HONOLULU COMMUNITY-MEDIA COUNCIL

2002-2003 ANNUAL REPORT

COMMITTEE REPORTS


FCC- Sean McLaughlin


HC-MC engaged the issue of media ownership concentration by ensuring that its concerns were heard by both the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Congress. The most recent focus of the HC-MC’s concern is the FCC’s continuing waiver of the duopoly rule; this waiver allows Emmis Communications to own two of the top four TV stations in Hawaii, KHON-TV2 (Fox) and KGMB-9 (CBS).

On December 20, 2001 HC-MC member Beth-Ann Kozlovich hosted a Hawaii Public Radio program covering the local duopoly issue, including Emmis' representations to the FCC about its ability to sell off one of the stations. In September 2002, the HC-MC asked the FCC to lift its waiver of the duopoly rule as applied to Emmis and opposed any changes in the rules that would reduce diversity of opinion and information. In January of 2003, HC-MC joined with SPJ-Hawaii and Akaku: Maui Community TV inviting the FCC to hold a hearing in Hawaii on media ownership rules. Unfortunately, the FCC did not respond to the invitations and only one official hearing was held in Richmond, VA as part of the rulemaking.

During March 2003, each member of Hawaii's Congressional delegation was contacted regarding media ownership rules. On April 26, 2003, Jahan Byrne offered joint testimony to the FCC for HC-MC and SPJ-Hawaii at a public hearing held at City Hall in San Francisco by FCC Commissioner Michael Copps on the FCC rulemaking. On May 13, 2003, HC-MC's Sean McLaughlin attended a broadcast media ownership hearing conducted by the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee in DC. Finally, on June 2, 2003 the FCC announced its long awaited revisions to six different media ownership rules including the broadcast duopoly rule and the media cross-ownership rule. Apparently, Emmis will be required to apply for a permanent waiver of the duopoly rule. And it appears under the new rules that local newspapers may be co-owned with broadcast outlets. Congress is now considering legislative action to delay, modify or negate some of the FCC's rule changes. HC-MC will continue to engage at the Federal level in support of the three basic principles of communications media policy in the United States: diversity, competition and localism.


HI SCAN – Chris Conybeare


Nate Smith, head of Time Warner Oceanic in Hawaii, has indicated his interest in HI SCAN. While Time Warner Oceanic does have the capability to offer HI SCAN digital channel capability on each island, it doesn't have capacity to distribute HI SCAN programming between islands. As the UH’s HITS system has just gone digital and may have excess analog capacity to take care of neighbor island distribution, the HI SCAN committee is meeting with reps from UH to discuss this possibility.

If the UH is willing to take care of neighbor island distribution, the next phase will be to seek a formal arrangement to begin a combination demonstration and R&D phase of the project. The partners in this phase would include HC-MC, the University of Hawaii (Journalism, Public Policy, and HITS) and Time Warner Oceanic. The HI SCAN committee reports that Paul Costello helped to bring HI SCAN to the attention of both Nate Smith and the big boss of AOL Time Warner, Dick Parsons (who was here as the UH commencement speaker in May).

Members of the HI SCAN committee include Gerry Kato, Chris Conybeare, Brian Kessler, Les Ihara, Sean McLaughlin, Dick Miller, and Ian Lind.


Legislative – Phyllis Dendle


While there were several bills introduced in 2003 that were of interest to HC-MC, the legislature passed only one of these bills, HB 41. HB 41 is the only bill regarding public information and requires the Hawaii Tourism Authority to disclose their contracts and subcontracts in compliance with HRS 92. Other bills introduced but not passed which may be considered in 2004 include: 

Public, Education, and Government (PEG) Access Organizations.  A legislative request to the Legislative Auditor to perform a financial and managerial audit of PEG access organizations, HB 1515 and SB 1602; a proposal to establish an independent management of PEG access organizations, SB 493, and SB 847 which proposed to amend the definition of access organization.

Cable Television.  SB 842 would have transferred control of cable TV from the state to counties and SB 852 would require that franchise fee be calculated on the basis of gross revenue. SB 856 would have called on DCCA to establish a statewide cable access infrastructure plan.

Public Information.   There were many proposals to get information out to the public, but none of them were passed. HB 1244 would have permitted the posting of election as soon as the polls close and SB 1242 would have ensured rural residents fair public access to state information, services, and proceeds. SB 1449 would have required notice of public meeting for videoconferences of public meetings and HB 473 would have required the PUC to put its information on a website such as decisions, open dockets, upcoming meetings, and pending deadlines. SB 1229 would have required nonprofit corporations to adhere to Sunshine and UIPA laws when the majority of their board is appointed by the state and SB 1636 would have required county vision teams to adhere to Sunshine and UIPA laws.

SB 1605 and HB 1514 would have required government agencies to have a UIPA compliance officer and HB 1571 and SB 1499 would have given OIP permanent agency status and an appointed board. 



Membership – Jim Becker

To re-vitalize the membership, inline with the by-law requirement of distinguished individuals who represent a cross-section of the community, Jim Becker & Phyllis Dendle have enlisted the following 11 individuals to the membership committee:
Teri Bernales, Paul Berry, Kit Beuret, Anna Derby Blackwell, Dennis
Donahue, Colette Fox, Galen Fox, Les Ihara Jr., Brian Kessler, Randy Kusaka, Paul Seaman and Dee Prather Smyser.


Archives – Sara Vann, Dick Miller, Ruth Lieban

We have found a permanent home at last for our documents! Hawaiiana/Pacific Reference, Hamilton Library, University of Hawaii at Manoa agreed, in the Fall Semester 2002, to accept our records, etc., with the understanding that they would be arranged in a systemic order and available to the public.

The Committee quickly invited all members to contribute any records they would be willing to share but thus far he response has been less than anticipated. The major contribution has been from Richard Miller; meanwhile we are awaiting the official records, long held by Au Jook Ku, one of the founders of the Council who served faithfully for thirty years. We are hoping to receive the files of Fletcher Knebel from Connie Knebel sometime in the future. We shall make cross-references to the archival collections of A.A. (Bud) Smyser and George Chaplin as we proceed.

Because we needed an area in which to organize our documents, we were assigned a carrel in Hamilton Library. Prior to bringing the documents we had thus far collected to the carrel, the documents were "frozen” according to archival procedures. We have been given some acid-free folders and filing boxes to insure their preservation at least a bit longer.

Since transferring our "frozen" documents to the carrel, we have done little to review, evaluate, and systematize them though a plan of arrangement is being discussed. Regrettably, other priorities have been superseding our interest in and dedication to the completion of this project.

Our goals, nevertheless, remain the same:
1. To collect documents, etc., from our members who are willing to share them.
2. To prepare the documents, thus far received, for deposit and use by the public.
3. To develop a plan for the annual deposit of our records.

Meanwhile, we invite our members to donate Media Council records they are willing to share for integration into the archival collection! If you need help in transporting them from your home or office, please call 254-1796 or 537-1807 for
assistance.

  
Commentary from Moya Gray, our Chairman, to wrap up the 2002-2003 Annual Report:

REPORT ON HC-MC ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGES:

Well, the last year was quite an eventful one for HC-MC as can be seen from our “Highlights” section. While we were not asked to take on any disputes with the media, the HC-MC Executive Committee was very busy this year.

To bring you the full program that we did, the HC-MC entered into a partnership with the University of Hawaii to bring out three speakers, and raised funds from the SPONSOR’S NAMES to do so. To provide the Council with consistent and high quality support services, we hired a new Council Coordinator, Holly Green. And at our December 2002 meeting, the membership asked the Executive Committee to investigate moving the HC-MC to a fully funded model in order to maintain our Council Coordinator. Thus the Executive Committee has been engaged in strategic planning for the future of the HC-MC.   

The Executive Committee took a look at what HC-MC has been in the past and what it is doing today and it became clear that over the past few years the HC-MC has lost the support of the local media while picking up the banner on behalf of the media consumer. On the other hand, our exclusive membership has aged and has fewer resources to place toward the goals of the Council. Thus, key elements in moving to the fully funded model were to create real value for the community through the work of HC-MC and to open membership to all who ascribed to our mission statement. 

To create value for the community, the Program Committee has been negotiating with various venues in town at which the HC-MC can offer the community both our monthly program and additional special forums, some of which may be fundraisers. The Program Committee also hopes to create special member opportunities for our lunch programs and special forums.

Once the membership agreed to the change in membership, the Planning Committee, open to all who wished to participate, met three times over the summer and made recommendations to bring our bylaws and procedures in line with both the needs and future goals of the Council. The planning committee will make its proposal at the September meeting. 

In short, the proposal is that while the Council would continue to elect the Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer to the Executive Committee, it would also elect two new positions: a Chair-Elect and an At Large Member; all officers would serve two-year terms. The Chair would then tap members to serve as chairs of five standing committees who would also be voting members of the Executive Committee. Standing committees would include: Program, Fundraising, Membership, Government Watch, and Publicity and Communications. Proposed revised bylaws will be circulated for review.

The Membership Committee has been drafting new procedures to be followed to streamline the acceptance of new members and to bring them into active work with other members. The Committee plans a strong membership drive during the fall of this year and I hope you will all help out with this very important endeavor.

Elections for officers will be held during the September 2003 meeting.