Media Council Hawaii

28/09/2023

Check out our new website! It's still undergoing some work, but our Blog and Archive pages are viewable.

As we continue to move forward with out rebuilding efforts, we'd love to hear your thoughts about the site, the organization, and what work you'd like to see us doing.

Media Council Hawaiʻi works to improve access to information, strengthen the public's understanding of and support for 1st Amendment rights and freedoms, educate the electorate on the important role of the media role in a healthy democracy, and promote fair and accurate journalism in Hawaii and aro...

29/08/2023

“Fair and balanced” is nonsense.

There aren’t necessarily two sides to every story. Sometimes there’s more. That the media portrays the “radical left” and “radical right” as equally dangerous and out of touch is the REAL media bias. News media nowadays is primarily concerned with maintaining the current (recent?) neoliberal political-economic system. Propping up the country’s “owners” at the expense of everyone else.

If you really want to understand what’s happening in our world, why it’s happening, and who’s to blame, you must delve beyond the mainstream news media to find it. You’ll never see it watching cable news, the local evening news, or reading your local news paper.

04/08/2023

BIG NEWS AHEAD!

MCH is slowly surging back to life. Stay tuned for a fresh new website, a shiny new logo, and new activities.

Perhaps now more than ever, we need more focus on media and its influence on our communities.

27/02/2023

Media Bias and the Powerful Influence of Social Media on Our Elections Requires Critical Look at Hawaii’s Local News Media

I hear friends and colleagues regularly decry Hawaii’s news media. Their lackluster reporting. The mimicry.

Since I moved to Hawaii more than 20 years ago, I’ve see the slow evaporation, or consolidation, of the local news media. To the detriment of local residents. A well-informed electorate is foundational to a properly functioning democracy and for that we need a functioning, inquisitive, and hard-hitting news media.

For the last several years, Media Council Hawaii (MCH) has laid dormant. It’s core supporters and activists have moved on from its important work. Now, a handful of us are returning to try to breathe life back into the organization.

And it couldn’t come at a better time. Hawaii needs a news media watchdog and I hope our efforts to revive MCH are successful.

Immediately, there is the “shield law”. Right now, Hawaii is one of only two states that has no law on the books protecting journalists and their sources. We had a shield law for a time, but legislative brinkmanship allowed the law sunset. Now, we have a chance to revive it.

On Tuesday, February 28, the House Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs will hear HB1502 Relating to Evidence. This bill would reestablish the shield law in Hawaii. MCH has submitted testimony in support and we are urging you to do the same. Below are some talking points you can use in your testimony in support of the bill.

- I am submitting testimony in support of HB1502 Relating to Evidence.
- Previously the “Shield Law” provided a limited privilege to journalists, and those acting in a similar capacity, against compulsory disclosure of confidential sources and unpublished information.
- Hawaii is one of only two states that has no statewide protection for journalists and their confidential source.
- That protection is essential to the free flow of information and the public interest, as it would guarantee anonymity for whistleblowers and others who provide information about government misconduct.
- Please pass HB1502 as Hawaii needs this important law.
- Mahalo for the opportunity to testify.

You can submit testimony by going to capitol.hawaii.gov and creating an account. Or, you can email your testimony directly to the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Committee:

Chair, David Tarnas - [email protected]
Vice-Chair, Gregg Takayam - [email protected]

In the coming weeks and months, we will be posting here more information about MCH, our efforts to rebuild the organization, and calling out the local news media when they publish misinformation, one-sided stories, or when we believe their reporting does a genuine disservice to the public.

https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session/measure_indiv.aspx?billtype=HB&billnumber=1502&year=2023

Please be advised that these pages may contain links to external Internet sites established by other entities. The Hawaii State Legislature does not maintain, review, or endorse these sites and is not responsible for their content.