I’ve misplaced the note someone sent several days ago complaining about the failure of local media to regularly utilize the web to enhance reporting, such as failing to provide links to documents that are referenced in a story.

This morning’s Advertiser serves up a good example with a non-byline story regarding a federal law suit filed by David Brown, former archeology branch chief for the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Brown alleges in his lawsuit that Melanie Chinen, the division’s administrator, made decisions about which development projects were cleared by the division based on politics.

This sounds like interesting material, but the source documents are absent. The reader is left to rely wholly on the summary provided by unnamed reporters or editors.

It took me less than ten minutes to identify the case, download the documents from the federal courts’ PACER system, compile them into a pdf file, and upload that document for viewing. Now you can simply click here to read the federal complaint and the attached exhibits filed yesterday in this case. If newspapers want to survive in the electronic world, they are going to have to become leaders in providing this kind of seamless information rather than reluctant observers.

I noted another Advertiser breaking news item posted soon after midnight, apparently the product of someone at the city desk monitoring a scanner. In this case it caught a call about an assault on Sheridan Street, leaving the impression that perhaps someone was walking home from the bus and got whacked by an assailant. Luckily in this case the story provides an address, although it fails to go the next step and identify 818 Sheridan as the home of several hostess bars and a trouble spot for years.

Here’s a media story that’s flying under the radar. According to Richard Ekimoto’s Hawaii Condo Law blog, the FCC has voted to adopt a rule prohibiting exclusive cable contracts in multiple unit communities, including condos, planned communities, etc. It is unclear whether the new rule will impact bulk contracts, for example a deal in which a condominium wins a favorable price by buying cable service for all units, not an uncommon practice. The rule itself is apparently not yet available so it is difficult to comment further, but Richard provides some additional explanation and background.

This blog report on former DOJ official Daniel Levin caught my attention.

I was thinking a bit more about the issue of campaigns and cash, prompted by another look at my recent Weekly column regarding the Superferry. It seems to me that one way around all the First Amendment problems associated with direct limits on election sending might be to take a very indirect approach–simply return to multi-member districts, which used to be the norm in Hawaii. Multi-member districts increase the number of minority candidates and give voice to other parts of the community. If I’m not mistaken, multi-member legislative districts were the norm through the 1970s in Hawaii, a system that made room for outspoken leaders like Neil Abercrombie and Ben Cayetano to enter public life. A move like this would open up the system to a real extent and could be accomplished without those pesky free speech issues raised by broader controls on campaign spending. Just a thought.