Archive
Formerly named Honolulu Community Media Council, MCH has stood as a critic news local news media and defender of the First Amendment for more than 50 years.
This page serves as an archive of the organization's past publications, as well as documents relevant to its past work.
MCH Honors Turkish Journalists
July 26, 2017
In a show of solidarity with Turkish journalists and media workers, Media Council Hawaii has named Kadri Gürsel and Ahmet Şık as honorary members of its board. MCH has chosen these two as representative of all Turkish journalists who are either jailed or facing charges for nothing more than committing acts of journalism.
Department of Defense Law of War Manual
June 2015 (Updated Dec. 2016)
Among the hundreds of pages is a section that defines "journalist." It says, "In general journalists are civilians. However, journalists may be members of the armed forces, persons authorized to accompany the armed forces, or unprivileged belligerents." In this new manual, "unprivileged belligerents" is virtually indistinguishable from the phrase it replaces, one with which every American is familiar: unlawful enemy combatant.
State of the News Media 2016
June 15, 2016
"Since 2004, Pew Research Center has issued an annual report on key audience and economic indicators for a variety of sectors within the U.S. news media industry. These data speak to the shifting ways in which Americans seek out news and information, how news organizations get their revenue, and the resources available to American journalists as they seek to inform the public about important events of the day. The press is sometimes called the fourth branch of government, but in the U.S., it’s also very much a business – one whose ability to serve the public is dependent on its ability to attract eyeballs and dollars."
In the Supreme Court of the State of Hawaii
July 16, 2014
OAHU PUBLICATIONS INC., dba The Honolulu Star-Advertiser,
a Hawaiʻi corporation, and KHNL/KGMB, LLC, dba Hawaiʻi
News Now, a Delaware corporation, Petitioners,
vs.
THE HONORABLE KAREN S.S. AHN, Circuit Court
Judge of the Circuit Court of the First Circuit,
Respondent Judge,
and
THE STATE OF HAWAIʻI and CHRISTOPHER DEEDY, Respondents.
Local TV News Content & Shared Services Agreements: The Honolulu Case
June 6, 2013
"In 2009 3 of the 5 stations in Honolulu that deliver a daily newscast entered into a Shared Services Agreement (SSA). A community group, Media Council Hawaii, filed a formal complaint with the FCC to stop the arrangement. This research is a content analysis of the broadcasts of the stations before and after the SSA went into effect. What differences, if any, occurred in content and the distribution of stories among the SSA stations, among the SSA stations as compared to the non-SSA stations and among the non-SSA stations across those time periods?"
UNESCO World Press Freedom Day Message
May 3, 2012
Freedom of expression is one of our most precious rights. It underpins every other freedom and provides a foundation for human dignity. Free, pluralistic and independent media is essential for its exercise.
This is the message of World Press Freedom Day. Media freedom entails the freedom to hold opinions and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers, as stated in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This freedom is essential for healthy and vibrant societies.
The State of News Media 2012
April 11, 2012
New research released in this report finds that mobile devices are adding to people’s news consumption, strengthening the lure of traditional news brands and providing a boost to long‐form journalism. Eight in ten who get news on smartphones or tablets, for instance, get news on conventional computers as well. People are taking advantage, in other words, of having easier access to news throughout the day – in their pocket, on their desks and in their laps.
Broadband at the Speed of Light
April 2012
How Three Communities Built Next-Generation Networks
"Frustrated by ever-increasing prices for telecommunication services and the reluctance of incumbent providers to upgrade their networks to meet 21st century needs, more than 150 communities have built their own citywide cable and FTTH networks. Against great odds and in the face of ferocious opposition by the existing telephone and cable companies in the courts, at the legislature, and in the marketplace, the vast majority have succeeded."
What Facebook and Twitter Mean for News
March 18, 2012
"Perhaps no topic in technology attracted more attention in 2011 than the rise of social media and its potential impact on news. “If searching for news was the most important development of the last decade, sharing news may be among the most important of the next,” we wrote in a May 2011 report analyzing online news behavior called Navigating News Online."
Social Networking Sites & Politics
March 12, 2012
"Chatter in people’s social networks about political issues prompts a share of disagreements among friends and the sites yield surprising revelations about people’s views; 18% of users have shunned “friends” who have different ideas and 16% have found friends whose beliefs match their own."
2010 Quadrennial Regulatory Review
March 5, 2012
COMMENTS OF
OFFICE OF COMMUNICATION OF UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST, INC.
MEDIA ALLIANCE
NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR WOMEN FOUNDATION
COMMUNICATIONS WORKERS OF AMERICA
COMMON CAUSE
BENTON FOUNDATION
MEDIA COUNCIL HAWAI`I
MCH Application for Review
December 27, 2011
"Media Council Hawai`i requests that the full Commission reverse the November 25, 2011 Order by the Media Bureau denying Media Council Hawai`i’s Complaint and Request for Emergency Relief filed on October 7, 2009. The Complaint alleged that Raycom and HITV entered into a series of agreements that violate the Communications Act and Rules by giving Raycom de facto control over three television stations in Honolulu without prior FCC approval. In addition, it contends that this arrangement violates the FCC's “local television ownership limit,” which prohibits common control of more than one or two television stations within the same market and common control of more than one top-four ranked station."
Ex Parte Notification Regarding MB Docket No. 00-168
December 14, 2011
"...I expressed Hearst’s concerns about the Commission’s proposals in MB Docket 00-168 to require broadcast licensees to make available to the Commission for posting on the FCC’s website political file and sponsorship identification records. While Hearst is generally supportive of placing online certain items currently required to be maintained in the local public inspection file, it believes the political file and sponsorship identification proposals are ill advised and will add significant operational burdens on broadcasters..."
FCC KHNL/KGMB Black Friday Decision
November 25, 2011
"The Commission, by the Chief, Media Bureau, pursuant to delegated authority, has before it an October 7, 2009, “Complaint and Request for Emergency Relief Regarding Shared Services Agreement Between Raycom Media and MCG Capital for Joint Operation of Television Stations KHNL, KFVE, and KGMB, Honolulu, Hawai’i” (Complaint) filed by Media Council Hawai’i (Media Council). Raycom Media Inc. (Raycom), the ultimate parent of KHNL/KGMB License Subsidiary, LLC, licensee of Stations KHNL(TV) and KGMB(TV), Honolulu, Hawaii, and HITV License Subsidiary, Inc. (HITV), the licensee of Station KFVE(TV), Honolulu, Hawaii, filed separate responses on October 19, 2009."
Local TV News & Service Agreements: A Critical Look
October 2011
"Since 2000 there has been an increasing proportion of media markets in which individual stations have entered into agreements with varying levels of cooperation. These agreements are known, depending on their conditions, as shared services (SSA) agreements, local marketing/management (LMA) agreements or local news sharing (LNS) agreements. Purportedly, these agreements are expected to help relieve some of the economic burdens that are shouldered by local stations in gathering and presenting news content. The implementation of these joint agreements, whether they involve simply sharing video to sharing news-gathering resources to overall management of the station, has implications for each of the fundamental principles on which the Federal Communications Commission regulates the broadcast industry---diversity, competition and localism. That is especially important now because the FCC is in the process of making decisions about media ownership that it postponed from 2010."
The Information Needs of Communities
July 2011
"Since 2000 there has been an increasing proportion of media markets in which individual stations have entered into agreements with varying levels of cooperation. These agreements are known, depending on their conditions, as shared services (SSA) agreements, local marketing/management (LMA) agreements or local news sharing (LNS) agreements. Purportedly, these agreements are expected to help relieve some of the economic burdens that are shouldered by local stations in gathering and presenting news content. The implementation of these joint agreements, whether they involve simply sharing video to sharing news-gathering resources to overall management of the station, has implications for each of the fundamental principles on which the Federal Communications Commission regulates the broadcast industry---diversity, competition and localism. That is especially important now because the FCC is in the process of making decisions about media ownership that it postponed from 2010."
FCC Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture
February 8, 2011
"In this Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture (“NAL”), we find that Community Television of Southern California, Licensee of Noncommercial Educational TV Station KCET, Los Angeles, California (“Community Television”), apparently willfully and repeatedly violated Section 73.3527(c) of the Commission’s rules (“Rules”)1 by failing to make available the Station KCET public inspection file. We conclude that Community Television is apparently liable for a forfeiture in the amount of ten thousand dollars ($10,000)."
Local TV & Shared Service Agreements: Examining News Content in Honolulu
February 2011
"In October 2009, a Shared Services Agreement (SSA) among three of the five television stations in Honolulu, Hawai’i went into effect. As a result of the SSA, three stations, KIVE, KHNL and KGMB combined their news operations as a new entity entitled Hawai’i News Now. Even before the SSA became a reality, there were serious concerns expressed by local citizens regarding the effect such an arrangement would have on the diversity of news in the market. Media Council Hawai’i (MCH), a local non-profit organization, filed a complaint and a request for emergency relief with the Federal Communications Commission to stop the implementation of the agreement. MCH contended that the SSA would negatively affect the content, diversity and competition of the Honolulu television market. The SSA owners argued, on the other hand, that television news in the DMA would be improved."
Public Interest Watchdog Letter
January 29, 2011
"We write to express our deep concern with the merger of Comcast and NBC-Universal announced on January 18, 2011. A merger of this size and scope will have far-reaching effects on consumers, communities and our entire media system for years to come."
Americans Spending More Time Following the News
September 12, 2010
"There are many more ways to get the news these days, and as a consequence Americans are spending more time with the news than over much of the past decade. Digital platforms are playing a larger role in news consumption, and they seem to be more than making up for modest declines in the audience for traditional platforms. As a result, the average time Americans spend with the news on a given day is as high as it was in the mid-1990s, when audiences for traditional news sources were much larger."
The Frank Marshall Davis Network in Hawaii
July 30, 2008
"In a July 14 news release the “Honolulu Community Media Council” (HCMC) denounces Accuracy In Media and the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review for “shoddy journalism and smear tactics.” HCMC, headed by Chris Conybeare of the University of Hawaii, “finds” that “there is no substance to the claim” that “Frank Marshall Davis was a lifelong Communist and a mentor to (presidential candidate Barack) Obama.”"
Together, courts and media can improve public knowledge of the justice system
March 2004
"Editor's Note: Adapted from remarks made to the Honolulu Community-Media Council in January 2004 addressing the results of Hawaii's recent Openness in the Courts conference, which brought together members of the media, bench, and bar, as well as representatives of the general public, to discuss issues related to openness in the justice system."
Press Accountability, Hawaiian Style
July 1998
"Back in 1969, while the mainland's media debated the feasibility and necessity of news councils, newspapers on the Hawaiian island of Oahu were in a turmoil of their own."
Honolulu Community-Media Council
State of Journalism In Hawaii - Parts 1 & 2
October 1991
September 1992
TABLE OF CONTENTS
-
State of Journalism in Hawaii - Part l
Honolulu's Daily Newspapers
October 1991
Quick-Read Summary
Report
Appendix
-
State of Journalism in Hawaii - Part 2
Honolulu's Daily Local rv News Shows
September 1992
Report
Appendix 1
Appendix 2 -Television/Newspaper Comparison
Appendix 3 -Notes on Interview KHON Ch. 2, Ch. 4
Appendix 4 -Clippings
-
Annual Report 1991
The Honolulu Community-Media Council
1984
The Council at a glance...
FOUNDED: November 16, 1970
PURPOSES: To receive, investigate and attempt to resolve complaints against the performance of the local news media - or by the media against unreasonable restraints on access to news.
To further the free flow of information to which the public and press are entitled.
To develop guidelines for relations between the news media and news sources.
To increase public understanding of hews operations.
To conduct public forums on sensitive issues involving the news media.
MEMBERSHIP: Approximately 40 members representing many different fields of activity, all of whom serve as volunteers. No paid staff or office.
FUNDING: Contributions from its members and from organizations in the community.
AUTHORITY: Persuasion only; no legal authority.
MEETINGS: Monthly; open to the public.
Hawaii Journalism Review
February 1971
Volume 1, Number 1
Honolulu, Hawaii
Interpreting the Governor ~ The 'In' on Dining Out ~ All the News That Fits