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Hawaii's 1996 civic-activism conversation arrives with unusual timing: Roth announces he is leaving for five months to teach at the University of Chicago, making this the last live episode for the season. The substantive discussion centers on what active citizenship looks like after Election Day. Jerry Burris, editorial page editor of the Honolulu Advertiser, argues that Hawaii historically over-relied on the political process and that citizens are now forming new organizations — benchmarking initiatives, charter school communities, internet forums — to fill the gap. Chuck Freedman, a vice president at Hawaiian Electric and former communications director for Governor Waihee, urges communities to engage with issues rather than simply criticize personalities, and reads a humorous personal essay from his Peace Corps service in Micronesia. Bud Smyser of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin joins briefly by phone, recognized for tracking civic trends across decades. A caller representing Common Cause describes the persistent difficulty of extracting basic budget information from state agencies, a frustration Roth's own producer illustrates live on air when she calls in about an unfulfilled promise from the state Department of Human Services. Burris and Freedman acknowledge the press has been guilty of favoring conflict over civic stories.
Transcript
Read or download the full transcript (.txt). Speaker labels were assigned automatically and may contain errors.
Companion newspaper commentaries
Commentaries by the guests, published in The Honolulu Advertiser around the broadcast.
