Back in January, I noted Nestor Garcia’s return to news with KHON (“Media tidbits, and the revolving door from news to politics and back“).
At that time, I wondered whether this revolving door between news and politics was a good idea.
This is an move that should be raising eyebrows. In 20 years of elective politics, along with the extended fundraising needed to support that long career, Garcia is sure to have accumulated plenty of friends and foes, and lots of obligations that go deep. While I have no doubt he believes he can get back into a reporter’s mindset, this seems like a bad idea. I would be more comfortable if he appears as a commentator or analyst and not a regular reporter. As a commentator, his specific experience and commitments can be taken into account and his opinions put in context appropriately. As a reporter, not so much.
The issue jumped to the fore this week after State Representative and former Honolulu City Council member, Romy Cachola, agreed to pay a record fine to settle charges he had accepted gifts from lobbyists in violation of the city’s ethics laws, and then failed to disclose the potential conflicts as required by the City Charter.
After agreeing to the settlement, Cachola then tried to spread by blame by naming other council members who he said were at the same lobbyist-funded meetings, apparently over food and drink.
Hawaii News Now’s Rick Daysog reported this week:
Cachola, who was fined a record $50,000 by the commission last week, made those records available to show that he was not the only city official receiving illegal gifts.
The law bars city officials from receiving gifts totaling more than $200 during a single fiscal year from a business or single entity if that official’s actions has an impact the business’s interests. And if the city official votes on matters affecting the donor, he or she is required to disclose a conflict before the vote is conducted.
The records, which Cachola obtained from the Ethics Commission, say that Councilmembers Ikaika Anderson, Todd Apo, Donovan Dela Cruz, Nestor Garcia and Ann Kobayashi attended the March 2010 dinners. The meals were at the Palm Restaurant in Denver, the Arcadiana restaurant in Washington and another unnamed D.C. beltway eatery. Only Anderson and Kobayashi remain on the council today.
But when KHON reported the same story, it presented a plain vanilla version of the story that did not include the former council members named by Cachola, including Garcia.
Here’s what KHON reported:
The $50,000 fine from the ethics settlement came in part due to claims that Cachola failed to disclose pricey gifts, such as meals, prior to voting on key measures related to rail, construction and re-zoning.
The lack of disclosure voids his votes on the issues, although erasing his vote alone does not change the outcome on 100 measures the commission reviewed.
But Cachola compiled a list of council colleagues he said were at the same events, and says erasing their votes would invalidate many laws.
By not naming names, KHON may have temporarily avoided an obviously awkward moment, but the problem is ongoing for the station. With its own reporter snagged in this ongoing ethics probe, it looks like KHON is going to have a hard time reporting the story.
And other media seem to be avoiding identifying Garcia as a reporter. So I guess it’s awkward all around, not only over at KHON.
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The problem with Civil Beat is the reporters are immature and lacking perspective for what is a story and what isn’t. Sadly that sophomoric spirit infects the more seasoned reporters and editors there and greatly diminishes the promise of a benevolent dictator running a vital service as a hobby. Almost as embarrassing is the mother of one of the lead reporters chiming in persistently to praise and defend her son’s articles in the comments sections. Very immature – dilutes the efforts at being a “serious” news outlet.
“the mother of one of the lead reporters”
this person protects her cub like a panther, no matter what he writes. yet, in Hawaii, this has never been addressed by the employer. go figure. this is one of the reasons i rarely consider news reporting to be completely “unbiased”. FOX News put the nail in that coffin years ago.
The only hope of ANY truth getting squeezed out of the clenched little fists of the ninnies on Fox or CNN or the networks is dependent on a comparison and discernment between the lines of the hyperbole BOTH sides report as news.
If you side with one or another, you are merely announcing a political stand. Someday, maybe objectivity will be more highly prized. But do not think for a moment that only FOX has cornered the fantasy market.
yes, CNN has its weaknesses…. but in quality of reporting and journalism, FOX is far worse. i don’t care about someone’s idealistic political aspirations; CNN has some excellent reporters who uncover real news.
this is akin to calling someone Conservative because they were not impressed by John Kerry in 2004. there is a little more to the world than A vs. B. amen. that’s my political stand.
This seems to be a total matter of opinion, maybe political. But I have seen some of the most gangland style “get anyone who doesn’t agree with us” stories on CNN. Toobin is a total shill – a hitman for PC and the administration. Even standing up for NSA just cause he didn’t like the conservative who won a civil suit against them. Brooke Baldwin who tried to laugh off some brilliant legal work by a defense attorney on the Trayvon Martin case as useless (Baldwin, a significantly intellectually challenged person at times). Now, the attorney is a commentator on her network. This can go on and on, beginning with Tapper and Wolf asking limp and neutral 6th grade questions to the O. administration on anything except the failures of this government. We are going to have to wait for the next Republican President for CNN to get serious about doing stories. As I said, thank God for Fox when demos are at the wheel. Thank you for CNN when they pile on conservative administrations without feeling guilty for like their ruining career aspirations for “after cable” years. I could do the same with Fox. Isn’t anyone fond of the freedom of seeing that none of these Emperors have any clothes? As “party journalism” continues, don’t forget we can politicize almost everything and will do so pretty soon. Pretty soon there will be cons. and lib. toothpaste and breath mints and people ready to fight over it. What a bunch of lemmings.
Wow. Lots of back and forth finger pointing against FOX and CNN. As if cable TV news brought the curtain down on an age of purity in journalism.
Are people still clinging to the myth of Walter Cronkite and the NY Times reporting the “truth” to the American public, free of any partisan bias and conflicts of interest?
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/matthew-sheffield/2012/05/22/new-bio-reveals-former-cbs-anchor-walter-cronkite-far-more-biased
with FOX’s obsession with “Benghazi Benghazi Benghazi Benghazi Benghazi Benghazi Benghazi Benghazi Benghazi ….” no, I am not impressed at all.
that’s not just bad reporting; it is political desperation, and every educated normal person knows this. i hope.
“t”, nobody here is disputing FOX News’ partisanship. Incessantly repeating that in a million different ways won’t blind others to the indiscretions and unethical behavior of the other networks and reporters/anchors, both past and present.
And while we’re on the topic of journalistic “guts,” how ironic that Civil Beat gets pooped on by a couple of people here….. and this while CB is the *lone* local news media outlet that has investigated the whereabouts of Rep. Tulsi Gabbard on the day when she was a no-show at an Aug. 19 VA committee field hearing. Every other local news team is turning a blind eye to Tulsi deciding to go surfing in Waikiki for a Yahoo! PR puff piece over the opportunity to personally hear from vets concerned about the wait times they endure before receiving medical care. I haven’t seen a politician get this kind of “see no evil, say no evil” treatment by the local mainstream media since the days when everyone thought then-Mayor Mufi was destined to become the governor.
uh, Allen, where on this planet do you get your odd impression that my comments have *anything* to do with blinding “others to the indiscretions and unethical behavior of the other networks and reporters/anchors, both past and present”? lol
i have no idea where you get these ideas. way way way too much drama here.
Ah, the irony once more. Call things as you see it, and get labelled as a “drama” generator, just as that “troublemaker” kid should have politely kept his observations to himself, even as he saw the emperor walking around in public with his privates on display.
But what else can I say? Two posts that single out FOX News for biased reporting, and one more that acknowledges CNN’s bias, but goes right on to emphasize FOX News as being “far worse.” Am I supposed to ignore that obvious agenda? That would put me in neat company with the likes of Gina Mangieri and Sarah Yoro, wouldn’t it? Reporting “the facts” about City Council ethics violations to their viewers while acting as if one of their own did not play a part in that scandal.
Getting back to the gist of why I entered into this particular fray,… biased reporting and questionable journalistic ethics did not start with CNN, FOX News, and MSNBC. What kind of response would you expect if it had been revealed that a certain TV network news anchor had secretly bugged a committee room at a GOP convention? What if that same anchor accepted an offer of free airfare for himself and his family from a major commercial airline? If that happened today, that person would surely get nailed by the all the other news outlets.
Oh, and the name of that news anchor I was talking about? None other than Walter Cronkite.
And that’s the way it WAS.
Allen, according to you and only you, i must have some major public agenda in criticizing FOX News several times. that’s garbage logic. your impression that i have some kind of agenda to blind “others to the indiscretions and unethical behavior of the other networks and reporters/anchors, both past and present” is flat-out weird.
again, i have no idea where you get these ideas. yes, by criticizing FOX several times, I am somehow trying hide other media problems, even though I criticize all forms of media all the time. there is no point in reasoning with you; you need to feel like a tough guy on Ian’s blog. best of luck to you. please keep posting your odd reasoning.
Ian: comments like Allen’s do NOT inspire public discussion. there is no point in reasoning with the unrational. you know this.