 Admiral lists troubles aboard sub
Families' emotions seesaw with new data
Skipper faces cameras, families of victims
Inquiry president announces agenda
Key figures at today's court of inquiry
A Tribute to the Missing
Previous stories
By Susan Roth
Advertiser Staff Writer
International news media descended in a frenzy yesterday on Pearl Harbor, where a forest of satellite trucks, vans and trailers crowded into a parking lot near the court of inquiry into the USS Greeneville accident.
More than 400 newspaper, magazine and television journalists, many of them from Japan, checked into the media center set up on the edge of Pearl Harbor Naval Base near the courtroom. Telephones rang off the hook as writers from 47 news organizations tapped on their laptops throughout the day.
Nippon Restaurants brought 50 bentos for lunch about 10:30 a.m. The boxed meals of meat, fish and rice, selling for $6 each, were gone within 20 minutes, said Mimi Noh, wife of Nippon owner Benny Noh. The restaurant quickly cooked and sent another 50 meals, which disappeared just as quickly.
"It was the first day, and we didn’t know what to expect," Noh said. When the restaurant provides lunch tomorrow, she said, they’ll have at least 150 meals and will arrive earlier.
"There probably hasn’t been an event here in Hawai‘i with over 400 international media," said Lt. Cmdr. Christopher Dour, a Navy spokesman brought in from Newport, R.I., to help with the media horde. Two other Navy public affairs officers came in from Chicago and Norfolk, Va.
Local business benefits
It was unusual for Vision Accomplished Hawai‘i, a Kapolei satellite services company, to have rented out three of its satellites at once, said company president Craig Landis.
"The last time we had this many requests was during the 50th anniversary of Pearl Harbor in 1991, and then in July 1991 for the total solar eclipse on Mauna Kea," Landis said. ABC, NBC and a group of Japanese media are spending thousands of dollars a day for the satellite services that come with technical support, and other companies also have inquired. Landis said his staff of five expects to be working nearly around the clock until the end of the proceedings.
Three other media outlets are using satellites from other companies, and CNN brought its own equipment from the company’s home base in Atlanta to ensure the network’s trademark hourly updates on the inquiry.
‘A lot of logistics’
Several Japanese media companies spent $475-$575 for trailers from Hawai‘i Modular Space that became makeshift offices, complete with lights and air conditioning. But account executive Ann Martin says the company still has more trailers available.
"There have been a lot of logistics to arrange," Dour acknowledged. These include:
 A parking lot for more than 120 cars plus all the trucks.
A 100-seat "classroom" at the media center equipped with closed-circuit televisions for overflow reporters to view events inside the courtroom.
Simultaneous translations via headphones from English to Japanese for families of the Ehime Maru victims.
Ninety-four media telephone lines.
Two buses and two vans to shuttle people between the media center to the courthouse.
Two restroom trailers.
Dour said public affairs people also are being called upon for other services — like escorting Charles Gittins, attorney for Greeneville skipper Cmdr. Scott Waddle, from his hotel to the media center at 2 a.m. so he can appear live on "CBS This Morning."
[back to top] |
