By Jim Kelly
Advertiser Executive Editor

As I've filled in for our reader representative, Anne Harpham, over the past few weeks, I've heard from a lot of readers on a variety of subjects.

What's also interesting is what I didn't hear about:

Nobody is asking for more coverage of the Kobe Bryant case.

I take the silence on this topic as an affirmation of our decisions to keep the coverage in the sports section and to maintain a sense of proportion in relation to other news. Frankly, if you want to immerse yourself in all things Kobe, all you need to do is hit ESPN, Court TV or the Internet.

You can certainly make a strong case for lavish coverage. In addition to being a basketball superstar, Bryant is a fixture of popular culture, a ubiquitous media-made character. Until recently, he seemed to be everywhere — I just noticed him lurking the other day in my cupboard on the label of a jar of sandwich spread ("Kobe's favorite!"). A rape accusation against a person who makes his living in the public eye is certainly newsworthy.

But how much? To me, the Bryant case feels like just so much fuel for the perpetual news hype machine, another courtroom drama to fill those empty daytime hours on the cable channels when we don't have a war or an election or a hurricane, or at least until Scott Peterson goes on trial on charges of killing his wife.

Eight summers ago, we endured the carnival of the O.J. Simpson murder trial, and it feels like the news media have been staggering through the midway with a pocketful of coins ever since, looking for that next terrifying roller-coaster ride or freak show.

Writing recently about the Bryant case, Bob Baker of the Los Angeles Times pointed out that there are now eight times as many North American Internet users, about 160 million, as there were during the days of O.J.

Baker talked to media historian Neal Gabler, who succinctly described how the presence of the Internet has changed how information (notice I didn't say "news") gets in front of readers and viewers.

"The Internet has no editor, so everything gets out there. Then it gets picked up by talk radio, which also has no filtering system. Then that process puts pressure on more traditional news outlets, like local newspapers, to pick up the story because it's out there and people are talking about it," Gabler told the Times. "These newspapers are in competitive situations. Once they pick it up, there is pressure on more responsible organizations to retail these rumors, if not publish them as fact."

Yeah, I know, easy for me to preach. Newspapers like to see themselves as being above all this. But we also know that if the road you take is too high, you risk becoming irrelevant.

Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers are scheduled to come to Honolulu for their training camp in October, and editors here will have to make some difficult coverage decisions. How much do readers in Hawai'i want to know? Do we add to the hype or is there some smart local angle we can develop? What local stories don't get covered because we're chasing the Lakers, and chasing the media chasing the Lakers?

On a more cheerful topic, we received some nice calls and e-mails about Mike Leidemann's Aug. 7 feature on barge day to Kalaupapa. The story was also at the top of the hit list on our Web site for several days. It was a wonderful story about a place and people we don't often visit, and the photos by Rebecca Breyer perfectly captured the scene. The response from readers reminded me how much people value well-told stories about uniquely Hawai'i events.

Reach Jim Kelly at 525-8094 or jkelly@honoluluadvertiser.com.