Changing Hawaii
WHY is the press so darned negative all the time? That's the most common complaint I hear from miffed government officials, corporate titans, multimillionaire former trustees and even people on the street in Hawaii, who grouse about how depressing it is to read the daily paper or watch TV newscasts. Happy talk isn’t the
goal of journalists"Why don't you spotlight the 'good' things we do?" politicians gripe.
"Why must you always play up the scandals?" company chiefs and ousted estate honchos sputter.
"Why not run more cheery, upbeat stories?" asks the public.
Lots of reasons, foremost of which is this: Sorry, but there's only so much space in the paper or so many minutes on the tube.
It's tough cramming all of the local, national and international items of interest to this state's population -- plus sports, features, weather, commentary, business and stocks -- into our minuscule daily allotment of editorial space and air time.
Consequently, it's the atrocities, anomalies, eyebrow-raisers and critiques that often get the play. In a democracy, rhetoric of the "don't worry, be happy" persuasion isn't a high priority for the purveyors of current-events coverage.
God bless America for that.
This sentiment seemed especially pertinent last Friday, when the Star-Bulletin ran five dramatic photographs and a story from the Associated Press about a stifled 10th anniversary protest of the Tiananmen Square massacre in China.
The pictures showed demonstrators in Beijing last Friday -- trying to commemorate the killing of hundreds of students during a pro-democracy rally in 1989 -- being firmly subdued by military police officers.
The article described how some protesters, armed only with signs and leaflets, were arrested and whisked away to who knows where.
Chinese police also questioned foreign journalists, seized film from photographers and detained dissidents in an effort to keep things looking hunky-dory at Tiananmen, a site now symbolic of China's blatant disregard for human rights.
How disturbing that these Chinese police were, no doubt, the same law-enforcement officials who stood by as demonstrators threw rocks at the U.S. ambassador's residence, after NATO's accidental missile attack on China's embassy in Belgrade.
How blatantly obvious that, in an authoritarian state like China, targets of protests are selectively tolerated.
How sad, too, that the vast majority of Chinese don't know what went on at Tiananmen, either 10 years ago or during this most recent attempted anniversary protest.
THE realization that Americans are more aware of China's protests than its own inhabitants highlights the value of a free press and the awesome ability of U.S. journalists to, as sportscaster Howard Cosell used to say, "Tell it like it is."
That settles it. The next time somebody laments the so-called negativity of the press, I won't get defensive.
I'll simply visualize Chinese protesters being batted down by government cops, and remember that some people in this world are being fed only the positive. They aren't allowed to read in newspapers or see on TV anything to the contrary.
Why is the press in this country so darned critical?
Maybe it comes down to a simple but underappreciated premise: because it can be.
Diane Yukihiro Chang's column runs Monday and Friday.
She can be reached by phone at 525-8607, via e-mail at
DianeChang@aol.com, or by fax at 523-7863.