Hawaii Island Newspapers and Other Print Media

[BKHale2007]

For discussion of Hawaii Tribune-Herald, West Hawaii Today, and Hawaii Island Journal, as well as other Hawaii Island-based newspapers, magazines, and newsletters both current and defunct.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Hawaii Island Newspapers and Other Print Media

I have been involved in Charter School issues here on the Big Island that have been in print in both the Hawaii Tribune as well as the Honolulu Star Bulletin and can say that the Tribune got their story completely wrong on one story. The scary part is that a lot of Big Island newspaper readers get their local news that way and only that way. Thank goodness I can get both the SB and Advertiser for a quarter more each here in Kea'au.

I hate to rag on a daily rag but the writing ability is so lacking in some of the Tribune's articles that it seems as if this were a college newspaper attempting to go mainstream. I read some articles that border on slander or at least put the paper in a position of high liability. Lines like: A woman was found slain near the UH Hilo campus last night. A witness said Joe Blow was seen in the area prior to the death and police speculate he may be a suspect in their ongoing investigation which started this morning.

Now Hilo isn't a big town and listing Joe Blow as a "possible" suspect "speculated by the police" tells me that Joe Blow is not a suspect at all but the Tribune just damaged his good name before any arrest could be made and now poor Joe Blow can't go into the local KTA supermarket to buy his six pack of Miller without being given the stink-eye because some local rag just accused him of being a "possible" suspect and only thru speculation, very weak. Oh well the Tribune just subsidized Joe's retirement when he can rightfully sue the paper for slander and in a town that has a pretty high rate of unemployment, that million-dollar lawsuit really sounds good doesn't it.

One thing the Hilo Tribune has going for it is that most people from Hilo still don't believe in suing everytime they stub their toe on County property. That's good for the economy but eventually people will wise up and the Hilo Tribune will have to stop making those gross journalistic mistakes.

The good thing about the Hilo Tribune is that they do publish the daily police report including the names of those who got "busted" for every offense that occured the night before. And that little column keeps most people out of trouble in this quiet town. Sometimes good old-fashioned reporting works, sometimes maybe not.

In all the Tribune does a fairly good job of reporting their local events, but once in a while I cringe when they get the story 180-degrees off or when their writing skills don't reflect professional journalism. In that case I fault their chief editor for not catching those mistakes.

[dick]

Re: Hawaii Island Newspapers and Other Print Media

Craig -

"Lines like: A woman was found slain near the UH Hilo campus last night. A witness said Joe Blow was seen in the area prior to the death and police speculate he may be a suspect in their ongoing investigation which started this morning."

Was this attributed directly to the police? It seems as such. The paper's reporting facts as told to them by the police. It's a fact that Joe Blow is considered by police to be a possible suspect.

"some local rag just accused him of being a "possible" suspect and only thru speculation, very weak. Oh well the Tribune just subsidized Joe's retirement when he can rightfully sue the paper for slander and in a town that has a pretty high rate of unemployment, that million-dollar lawsuit really sounds good doesn't it."

Going back to the above, the so-called "rag" didn't accuse him, rather the police did. Note the word "suspect."

Also, slander wouldn't be an issue here, since it's a printed medium. You're talking libel, and from what I see (I'm not a lawyer, I just play one on TeeVee) I seriously doubt there'd be a case. Has Joe Blow contacted the paper regarding the matter? Has Joe Blow asked for a retraction? Has Joe Blow received such retraction? Was there even grounds for a retraction? Has Joe Blow suffered defamation of any kind and to what extent? Was there fault on the part of the paper? Is Joe Blow a public figure? Was there a lack of due care? Blahblahblah....

You yourself said "Joe Blow as a "possible" suspect "speculated by the police" tells me that Joe Blow is not a suspect at all." Doesn't sound very libelous to me.

[pzarquon]

Re: Hawaii Island Newspapers and Other Print Media

I think Dick raises a good point from the POV of the journalist. If the revelation of a suspect's name was in error, does fault lie more with the police for giving it out or the paper for reporting it?

Example: At the UH Hilo campus paper, we ran weekly excerpts from the Campus Security logs. These logs, both readers and newsroom staff alike, turned out to reliably always specify the ethnicity of a suspect if he or she was a "local male" or "Polynesian female," but seemed strangely silent on the matter in incidents where presumably the suspect was white (or Asian).

We reported it as we read it, essentially, and when questions were raised about our biases, the community quickly moved up the chain to Campus Security. Fortunately, they were very quick to amend their ways, and their own logs soon shunned such identifiers except where relevant (i.e. a suspect still wanted, versus simply an entry about a drunk person acting out in a dorm).

That's not to say small town reporting like you get in the Hawaii Tribune Heraldisn't generally... different from what you get in a city daily. I credited them with aiming for that higher standard, but there were more than a few front-page stories when I was there that made me shake my head.

The shoe was on the other foot, of course, when I headed Ka Leoat UH Manoa, which actually had a readership size in the neighborhood of that of the Hilo paper. Turns out, when serving a small, specific community, some things will matter to your readers that simply wouldn't make the radar screens at a metro paper. Not surprisingly, the Campus Security logs at Manoa were as big a hit in Ka Leoas the police beat column (with the latest drunk and disorderlies and domestic spats) was in the Tribune Herald.

[mel]

Re: Hawaii Island Newspapers and Other Print Media

The police blotter is also a popular feature with Hilo's listeners of the Mynah Bird show on KHBC radio (I think he still does that there; he did it all the time when it was on KIPA).... basically the popular announcer just read what was published in the morning Tribune Herald.

[Stinkeye]

Re: Hawaii Island Newspapers and Other Print Media

By historical definition, defamation is that which tends to hold an individual up to ridicule by the public in general. More modernly, this may also mean "injury to reputation". Libel is printed defamation; slander is spoken defamation.

Here, the Tribune wrote that that the police said the "Joe Blow" was a possible suspect. The Tribune should know that while the police, as acting in an official capacity, are pretty much privileged to say whatever they want in the course of their official duties. The newspaper, however, does not enjoy that same privilege, except when reporting something libelous that may have been spoken in open court. This means that the paper may have gone beyond the limits of privilege and may have libeled Mr. Blow by suggesting he is a suspect.

Unlike most types of torts and in other injury lawsuits, in a libel case it is up to the newspaper (or defendant) to prove they DIDN'T libel someone. The plaintiff merely needs only to make the assertion of defamation. The plaintiffs in a libel case need not such suffer actual damages to win a monetary award.

Here, the paper may need to show 1) that Blow is a real suspect and get the police to go on record as such, 2) that the totality of the article was free from factual error, 3) there is an absence of malice against Mr. Blow, and 4) there was no negligence in the reporting.

If, on the other hand, the comments by police were ill informed, i.e. a beat cop shooting off his mouth, there would be no police privilege either and Mr. Blow could bring an action against the individual officer as well.

Newspapers need to rely only upon official police statements to avoid liability for printing defamatory material, which this clearly is. By printing the assertion that Mr. Blow was a possible suspect, it would tend to hold him up to public scorn (stinkeye, I like that) and damage his reputation, assuming it was good in the first place.

Just because someone else makes the initial comments, it doesn't mean that the paper isn't culpable. Quite the contrary, it is the paper that printed the libel and it would be up to them to prove the veracity of the article.

[BKHale2007]

Re: Hawaii Island Newspapers and Other Print Media

Has anyone, especially those who live on the Big Island, seen Ke Kalahea, recently?

[pzarquon]

Re: Hawaii Island Newspapers and Other Print Media

You mean the UH Hilo student paper? I haven't seen it in years, but I was the editor there for one wild and wacky year (1994-'95). I was tickled to see that the stylized "K" logo I introduced would come back into use every now and then in the semesters that followed...

Did it have a readership beyond the campus?

[BKHale2007]

Re: Hawaii Island Newspapers and Other Print Media

It was distributed at Borders off and on. I don't know if it had a readership beyond the campus. I've seen some issues in the past year. Poor layout, poor writing, and poor choice of topics (as if the whole paper is a giant opinion page). Ke Kalahea's quality is determined by the staff, but the high turnover rate doesn't guarantee a consistent quality.

[BKHale2007]

Re: Hawaii Island Newspapers and Other Print Media

I wonder what you think of the "Tutu Says" column in the Tribune-Herald?

[BKHale2007]

Hawaii Free Press Launches on Big Island

A bimonthly, Hawaii Free Press has a free circulation of 20,000, and aims to compete with Hawaii Island Journal.

[mel]

Re: Hawaii Free Press Launches on Big Island

A bimonthly, Hawaii Free Press has a free circulation of 20,000, and aims to compete with Hawaii Island Journal.

This will be the sister print publication partnering with Hawaii Reporter.com

Hawaii Reporter Sister Newspaper - Hawaii Free Press - Launched on Island of Hawaii

Twenty thousand copies of Hawaii Free Press, a new sister paper to Hawaii Reporter, came hot off the press today on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Founder and Editor of Hawaii Free Press Andrew Walden, a resident of the Big Island, is printing the bi-monthly publication, which includes articles from Hawaii Reporter, and has a focus on neighbor island as well as national news. In his opening letter to his readers as to why he undertook the ambitious venture, Walden says he is trying to combat the one-sided media in Hawaii and further investigative reporting.

[BKHale2007]

Re: Hawaii Island Newspapers and Other Print Media

Thoughts on Ke Kalahea pulling its last issue of the year from circulation?

[Walkoff Balk]

2 storied Japanese-American newspapers in Hawaii prepare to print their last editions (msn.com)

The Hawaii Herald is closing.