Week 20: We Take Civil Beat Discussions to The Radio
Creating a place for civil discussion is a central part of Civil Beat’s mission.
This week we took the concept to a new forum, talk radio.
We joined with host Rick Hamada of KVHV 830 AM news radio to put on a two-hour conversation with three of the four leading mayoral candidates from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. Tuesday. (Kirk Caldwell declined to join Peter Carlisle, Panos Prevedouros and Rod Tam.) It was different from any debate you might have heard this election season because it was an open mic session.
The three men didn’t seem as formal sitting on couches in the Road Runner Music Hall. Instead of facing their questioners, we sat as we might if we were visiting in a living room. In this environment, it’s more likely that the candidates will engage with each other, and that they’ll be more personal. And that’s what happened.
The tone was civil, and the conversation, I thought, was revealing. You can read about it in Adrienne LaFrance‘s account, Day and Night: 12 Hours, Two Very Different Debates . Adrienne and I sat with the candidates while Rick kept his show on track.
We learned a lot of lessons from our first joint effort at a new type of conversation with political candidates. We’ll be applying them to future open mics before the general election with the governor candidates and the 1st Congressional District candidates.
Focus on Issues
At Civil Beat, we focus on issues, not events. But that doesn’t mean we don’t cover events. We just cover them differently.
The last week before the primary election is a good example.
We began the week with separate, lengthy examinations of the environmental records of the contenders for the Democratic nomination for governor by our land reporter-host, Michael Levine.
Our Hawaii reporter-host, Chad Blair, traveled to Maui to witness the governor candidates’ final debate and to provide perspective on the political scene there.
Money is a key indicator of what’s going on in politics, and our team of Robert Brown and Nanea Kalani was all over it when the latest campaign finance filings with the state were published.
- Abercrombie Breaks $3 Million Mark
- Financial Momentum = Kirk Caldwell
- Fewer Candidates Using Public Campaign Funds
We also continued our focus on checking out what candidates are saying. We’ve really appreciated the positive feedback we’ve been receiving about this approach. As you can tell from these Fact Checks, it’s not easy. But you’ve been telling us it’s definitely worth the effort.
- Hannemann: $280 million in New Spending on Two Pages of Abercrombie Plan
- Djou: CD1 Voted for GOP Guv Last 4 Times
We apply the same critical approach we use in Fact Checks to reporting on government promises. We’ve all heard about how the federal stimulus funds are making a difference, but Nanea revealed that Hawaii has barely touched the energy funds it received.
Nanea also continued our work on making government more transparent, sharing the compensation of everybody who works at the Legislature. This follows articles on state employees and University of Hawaii employees.
And if you want to read a revealing account of how government officials try to defy the law, check out her experience asking for public records from Honolulu Hale.
This kind of reporting is what we’re offering at Civil Beat. I hope it makes you want to keep coming back for more. Most of all, please let us know what you want us to keep doing, and what we need to improve on.
