Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 16, Number 8, 1 August 1999 — Nice story, ʻImi Loa , I mean, Ka Wai Ola [ARTICLE]

Nice story, ʻImi Loa , I mean, Ka Wai Ola

8y l?yan M. Mielke F YOU were one of the 30,000 who recently received a copy of the governor's glossy 'Imi Loa magazine, you probably noticed a familiar story about the Office of Hawaiian Affairs" native plant project. What you probably did not notice was any attribution of the story as coming ffom the pages of an already published Ka Wai Ola o OHA newspaper. To the uninitiated. who cares? OHA had one of its programs publicized in another publication, so what's the problem? There are several problems. First, the 'Imi Loa did not responsibly tell its readers that one of its stories had been lifted from a previous publication from another organization, a standard

journalistic practice that when not followed is the cause of legal and ethical problems. Second, the 'Imi Loa listed the writer of the article — a full-time Ka Wai Ola writer — as an 'Imi Loa writer, next to real 'Imi Loa staff, misleading readers and taxpayers (whose dollars essentially paid for the same article twice, first in the February 1999 Ka Wai Ola and later in the 'lmi Loa.) As public information officer, I do not have a problem with publications reprinting our articles, as long as they give OHA and the Ka Wai Ola the credit — basic stuff, you'd think. It's a safe bet that if the Honolulu Advertiser lifted a story verbatim from the Honolulu Star~Bulletin without crediting the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, an attorney or two

would soon be drafting a letter. Third, when initially called on the error, 'Imi Loa's editor-in-chief, Jackie Kido, did not offer a correction in the next edition of the 'lmi Loa. Kido was later called about the issue by Star-Bul-letin reporter Mike Yuen. A cover story by Yuen had recently appeared questioning the necessity for a publication such as the 'Imi Loa. Therefore he was provided a copy of a complaint letter sent by my office to Kido. (By the way, state law, HRS Chapter 10, requires OHA to provide information to its beneficiaries, and OHA is able to do so through products such as the Ka Wai Ola.) The Honolulu Star-Bulletin later wrote, "It turns out that not all of the stories in the 'Imi Loa, the new flagship

publication for Governor Cayetano's administration, were original. One story in the glossy magazine fnrst appeared in the February issue of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs newspaper. But OHA didn't get credit for the pieee on a native plant nursery in Laie ..." Kido relented to Yuen, saying she would be noting the origin of the article in the December 'Imi Loa. Chalk one up for the loeal media. The point here is that if you want real news about OHA's programs, the Ka Wai Ola is the first plaee you ean find it. If you want to read the articles twice . . . well, you know the rest of the story. (Portions ofthe June 28, 1999, Honolulu Star-Bulletin "Poluieal File" artiele, page A-3, were used in this story.)M

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