I hate to sound like I’m defending Al Hee, the engineer and telecommunications executive who was convicted this summer on multiple federal counts of filing false tax returns and concealing payments for personal expenses which had been claimed as business deductions by his company. He is currently appealing the convictions.
But the headline on today’s Star-Advertiser story on his company’s continuing woes strikes me as more than a little inflammatory. It proclaims, “Tax cheat Hee faces more fire.”
The “tax cheat” label surfaced first in another story a couple of days ago (“Tax cheat asks for a new trial, blames the IRS“).
I’m not exactly clear on why the convenient label strikes me as falling short of a good news headline. It signals that the game is over, the votes are all in, and all appeals are frivolous because he is, in essence, a tax cheat.
He’s also the brother of former State Senator Clayton Hee, a guy for whom the media had little love, and with good reason.
It seems to me the headline could have been just a tad more neutral, something akin to “Convicted exec faces more fire.”
Same message, but toned down somewhat.
There’s another interesting tidbit in the story, which reports on discussions about Hee’s company, Sandwich Isles Communications, at last month’s meeting of the Hawaiian Homes Commission.
The story quotes from a recent interview with commissioner William K. Richardson, in which he discussed the possibility that the company, which provides telecommunication services to Hawaiian Homes beneficiaries, could be driven out of business by the convictions and ensuing investigations.
Richardson said he believes Sandwich Isles may not survive its escalating problems. He said he has discussed that possibility with his fellow Hawaiian Homes commissioners.
That raises the question of whether those discussions between Richardson and other commissioners were held outside of a public meeting and, as a result, potentially violate the state’s sunshine law.
Discussions of commission business between two or more commissioners outside of a public meeting would generally be prohibited, except under a limited set of circumstances in which those discussions are approved and formalized.
The Hawaiian Homes Commission typically gets little news coverage of its meetings, and it seems likely to me that the fine points of sunshine law compliance may be familiar territory for its members.
For the sake of future sunshine compliance, it might be useful to follow-up on the status of the discussions that Richardson referred to.
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Al Hee Haw is a joke. but so is the tabloid headline.
“Tax cheat” is childish and not creative.
comparable headline: “Depraved maniac Jimmy Pflueger buys new car … “
Hee has been convicted. Hee is a tax cheat. But the Star-Adv editors are just compensating for the job they didn’t do over the last decade or so.
Maybe the headline should have said “Convicted tax cheat” which is a fact and not inflammatory at all. Not only a run-of-the-mill cheat but a particularly blatant and egregious one.
And, that does not even get into his decades long fleecing of the universal service fund which you and I pay into every month on our phone bill.
Couldn’t disagree with you more Ian. Hee was convicted of significant tax crimes totalling millions of dollars. Frankly, calling him a tax cheat is being nice. A local business exec? Hardly.
My reaction was similar. I think it is a question of whether some loaded terms should be used in “respectable” journalism, even if fundamentally applicable. As rFerdun suggests, though, tacking on “convicted” actually clarifies the factuality of the term, making it seem less biased. Ultimately, though, bias is in the eye of the beholder.
Maybe more headlines should start “Serial liar says…”
The lazy headline writers just write what fits the size they are told to use. Or do they even have headline writers nowadays–does a computer do it?
A search on Google revealed these headlines:
“Halsey Minor, CNet Founder, California’s Biggest Tax Cheat”
(Huffington Post – 4/13/10)
“10 Notorious Tax Cheats:”
“Rashia Wilson, Self-Styled Queen Of Tax Fraud”
(Forbes – 4/16/15)
“Top 10 Tax Dodgers”
(Time – 4/15/09)
“13 Infamous Tax Cheaters”
(USA Today 4/1/14)
Instead of questioning the appropriateness of the S-A’s headline, maybe a better question might be, “Are we so insulated in Hawaii that we’re afraid to call a spade a spade?”
I think the real point here is that every Tom, Dick and Ian want to claim superior journalism skills over the SA editors. Everyone is an expert at just about everything these days. However, opinions offered are better than silence. It’s the American way….
I found it refreshing, if surprising, that a Hawaii newspaper would use blunt language to describe what his convictions say he did. Never in my 38+ years here have I seen such a headline. I’m encouraged that cheating behavior will be called out.
Al should be thankful that S-A did not use one of the other words that could better describe him and what he did.
Okay, but I dare SA to use a headline like –
“Loser football coach….
or
“Overpaid football coach….”
The true test will be if all the convicted tax cheats get the same treatment in their next headlines.
Perhaps if more *cheating* behavior gets “called out,” then there’s hope that the local media will call out serial liars too (and this is not limited to our politicians or officials).
Who else is hoping for this? (But don’t hold your breath).
Anyway, what’s the real value of being called out in the StarAdvertiser, Civil Beat, etc. when basically anyone can publish whatever on social media? Also, isn’t there more crafting of content that entices more shares and clicks? Should we be surprised to see more usage of “loaded terms” in our news? And is it a reason to cheer or frown?