1X
Three bills passed by the Hawaii legislature in 1995 and awaiting the governor's signature formed the basis of this episode. The first, backed by the police union SHOPO, would exempt officers from disclosure of disciplinary actions short of dismissal; the second required the Honolulu Advertiser and Star Bulletin to disclose financial information to the state attorney general; the third authorised the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs to sell electronic information at above-cost prices. State Senator Milton Holt defended all three measures, arguing that police officers face uniquely malicious complaints, that newspapers holding an antitrust exemption owe public accountability, and that allowing agencies to charge commercial users above reproduction cost is sound management. Desmond Byrne, president of Common Cause Hawaii, opposed the police exemption on public-confidence grounds and questioned both the legal validity and the process behind the other two bills. Jerry Kato, a University of Hawaii professor and faculty advisor to the campus chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, and Su'eanne Gregory, staff attorney for SHOPO, argued opposing positions on police disclosure by telephone; Dick Miller, a professor at the University of Hawaii Law School, warned that secrecy over serious police misconduct posed a broader democratic risk.
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.
