filed by him over newspaper coverage during a failed attempt to get elected governor. The council did not shy away from disputes between the powerful, looking in 1988 at a dispute between the Kamehameha Schools, supported by the state’s largest private landowner, and the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, then owned by Gannett, the nation’s largest newspaper chain. Unlike the actions supporting media access, the findings of newspaper shortcomings would cause friction between the media and the council. The friction would result in the resignation from the council of the editor of the Honolulu Advertiser when the council decided to take a look at quality of the local print and broadcast media in its publication State of Journalism in Hawaii. The first part, published in October 1991, focused on the two Honolulu daily newspapers, namely the Honolulu Advertiser and Honolulu Star-Bulletin. The second part, published in September 1992, looked at the three daily local television news shows in Honolulu on stations KHON, KITV and KGMB. An annual award for excellence in journalism given by the council was named posthumously for the editor and main proponent of the study, Fletcher Knebel. The dual role of the council as a watchdog of the media and watchdog for the media would be seen when Gannett attempted to close the 118-year-old Honolulu Star-Bulletin in 1999. In an attempt to preserve diverse editorial voices in Hawaii, the council sponsored community forums and provided some of the foot soldiers in the Save Our Star-Bulletin efforts that eventually resulted in the continued operations of two major daily newspapers in Hawaii. The council would also take a stand against ownership of two of the largest television stations in Hawaii by Emmis Communications. Mayor Frank F. Fasi, whose dispute with the Honolulu Star-Bulletin served as the catalyst for the formation of the Honolulu Community-Media Council in 1970, announced after his defeat in 2004 that he ran in his last race for mayor of the city and county of Honolulu at age 84. But for the Honolulu Community-Media Council, the work continues, for the issues of media accountability and press freedoms continue to be central to society. Written by: Ralph Kam | ||||||||||||||
