March 2025 Gleanings
Breaking news -- our Torch of Light and Lava Tube awards! Now entering its 59th year, your Big Island Press Club is still going strong! We're a nonprofit, and our continuing mission is to promote openness in government and grow new journalists to keep us informed -- needed now more than ever. Our monthly board meetings are continuing via Zoom, and all members can attend our next one at 9 a.m. Saturday, March 22, by using this link: https://hawaii.zoom.us/j/85950719889 . Questions? contact Secretary Nancy Cook Lauer at nclauer@gmail.com
Big Island Press Club announces annual Torch of Light and Lava Tube awards for 2024: Neal awarded meritorious Torch of Light award; HI-EMA earns Lava Tube dishonor
The Big Island Press Club awards its annual meritorious Torch of Light Award to the late Julia Neal, founder and editor-publisher of the Kaʻu Calendar newspaper and Kaʻu News Briefs blog. BIPC also awards its Lava Tube dishonor to the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency. The Torch of Light award is given to an individual or entity for illuminating the public’s right to know, while the Lava Tube dishonor is given for a lack of communication and keeping the public in the dark.
As it has for past 27 years, the 58-year-old press club announces the awards yearly on March 16, Freedom of Information Day, the birthday of James Madison, who was widely regarded as the father of the U.S. Constitution and the leading advocate for openness in government among our founders.
Torch of Light
BIPC has posthumously selected Julia Neal, who died Jan. 24 at 75, for the Torch of Light honor.
For more than two decades Neal, a former editor of The Garden Island Newspaper on Kauai, dedicated herself to provide accurate, timely and substantive news about Kaʻu – a sparsely populated area larger than Oahu – that was previously a news desert between Hilo and Kona.
“Neal was a beacon of light and a fountain of information for an underserved area where the news would receive little, if any coverage, otherwise,” said John Burnett, BIPC past president. “She focused on news, not competition, and occasionally called me with leads on news stories we would otherwise have missed. Few affiliated with other news outlets would be so generous.”
William Neal, a nephew, described his aunt as “a fierce advocate for local life, Hawaiian heritage and the preservation of Ka’u’s colorful history and environment.”
Last year, Neal was interviewed by The Daily Yonder , an online publication that provides news, commentary, and analysis about and for rural America.
Here are some highlights: “I’m getting older,” said Neal, who turned 74 this fall. “So if this is going to continue, I need to build a future for it financially.” She said she hopes to increase the paper’s advertising revenue so that she can create a salaried position for the next publisher.
Neal is also working to develop the next generation of journalists in Kaʻū. She has started teaching journalism classes once a week at the local middle school and works with a 13-yearold intern. Her goal is to show them how journalism supports community engagement.
“I asked my class, why do we do this?” Neal said. “And I told them, all these stories are about things the community can participate in.” J
ulia Neal’s iconic torch award will be presented at BIPC’s annual meeting in December.
Lava Tube Dishonor
BIPC has chosen the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, the state’s civil defense organization, for its Lava Tube dishonor. For the second consecutive year, BIPC is focusing on HI-EMA’s support for a constitutionally questionable law that allowed the governor and county mayors to suspend electronic media transmission during a state of emergency, a law that journalists fear could be interpreted by some leaders as a “kill switch” of sorts which would prevent journalists from reporting news during an emergency.
Last year, BIPC chose HI-EMA Administrator Col. (Ret.) James Barros for his opposition to House Bill 522 and Senate Bill 103, which would’ve discontinued sections of state law that gave the governors and the mayor this power. Those bills weren’t heard in a conference for a final vote in 2023, largely because of Barros’ testimony against those bills.
In 2024, HB 2581, another measure that would curtail the governor’s and mayors’ power to suspend electronic transmissions in an emergency, was passed by the Legislature, but Gov. Josh Green put the bill on his intent to veto list. No testimony in opposition to the bill was submitted, but HI-EMA submitted comments on HB 2581, comparing it unfavorably to the previous year’s HB 522, almost identical legislation that HI-EMA opposed.
Organizations including the BIPC and the Hawaii Association of Broadcasters vigorously voiced their opposition to the proposed veto, and Green, without comment or notice, signed HB 2581 into law.
In times of emergency, government and media – both electronic and print – have historically partnered to provide essential information in a timely manner to a public that wants, and has a right, to know what is going on.
“The hunger for fact-based information is never higher than during an emergency, and when that information is hard to come by, people will sometimes resort to rumors and speculation. That should be the last thing government would want in a declared emergency,” former BIPC President Michael Phillips said last year. That sentiment still applies.
In BIPC’s view, HI-EMA should have supported HB 2581. Its failure to do so and its silence concerning the governor’s proposed veto have earned it the Lava Tube dishonor.
The Big Island Press Club will hold a luncheon in December to present the awards and honor the winners. Tickets to attend this event will be available about a month beforehand to both club members and non-members at bigislandpressclub.org.
What's happening?
Have something to share? Send it to nclauer@gmail.com.
Help wanted: The loss of Julia Neal puts a serious dent in local news coverage in the sourthern part of the island. Please spread the word about opportunities to keep the Kaʻu Calendar newspaper and Kaʻu News Briefs blog alive. Contact Drew Foster at drewcfoster@gmail.com to help chart a forward path.
Scholarships: Save the date for our May 8 scholarship dinner! We received a solid group of candidate applications by the deadline that our Scholarship Committee is considering, planning to award thousands of dollars in scholarships to up and coming local journalists and communications experts. We're still hammering out the event details, and we're looking at several Hilo restaurants for our evening event. Save the date and be assured a new announcements will be forthcoming soon.
In Memoriam: In addition to the Jan. 24 loss of Ka'u publisher Julia Neal, 75, the Big Island also lost prolific freelancer, book author and public relations maven Catherine (Cathey) Tarleton, 70, on Feb. 11. Our community mourns both losses and offers condolences to family, friends and all those lives they touched.
Big Island newspapers bid aloha and e komo mai: Great news for West Hawaii! West Hawaii Today has hired a news reporter after so many months of being without one. Erik Gabaldon came to us from The Coast News, a weekly newspaper published in Encinitas, California. Please reach out to him at egabaldon@westhawaiitoday.com to welcome him and send story ideas. On the East Hawaii side, we should malama John Burnett, who's been a stalwart keeping the Hawaii Tribune-Herald on track in the face of staff movements. The Trib has a new reporter as well -- Southern California native Kyveli Diener, former Bay Area News Group reporter and New York Times stringer. Leaving the paper is Michael Brestovansky, who's done a yeoman's job covering government issues.
Advising student journalists: After two years advising the University of Hawaii-Hilo student newspaper Ke Kalahea, Nancy Cook Lauer, former West Hawaii Today reporter, starts an expanded role this week. Now Publications Advisor, Lauer is adding Art and Literary Magazine Kanilehua and Academic Journal Hohonu to her advising duties.
Former BIPC Board members: Ilihia Gionson is now chief public affairs officer at the W.M. Keck Observatory. Tom Callis, who left the Trib in 2019 after seven years on the job, is now Executive Assistant/Public Information Officer for Mayor Kimo Alameda.
2025 Big Island Press Club Board
Please feel free to contact any board members with your suggestions, or if you wish to volunteer!
President: Tiffany Edwards Hunt, former journalist, middle school teacher newswoman@mac.com
Vice President: Jim Wilson, retired publisher, Hawaii Tribune-Herald jimwilsonvolcanocottage@gmail.com
Secretary: Nancy Cook Lauer, retired journalist, blogger www.allhawaiinews.com <nclauer@gmail.com>
Treasurer: Robert Duerr, filmmaker and journalist, Hawaii Fishing News <surf77@me.com>
Immediate Past President: John Burnett, journalist, Tribune-Herald <jburnett@hawaiitribuneherald.com>
Director: Patsy Iwasaki, professor, University of Hawaii-Hilo <piwasaki@hawaii.edu>
Director: John Atwell, former CIA Senior Operations Officer, columnist, editor <jno.p.atwell@gmail.com>
Director: Maya-Lin Green, education and communications team member, Pacific Islands Climate Adaptation Science Center <mlgreen@hawaii.edu>
Director: Megan Moseley, journalist, reporter for Maui News <info@meganmoseley.com>
Director Emeritus: Ross Wilson, PR, Current Events rossw@current-events.com
