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Roth asks Diane Chang of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and media lawyer Jeff Portnoy about government and press relations in March 1994. Chang says officials have tried to harass and intimidate the media in response to investigative coverage. Portnoy credits the current administration with major improvements over Hawaii's previously closed state government, but says much more remains to be done. Both address the legislature's campaign against the press. Twenty state senators voted for a newspaper tax that Portnoy calls flatly unconstitutional; a separate bill requiring newspaper employees to disclose personal assets drew national attention before dying. Chang links these moves to official frustration with accountability journalism. Portnoy names Mayor Fasi as a particular threat, arguing his daily radio attacks on the press have become vindictive. On the JOA, Portnoy corrects the common assumption that the Star-Bulletin was the failing paper in the 1960s — it was the Advertiser — and dismisses the idea that Gannett secretly controls both newspapers. Portnoy also warns that the press itself risks public trust by chasing sensational stories, noting it now ranks alongside lawyers and legislators in public respect; Chang responds that rising letter-to-editor volume shows renewed civic engagement.
Transcript
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