Posted on: Thursday, July 10, 2003

EDITORIAL
Questions remain on free TV trip to Japan

There's an undeniably partisan tone to key lawmakers' criticism of the use of tax money to support commercial news coverage of Gov. Linda Lingle's trip to Japan.

But Senate President Robert Bunda, House Speaker Calvin Say and Sen. Donna Mercado Kim have raised legitimate questions that persist despite KITV-4's decision to reimburse the Hawai'i Visitors and Convention Bureau for travel expenses the HVCB had agreed to pay.

Advertiser staff writer Johnny Brannon reported yesterday that with Lingle's blessing, the HVCB had agreed to cover the airfare and hotel bills for KITV's reporter and cameraman on the Japan trip.

The station's decision to reimburse the money "does not absolve the bureau of any responsibility for its decisions and practices," Kim said.

The original arrangement, Say and Bunda said in a joint statement, raises questions about "the abuse of taxpayer dollars by state tourism officials" and "any attempt by a state official to compromise the public's right to fair and unbiased coverage by a news organization."

It is KITV's business that the arrangement was a breach of accepted journalism ethical standards. It is the public's business when it begins to appear that the station and the Lingle administration may have begun a mutually beneficial relationship.

The governor's office says there was no connection between KITV's freebie trip and its agreement to air a 17-minute Lingle speech on June 25. Three other local TV news departments had decided not to broadcast the speech, judging it political rather than public service in nature.

At some point, KITV's request for a free trip and the governor's request for free air time were both pending.

It's not clear whether the HVCB had agreed to pay for the KITV trip before it learned of a damning audit that has put its contract to promote state tourism in jeopardy. But HVCB could hardly be averse to friendly media coverage of its handling of the state's effort to stimulate Japanese tourism.

Given Lingle's previous advocacy of a closed-door tourism summit, we were intrigued by her press secretary's statement that the administration "decided this would be a great thing, to let people here know what the delegation in Japan was doing."

We hope a similar spirit prevails when the governor comes home.