Monday, June 16, 2008

Honolulu Papers Treat Oil ‘Crisis’ Speech as an Afterthought, Take Up to 10 Days to Report It

The most surprising thing about Maurice Kaya’s June 6th speech in Hilo wasn’t his assertion that Hawaii is in “crisis” because of the state’s overwhelming reliance on fossil fuel for energy. What’s fairly amazing to us is that it took the Honolulu Advertiser and the Honolulu Star-Bulletin five and 10 days respectively to report it.

Kaya, the former state energy manager, told an audience in Hilo 10 days ago that “the crisis is here, and it’s going to be a long one,” and it gets ho-hum treatment in the two dailies -- i.e., a 10-day-old story.

Looking back at our posts to this blog, oil hit a new record high of $139.12 per barrel on June 6th. If the media truly believe in this energy crisis stuff, one would think they’d have known about Kaya’s speech and found it newsworthy enough to give it timely coverage.

Oil hit a new record high today -- $139.89. Maybe if Maurice gives a talk today about Hawaii’s energy predicament we’ll read about it next week.

Comments by people like Kaya (similar to what we’ve been saying) need better treatment by media gatekeepers if Hawaii's people are going to get it. The state's transition to a renewable economy won’t happen unless the population is sufficiently moved to action.

Casual media coverage of our energy crisis doesn't help get us there.

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