Freedom of information, he held, is a fundamental concept of our democratic form of government. As the "father" of the Honolulu Community-Media Council, he, like James Madison, believed that "a popular government without popular information is but a prologue to a farce or tragedy, or perhaps both."
This is why he took up the cudgel against former Mayor Frank F. Fasi in his attempt to muzzle the press.
As early as 1950, when Fasi first became mayor of Honolulu, the community suffered through conflict after conflict between him and various entities of the news media. This dispute developed into a full scale war by 1968. In 1969, he barred a Star-Bulletin reporter from his City Hall office, which led to a frequent turnover of City Hall reporters from this newspaper.
He then turned his attention to reporters of the Honolulu Advertiser, meting out the same punishment for what he called unfair and inaccurate reporting.
Father Du Teil, then rector of St. Christopher's Episcopal Church in Kailua, became increasingly disturbed by this bitter confrontation between His Honor and the press. In his view, interference with news coverage injured the public. He also felt this friction between the mayor and reporters was too important a problem to be left only to editors and politicians.
He contacted then Star-Bulletin Editor A.A. "Bud" Smyser and Editor George Chaplin of the Honolulu Advertiser, as well as John Kernell, the mayor's information and complaint director, to discuss how to resolve the dispute. The press council movement on the mainland was gaining momentum at that time, and they thought formation of such an organization here would prove successful.
Du Teil, an ardent believer in the grassroots approach in resolving community differences, then called on University of Hawaii President Harlan Cleveland, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO, and Dr. Jim Richstad, a UH journalism professor, who recently had attended a press council seminar under Dr. William L. Rivers at Stanford University, and received their blessing to move ahead.
He and Richstad co-chaired a community-wide conference on Jan. 13, 1970, to determine the feasibility of organizing a press council and what it would do. The 150 community and media leaders who attended the gathering voted a resounding "yes" on the need for such an organization. The two chairmen were instructed to move full speed ahead on its development.
Cleveland convened a final session on Nov. 16, 1970, to approve the pair's proposal. It was adopted and the attendees proceeded to elect the Honolulu Community-Media Council's first officers: former Judge Gerald Corbett, chairman; Du Teil, vice chairman; and Richstad, executive director.
At the time of HCMC's establishment, there were 22 press councils in the United States. Today, our organization and the Minnesota Press Council are the only two actively functioning in the country. HCMC was incorporated on July 21, 1995, as a nonprofit organization under Sec. 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Service.
The Media Council's enduring principles, adopted at that first meeting, are:
1. To provide an open forum for the community on press matters;
2. To increase public understanding of news operations;
3. To resolve confrontations between the public and the press;
4. To develop standards of conduct for the media and news sources, and
5. To preserve freedom of the press.
Aside from its major function of taking complaints, investigating them, presenting findings and making judgments, Du Teil was adamant that the council should take a "pro-active" position - to reach out and investigate important issues even though no specific complaint had been received; also, that it should alert the news media to community problems and concerns over the news process and the media.
With the Media Council a reality, he was ready to step again into the fray between Fasi and the news media.
In December 1973, the Star-Bulletin, on behalf of its reporter, Richard Borreca, filed suit in U.S. District Court against Fasi and his information director, James Loomis, for excluding him from City Hall activities. The mayor by then had expanded his vendetta by forbidding all his department heads from releasing any information to the media.
The Advertiser filed a similar suit a month later.
After the court had issued a temporary injunction, Fasi dropped his ban. The Star-Bulletin discontinued its case. However, the Advertiser chose to fight Fasi's edicts to a final decision.
The Media Council filed a court petition seeking an amicus curiae standing in the Advertiser's case. Although this was rejected, federal Judge Martin Pence suggested the Media Council draft guidelines on press or news conferences for his consideration.
Pence commended the group for its serious work and the guidelines later were incorporated into the declaratory judgment he entered. The judgment held that the exclusion of news reporters from a news conference was a violation of the 1st and 14th amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
Even after moving to Texas in 1993, Du Teil continued his interest in the Media Council. His last message to the group, written last September, said in part: "We know the wheels of the Media Council are moving smoothly and we thank you for it."