THE BEAT AND THE BEATEN

THE BEAT AND THE BEATEN: The "alleged" beating of Damon Tucker "allegedly" by a Hawai`i Island Police (HIPD) officer- the quotation marks because neither of those two "facts" seem to be in much dispute now- began to seep into the mainstream corporate media yesterday and today with the two articles taking two decidedly different views of the incident.>

The headlines alone presaged the coverage with Hawai`i News Now (HNN)- the name for the combined TV news programs on KGMB, KHNL and KFVE- reporting "Big Island blogger claims police brutality" and the Big Island's much reviled Hawai`i Tribune-Herald merely noting that "Man alleges police assault."

While the HNN coverage stresses that Tucker's blog "inform(s) Big Island residents and promotes Hawaii" and that he was taking photographs while covering an event, the HTH piece gets 634 words into the piece to merely note that Tucker "operates an Internet blog about the Big Island" and makes no connection between his presence at the scene and his work.

The HTH piece does identify the arresting officer- whom Tucker identified as the officer who allegedly beat him- as James Waiamau.

Both stories include a statement from Hawaii County Assistant Police Chief Henry Tavares refusing to make any "additional statement" other than to note that Tucker was arrested for obstructing government operations and, more importantly, that "(t)he Hawaii Police Department recognizes that the media and the public have every right to photograph police activity in a public place from a safe distance."

Tucker, by the way, claims he was across the street from the police action at the time he was taking the pictures.

While it should be noted that anyone can take photos of police from a safe distance in a public place, the issue that seems to have captivated the blogs is the twofold question of whether Tucker, in covering an event is, in fact a "reporter" and does it matter if he is when it comes to his right to photograph the police from a "safe distance"?

And, are bloggers who report on things as reporters... and, assuming the answer is yes, does than make the blogger who reports a journalist?

While there are professional journalist organizations no serious journalists suggest that there should be any official credentialing restriction of who is and isn't a journalist. Not only is it a question of what the requirements would be and who would set them but the first amendment pretty much guarantees the freedom from government interference in reporting.

The fact is that the act of reporting makes a reporter- something that more and more reporters' "shield laws" recognize, including ours in Hawai`i. And while some may quibble over whether someone who simply sits in their underwear and pontificates is reporting anything, Tucker, by going to an event, taking photos and writing it up for public consumption is certainly a reporter, even though he himself had at times seemed torn as to whether to call himself one.

Professional journalist Tiffany Edwards Hunt at her Big Island Chronicle site says it isn't as much whether Tucker was reporting as it was whether he was acting as a reporter should in a situation like that. She wrote that:

Damon’s greatest mistake in this story is not identifying himself as soon as the police officer told him to stop taking pictures.

At that point he should have said, “my name is Damon Tucker and I maintain a blog. Where can I stand to continue taking photographs?” (He didn’t identify himself until after he was hand-cuffed.)

Damon will likely monetarily gain from this, and hopefully us media professionals can asset some kind of protocol for journalists and residents who act like journalists. But it is definitely time for police and prosecutors to get more sophisticated about dealing with the public.

Slamming people to the ground when you don’t want them taking photographs?! Come on. The County of Hawaii will have to pay dearly for that sort of heavy handedness.

And Damon are you ready to refer to yourself as a media professional yet?

Hunt's queries may get to the crux of the matter- that one can be a reporter without being a journalist, especially in an age of the "new media" where "citizen journalists" abound.

The fact is that while many professional journalists point to the "responsibilities" that go with the "rights" conferred on journalists it's a matter of debate what those responsibilities are and whether in fact there are any at all.

Surely Julian Assange of Wikileaks would argue there are few if any responsibilities. That's why many professionals argue he is not a journalist.

But in the case of Tucker and others who engage in the act of reporting the question is what kind of responsibilities do they have if they are denied the special privileges that journalists are afforded by government officials, especially police.

Hunt argues that Tucker should have identified himself. But would that have made a difference? She also noted that:

I too agree that we the public have a right to take photographs. But we also need to speak up and assert that right when an officer tries to fell us to stop taking photos. We are to ask where police want us to stand in order to not hinder their operations.

If police were sophisticated they would have their officers trained on dealing with the media or media posers who post footage on their blogs, Facebook or YouTube. Next time the police officer will detect the photographer / picture taker to the “staging area” and call in the PIO… That’s how it is done elsewhere.

Well, maybe, in a perfect world but the problem is that there is a history of disrespect for "bloggers" and even reporters and journalists who aren't employed by the "right" media on the Big Island. Apparently, as on Kaua`i, the HIPD does not even issue "press passes" any more which, as we noted yesterday, are- or were- used to allow reporters behind police lines.

And if they did they probably wouldn't issue one to Tucker.

In addition, if "news" happens to "break out" unexpectedly and a reporter engaged in covering another event is standing there with a camera- as apparently happened Friday- should they have to stop and chance missing "the shot" to ask where to go to take a picture of it, especially if they are a safe distance from the disturbance?

The fact is that we would not capitulate to the protocol that Hunt described due to the potential for abuse on the part of the police. Because it is the police who are requesting a privilege in asking that someone voluntarily suspend their right to take photographs of police (in a public place from a safe distance). With the history of abuse of that privilege, both here and across the mainland, it makes that request one that can't be ethically granted by a journalist, reporter or anyone else.

It appears this story has legs. And, as Larry Geller at Disappeared News wrote Sunday, related stories are being repeated across the county with increasing frequency lately.

One more note- among the comments on Hunt's stories is a discussion of the fact that there are video cameras all over the town of Pahoa- where the incident took place- due to the police's "weed and seed" program there.

Unless and until the rights of not just reporters but all citizens are respected by authorities, credentialing journalists and burdening them with rules of engagement will have to wait for a mutual respect that, we predict, will be a long time coming.

(PNN) TUCKER SAY HE WAS FILMING A FIGHT FROM ACROSS THE STREET WHEN BEATEN, ARRESTED BY COPS

(PNN) -- Aug 8 -- Damon Tucker, the reporter/blogger who says he was severely beaten by Hawai`i Island police Friday night. says he was across the street taking picture of an altercation between two women when he was "blindsided and taken down" and then arrested by a Hawai`i Police Department (HPD) officer.

In an email response to PNN inquiries Tucker said that "I was taking pictures of folks leaving a concert a fight broke out (sic)... people were breaking things up... cops moved in and I was across the street taking pictures of it all.

Tucker says that he had left the venue where he was covering a "Red Eye Blind" concert in Pahoa when "(o)ne cop came over to tell me to put the camera down... so I complied... he left... 15-20 seconds later I started filming again and I got blindsided and taken down."

He said it was a younger officer who originally asked him to stop filming and a much bigger and veteran one who "roughed me up"- the latter being the same officer who arrested, booked and processed him at the police station,

Tucker, who is well known in Pahoa, says he was wearing a shirt with his name on it in the form of his twitter address and tried to identify himself to the officer whom he says accosted and arrested him.

"I tried to tell the officer who I was... he would have none of it" Tucker said in the email. "(W)hen we were at the station he asked if I had an official 'Reporters Badge' or something to that effect and I said no... I run local blogs and I'm a well known blogger throughout all of Hawaii."

There is no state or national "certification" for who is or isn't a reporter or journalist although some local police departments do issue "press passes," usually solely in order to allow reporters inside police lines, but not to confer any first amendment "freedom of the press" rights, which are federally protected and not "conferred" by police.

Tucker says he started filming because a fight had broken out outside the club.

"Two girls were fighting," he wrote, and "from what I have now heard... one girl got hit with a bottle. I was leaving the club and heard the commotion and turned around and started to film from my iPhone, at least one of the girls I saw at the station."

Apparently Tucker was not in close proximity to the police action and was within his constitutional rights to film from a public sidewalk whether he was a "reporter" or not.

He described what happened after he was beaten.

"I was in cuffs outside the club for about 30 minutes while the cops continued to diffuse the more dangerous situation. After that situation was diffused they brought me down to the police station... where the younger officer had to look in a book to find something to charge me with. At about 45 minutes into the booking... I asked if I could use the bathroom... officer said sure... empty your pockets... and then through(sic) me into a jail cell with no cot or anything for nearly 45 minutes. I was then released on my own PR (sic) given the summons I posted on my blog and left with the assistance of an officer on duty who dropped me off close enough to my house so that I could have a cigarette on the way home and not startle everyone in the neighborhood or shame folks by me being brought home by a police officer at 2:00 in the morning."

In addition to the gruesome picture that Tucker posted on his blog, Reporter Tiffany Edward Hunt also took pictures of Tucker and posted them at her "Big Island Chronicle." site.

She also posted an "Open letter to Police Chief Harry Kubojiri" on Saturday asking for "a statement regarding Damon Tucker’s account of police brutality for taking photos in Pahoa last night," which she says was emailed to the chief, a spokeswoman for the police department and the mayor’s office.

On Sunday Tucker posted pictures of what he said were the bloody, dirt-caked clothing he was wearing during the incident.

The email to PNN was also sent to a national clearinghouse web site called "Photography Isn't A Crime," which documents incidents of harassment by police and others of both reporters and citizens for legally taking picture in public places. The web site says its purpose is to "educate everyone about the rights and responsibilities of photographers."

This is not Tucker's first run-in with police while covering news and taking photos. On Christmas Eve, 2008 Tucker was investigating complaints of violations of the American with Disabilities Act at Pahoa Post Office when a HPD officer threatened him and forced him to delete pictures Tucker had taken of the parking lot and the officer.

Tucker has said he will be seeking legal counsel today and filing a lawsuit.

(PNN) COPS BEAT, ARREST REPORTER FOR TAKING PHOTOS OUTSIDE CONCERT IN PAHOA

(PNN) COPS BEAT, ARREST REPORTER FOR TAKING PHOTOS OUTSIDE CONCERT IN PAHOA

(PNN) -- Aug 7 -- Big Island reporter and blogger Damon Tucker was severely beaten by police and arrested for "hindering a government operation" Friday night while taking pictures from a public sidewalk outside a concert he was covering in Pahoa.

According to a post on his popular Damon Tucker's Blog "the police have now confiscated my camera and cell phone as well as roughing me up and locking me up in a police detention holding cell for taking video and pictures of them in action from the sidewalk in front of Pahoa Village Cafe."

Seven pictures posted yesterday, taken by Tucker's wife upon his return from the emergency room, show apparent multiple deep abrasions scraps and bruises on all of his extremities and torso.Tucker says his right shoulder is damaged, he is limping on his left leg and is in severe pain.

He says that he took the pictures on his cell phone which was confiscated by police as "evidence," as was his camera which he was not using.

Tucker wrote that he will "be filing a lawsuit against the Hawaii County Police department soon for a few things."

In his Friday night post Tucker wrote that:

People are allowed to take pictures and videos of police officers w/out getting roughed up. I’m battered, bruised and bloody from an officer slamming on the sidewalk… Thankfully I have eyewitnesses that will come forward to say what happened.

My wife took pictures shortly after I was released from jail tonight…

I just want my cell phone back and camera back…. I was rolling video when the officer took me down and they took my cell phone and camera from me for “Evidence”.

This is not Tucker's first run-in with police while covering news and taking photos. On Christmas Eve, 2008 Tucker was investigating complaints of violations of the American with Disabilities Act at Pahoa Post Office when a HPD officer threatened him and forced him to delete pictures Tucker had taken of the parking lot and the officer.

Tucker declined further comment for now saying he is weighing his options and will post again about the incident on his blog. He is due to appear in court on September 8.

ONE SICK PUPPY

ONE SICK PUPPY: A couple of week’s back we twice reported on an incident on the Big Island (BI) where blogger Damon Tucker and other bloggers were “blackballed” by BI Department of Public Works spokesperson Noelani Whittington who, according to the Hawai`i Tribune Herald.(HTH) had written a detailed memo to department personnel telling them not to talk to “citizen journalists” and to stop bloggers from filming road crews.

But the HTH article apparently didn’t do the memo justice.

Blogger Aaron Stene, another of the blackballed bloggers named in the memo, made a request for and received a copy of the actual memo and it’s pretty astounding

The memo reveals a type of paranoia and need for control that is the product of a sick mind and one would think that just the fact that she wrote it down and distributed it would make her position with the county in jeopardy..

Not that she needs to worry about employment- a mind like that would be a valuable asset working in the nuclear power or GMO industry, perhaps defending “clean coal” or something.

Whittington, who continued to BS the reporter after being caught, apparently couldn’t even keep straight which BI bloggers she wanted to ban, even including poor Doug White at Poinography who lives in Honolulu.

The BI bloggers as a group are nothing if not for the most part generally timid and submissive and one who identifies himself only as “bknykanaka”.talked to her and reports

Ok, so the story according to Noelani is that this directive was more of a proposal- that was written in haste and she apologized for it. Although she kind of avoided the question as to WHY it was written. Apparently, it was written in November but died and was never enforced. Which would make sense because it wasn’t approved by anyone higher than Noelani. The media policy was shuffled through department heads- but was never formally adopted.

But what “makes sense” is that Whittington is good at snow jobs because she still holds her job and no one on the BI seems inclined to push too hard to change that.

You can read Damon’s two responses as well as Aaron’s along with Whittington’s rant which is posted below.

Tucker’s rants are quite amusing albeit probably unintentionally- poor beleaguered Damon just wants everyone to love him but keeps finding out how unfettered distribution of information is the bane of bureaucrats like Whittington.

Whittington’s rant is priceless and seemingly everyone on the Big Island knows that the policy is still in effect despite the fact that, as we mentioned in our report, former journalist blogger Hunter Bishop who is now the new Mayor Billy Kanoi’s Pubic Information officer claims it isn’t. He promised an investigation as we recall which doesn’t seem to be forthcoming.

Here’s the policy.

Policy for procedures for Citizen Journalists
Avoid a citizen journalist?
Citizen journalists are a new breed of bloggers who use the internet to express their opinions about DPW projects. They are not journalists. They write what they think
Blogging reaches 120 million viewers daily.
These individuals are Aaron Stene and Damon Tucker. Their e-mail addresses are aaronstene@hawaiiantel.net or damontucker@yahoo.com
Their blogs are: Kona blog, Poinography, Puna Web, and Hawaii Blog
How do we identify them?
They contact us by e-mail using their e-mail addresses. Rarely do they call us.
They never identify or consider themselves as a “citizen journalist.”
Procedure to handle a Citizen Journalist
1. Stop. Do not give out information.
2. Refer their e-mail inquiries to the Public Information office.
3. Insert this message, “please contact our public information office at 557-6437 or by e-mail at nwhittington@co.hawaii.i.us.”
They will ask for information about:
Palani Road-why the delays? Mamalahoa by-pass-the Coupe case, opening the entire by-pass, Grace Church moving the utility poles and why the delay?
Traffic in Puna, anything about Puna and DPW
Issued: November 16, 2008
————————–
Policy and Procedure for Photographers or Videographers on County property
Procedure for filming at base yards and at road projects
1) Stop them.
2) Ask them to follow you to your office, or to your car
3) Call 557-6437. Public Information will take over from here.
Who should know about this procedure? Supervisors and front desk staff,
Policy
1) Photographers or Videographers must be accompanied by someone from the Public Information office.
2) Public Information will check their credentials and verify their assignment with their respective boss.
3) Public Information limits their access to a specific area and respects the privacy of the staff not to be filmed
4) The photographers are: Baron Sekiya for West Hawaii Today; Will from the Tribune Herald-, Daryl Lee, free-lancer for KITV, KGMB, KHNL, KHON, and The Honolulu Advertiser. Daryl also films for DPW on assignment.
5) NOT PERMITTED is Dave Corrigan for Big Island Video news.com
Internal procedure:
Public Information will:
1) ask the photographer to stop because of privacy issues with staff
2) that prior arrangements are made
3) Inform the division chief of the situation then the DPW director
Issued November 16, 2008
Videographers have a new blog, big island video news.com. Dave Corrigan is the principal behind this operation.
————————-
Remember that media lives for a crisis. They will want to keep it going. Try to make it a one-day story. A crisis throws Public Works into an arena of public opinion, where bloggers, citizen journalists, (referred as social media) and traditional media are the judge and the jury, influencing the readers to form opinions.
Procedure to maintain the crisis:
1. If you or a staff receives the call.
a. Take the information; name affiliation, (who are you with?) best number to call you.
b. What is your deadline?
c. Citizen journalists will not identify themselves. In this case, take their name and e-mail address.
2. Staff refers the message immediately to their division chief.
3. Division chief calls the Director and Public Information Officer (PIO) and provides details of the situation.
4. Division chiefs, (if more than one division is involved) the DPW director, or other department directors, PIO and individuals involved meet to get the facts, discuss situation and agree on the best course of action.
a. Anyone implicated in the situation are not to speak to the media.
5. PIO prepares a statement for the media.
6. A memo may be generated to the staff to inform them of the situation
What’s at stake? Jobs and the reputations of good people are at stake and at the very worst if the situation continues to fester, public opinion could ask for them to step down from their positions. It is humiliating for anyone to read in the paper, that punishment should include firing the individuals. We can at least try to minimize some of the damage by acting swiftly.
Negative behaviors that won’t help Public Works — Arrogance, no concern. ●Blame shifting ●Inconsistency ●Little or no preparation ● minimize the impact. ●No admission of responsibility
Establish trust
Provide advance information.
Ask for input from staff and those involved
Listen carefully.
Demonstrate that you’ve heard, i.e., change your plans.
Stay in touch.
Speak in plain language.
Bring involuntary participants into the decision-making process.
Make public acknowledgement and take responsibility.
Illustrate your credibility:
1. Prepare to talk openly.
2. Reveal what the public should know, even if they don’t ask.
3. Explain problems and changes quickly.
4. Answer all questions, even those that victims wouldn’t think to ask.
5. Cooperate with the traditional and social media, recognizing that employees and the general public have a higher priority.
6. Respect and seek to work with employees and opponents.
The Bottom Line: Act Fast
It is often better to act quickly and make mistakes than to fail to act until it’s too late or the action becomes a meaningless gesture. In fact, solving problems and “winning” in crisis situations is a function of speed, of decision making, of action, of reaction, of collaboration, of swiftly applied common sense. Timidity and hesitation are the parents of defeat.
Far more is lost by refusing to speak to the media than is risked by doing so.
A vacuum of information breeds media hostility and public loss of confidence.
The public trust is affected; and something must be done to remediate the situation.
Communicate in ways that meet community standards
Don’t discuss cause or fault.

MESSIN’ WITH THE MUZZLE

MESSIN’ WITH THE MUZZLE: Although Hawai`i County officials claim the blackballing of journalist/bloggers on the Big Island was over before it began one of, if not the main target of the policy says that’s just more shibai.

“I was the one directly targeted by this directive” says Aaron Stene of the Kona Blog in a comment left on yesterday’s column on the subject.

"The troubling aspect of this debacle” he wrote “is the fact the directive seems to be still in effect. I have had a hard time talking to DPW and the county council ever since this directive was released.”

But according to a Big Island source the derivation of the ban may go back to a rather innocuous video posted by Dave Corrigan of the Big Island Video News last August and is apparently related to the controversy over the expansion of the new Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea.and Stene’s campaign in support of it in the face of local and kanaka maoli oppostion.

The video shows the repaving of the “Saddle Road” across the Big Island and is also controversial because opponents of the telescope say it is being done not for the pubic but to enable not just the expansion. of the observatory on what Hawaiians consider sacred land but extensive miliary operations in the area.

That video was followed by a post by Stene in Septembers and many more since arguing with opponents but giving them a platform at his popular blog to oppose the project and claim “a military connection to the science going on on Mauna Kea” and that. “the road is mostly used by contractors and not the general public” among other objections.

According to our source, author of the policy DPW spokeswoman Noelani Whittington was still concerned enough about the original video and apparently the discussion on Stene’s blog to still be bringing it up in conversations in December

Though the connection to the ban may or may not be true, Stene thinks it’s far from over.

In a post yesterday he wrote

“(I)t makes me wonder if Noelani and the DPW had a hidden agenda here.... (I)t seemed this directive was targeted mostly at me. I had by far interfaced with the DPW more often than Damon (Tucker) and David (Corrigan)”.

Those are the other two whose blogs were singled out by Whittington when she banned department personnel from interacting with blogger/journalists on the island.

He continued saying:

On a related note, she tried calling me yesterday and tried to kiss my ass by acting all apologetic for doing this. I tried to remain civil even though it was very hard to do so on my part. However I refused to accept her apology for her actions....

There is one more troubling aspect of this debacle. I've had a hard talking to DPW, county council ever since this directive was released. Thus it seems in my case I highly doubt this directive has been withdrawn.

But the saddle road may not be the only controversial project Whittington apparently didn’t want publicly debated. Stene concludes by saying

Lastly, it seems there is a lack of communication between the HDOT and DHHL to minimize the impact of the Waimea bypass, according to this WHT article. If there was better communication the concerns of the DHHL homesteaders would’ve been addressed years ago. Thus this much needed highway wouldn’t be delayed once again

As to Tucker his response to the article was a lot more defensive after Whittington’s slight of his and other reporter/bloggers’ professionalism, as was reported in the Hawai`i Tribune Herald article yesterday that broke the story by obtaining Whittington’s six page policy written policy.
.
In his Open Letter to Department of Public Works Spokeswoman Noelani Whittington, Tucker wrote

Ms. Whittington, thank you for insulting Aaron, Dave and Myself with your little knowledge of our backgrounds in today’s article written by Jason Armstrong in the Tribune Herald....

I guess you just assume some of us lack experience because we blog in a blogging format and not in the traditional news sense?

Here is just a little of my Experience… Sorry I got out of the field more then a decade ago and switched to Education:
1 Year Advertising Manager on Mainland1 Year Lay-Out Editor (Hilo)2 Years Reporting (Mainland/Hilo)1 Year Writing Press Releases for the State Legislature...

I myself have never asked DPW for any information. Any information that I have found on them… was already published. I don’t have some “Deep Throat” working for me at your office lady… get a grip!

I know you don’t know who I am… but had it not been for my father-in-law telling me that you are an OK person (and yes you do know him)… You would have ended up on my Smuck list.

Unlike Kaua`i the Big Island is awash with on-line reporting and general information blogs with no less than a dozen people with varying degrees of reporting experience from Kona to Hilo posting tons of information and opinion on everything from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Kaua`i on the other hand is, with a few notable exceptions, practically devoid of blogs with original news and political commentary and reporting which, when combined with a sycophantic local newspaper that rarely if ever rocks the boat, may explain why the county can get away with their unwritten rules of non-engagement and their tight-fisted hold on what is, by law, public information.