I couldn’t help feeling embarrassed and pained, as a member of PBS Hawaii, by it’s Island Insights program last night. Not by the program itself, but by the absence of insight that it’s planning represented.

The program began with a brief photo tribute to Ah Quon McElrath, the labor and social rights activist who died earlier this month.

Then it was on to discussing the evening’s topic, “Hawaii’s Economy: Forecast ’09”.

And unfortunately the praise heaped on the departed McElrath didn’t translate into an inkling that perhaps someone with a labor perspective might be able to contribute to such a discussion.

Not that it was a poor line-up, with journalist Howard Dicus, Bank of Hawaii’s Paul Brewbaker, Carl Bonham from UH, and DBEDT’s Pearl Imada Iboshi. The panel members came prepared and did a good job, at several points shutting down host Dan Boylan with specific references contradicting his sweeping generalizations.

But I just can’t shake the idea that it would have been fitting to take a small step to honor AQ’s memory by incorporating the view from organized labor, perhaps a labor economist, into the program. She was a firm believer that despite their flaws, unions represent the collective voice of their members, and it’s a voice we rarely hear in the mainstream media.

I’m also trying to figure out why the Advertiser’s dense and detailed series on domestic violence, “Crossing the Line“, seems to be having trouble gaining traction.

I checked Advertiser’s lists of most viewed and most commented-on stories over the course of the week, and stories from the series crept onto the list only occasionally after Day 1. These were the lists as of Thursday afternoon. That’s far out of proportion to the resources and space poured into the project.

Perhaps it was, to use a poor phrase, “overkill”.

Meda suggested looking at the analysis of crime reporting by her friend, Neal Websdale, a criminologist at Northern Arizona University, who coined the phrase “forensic journalism“.

We employ the term “forensic journalism” to describe that routinized style of crime reporting that focuses on the details of individual crimes and the immediate situational dynamics within which the crime takes place. In the final analysis, forensic journalism tells readers more and more about less and less. The sharper the focus and the more details we know, the less we learn about larger issues and patterns.

What are those larger issues and patterns? Websdale points to broader patterns of paternalism in society that continue to support male dominance in the broader society.

I recall a discussion of the related issue of child abuse and child homicide several years ago with a friend living in Australia. He was appalled that we would simply prosecute these incidents as crimes without paying any attention to their status as symptoms of the gross failure of our social support systems. He decried the lack of public support for women and families, lack of publicly provided child care, respite services for mothers, adequate social welfare, housing, job training, and on and on. It’s no wonder parents and families are stretched to the breaking point, he said, dealing with parenthood in the absence of adequate social supports.

It seems to me the same approach to domestic violence is in order, as the stresses reported in these individual cases reported by the Advertiser reflect similar problems. There are clearly problems of patriarchy (an abuser who jealously objects to his girlfriend’s mode of dressing), of financial and emotional stress, even the failure of the educational system to provide real preparation for the experiences of emotional relationships and marriage.

Domestic violence presented as cases in the criminal justice system only gets us so far. It’s only step one. Realizing that these don’t simply reflect on the offenders, but on the rest of us, is the key big step we need to take.

Perhaps I shouldn’t tackle such thoughts so early in the morning, even before a cup of coffee. It’s rough and it shows. But I think there’s a glimmer of truth there.

And, of course, it’s another Feline Friday. The last one before Christmas, if that makes any difference. I’ve been sick most of the week, but by yesterday afternoon had the energy to pick up a camera. Toby was one of those who came within range. Just click on his photo for more.