The folks at Akaku: Maui Community Television, seem to be facing one difficult situation after another. First there was the attack by state regulators angered by the nonprofits attempted display of independence from state control, followed by the political assault by a major developer angered at broadcast criticism who pressed legislators to attack and attempt to undermine the organization. Now there’s a fledging group, Maui Media Lab, which appears to have simply appropriated Akaku’s broadcast programs and is streaming them on the web without permission and, at the same time, using the Maui Community Television name.

In an effort to protect the results of its production efforts, Akaku filed suit against the group calling itself “Pulehua: Maui Community Television” seeking to block their rebroadcast via the Internet of Akaku’s programming. At an October 23 hearing, Pulehua was given additional time to find an attorney.

But in the group’s blog, it misrepresented the proceedings by claiming Judge Joel August repeatedly denied Akaku’s request for an injunction, when the court record shows the merits were not considered because the matter was continued until December 4 at which time they will presumably have an attorney and the injunction will be considered.

I don’t know the players behind Maui Media Labs or the politics of their attempt to undermine Akaku. But the situation obviously bears close watching.

There’s an interesting column in Online Journalism Review spelling out misconceptions about readers of news. This one hit home, as it explains why blogs are relied on even by those who devour newspapers.

(Misconception:)You can’t get too detailed, or you’ll lose your audience

Has any newspaper tried applying that logic to its college football or NFL beats? If one had tried that, there’s probably a good reason why I hadn’t heard about it: that paper’s likely out of business now.

Football fans crave minutiae. They understand the topic and feel insulted by anyone who wastes their time explaining the basics instead of getting to the detail of what happened during the game, and why. Sure, there are many other readers who don’t know the difference between a false start and offsides, but an editor who chases them by directing staff to dumb down their reporting risks losing their far more loyal audience of devotees.

You can find readers like this on other beats, too. Check out the huge audiences at sites like DailyKos (politics) and the Housing Bubble Blog (real estate). People crave minutiae on the topics of interest to them.

Very astute.

You might want to mark this Buddhist Peace Fellowship event on your calendar:

Hawai`i debut of human rights award-winning film on Burma at Unitarian Church (2500 Pali Hwy.), Sunday, December 2nd, 5-7pm. Free, donations welcome.

“Total Denial” exposes the collusion between multinational corporations and the brutal military regime in Burma, as well as how such democratic repression, indigenous slave labor, ecological destruction and human rights abuse is being challenged in courts. Followed with discussion with guest Burmese speaker on ways to support their struggle and light refreshments. Sponsored by the Buddhist Peace Fellowship-O`ahu. For more information: Karla Kral @ 371-6080.

I got an email about last week’s Kaaawa seal sighting which included this information:

Based on the scar description, it doesn’t sound like the seal that regularly hangs out from Kaaawa to North Shore. That female “R5AY”, is the one that gave birth to the pup at Turtle Bay (that sadly died in a gill net if you had not heard) last year. FYI, the scars noted on the recent sighting may be cookie cutter shark scars-these are quite common in monk seals and other marine mammals.

And this Feline Friday features Ms. Kili, who along with Ms. Wally, her sister, is observing her 10th birthday right about now. We rescued them early one Saturday morning in late January 1998, and they are aging gracefully. Here’s a link to a photo of them at age 4. Ms. Kili shows up less frequently on these pages than the photogenic Wally, so just click on today’s photo for her special collection of recent pics.