Hmmmm. I wonder how much it cost to send Gov. Lingle and her entourage through Indonesia and Asia? A few of the bills have surfaced and at least hint at the amounts involved. According to the State Procurement Office web site, the trip included:
•”Meeting /banquet rooms, food and beverage service for seminar in Tokyo”, $8,000
•”Reception venue, food and beverage service, audio visual equipment”, Okinawa Harborview Hotel, $20,000
•Purchase of ground transportation in Tokyo in conjunction with Governor Mission to Japan 2007, Japan Travel Bureau, $4,000
It would certainly be interesting to see all the costs listed out in one place, along with the sources of funds used to pay the bills.
The Star-Bulletin reports that the ranks of experienced women broadcast reporters and anchors are being further depleted by the imminent departure of Tina Shelton from KHON. This on the heels of Leslie Wilcox’s move to PBS Hawaii.
Speaking of Leslie Wilcox, her “Island Insights” program last night on problems foster kids face when “aging out” of the system was a cut above recent shows in the series. Keep it up, Leslie!
I also noted the death of Michael Lemke, formerly of Honolulu, a senior marketing exec with the Seattle Times.
Former director of the Office of Information Practices, Moya Gray, was spotted on the K5 news at 9 p.m. news last night in a story on Project Visitation, a camping program for kids.
Here’s a recommendation from the Common Cause reading list:
In “Campaign Finance, Iron Triangles & The Decline of American Political Discourse,” Dean Canova provides a readable account of the manner in which the shortcomings in campaign finance and the media contribute to shortcomings in a host of other areas, such as public schools, healthcare, and corporate governance.
Click here for the abstract and for links to the full download.
Now that we’re in the middle of the shortened “summer vacation” enjoyed by island students, this Alternet story on vacation time caught my eye. Read and weep:
Americans now work more every year, on average, than workers in any other industrialized country (except for a virtual tie with New Zealand). With women working longer hours each year, the average annual work time for a married couple is growing steadily, and family time — including the crucial bonding experience of vacations — has suffered. Full-time workers in much of Europe typically take seven to eight weeks of vacation and holidays each year — that’s double the American average for full-time workers.
From the Bulletin article: “Shelton said public information officers are becoming more important than ever since newsrooms are smaller.”
What I read this to mean is that PIOs, i.e. PR people, are becoming “more important” because shrinking news staffs are relying more and more on the content provided by the sources they cover.