Bill allowing media access to lava areas kept alive in Senate

As lava continues to flow into Pahoa, a measure that aims to give journalists better access to emergency sites continues to wend its way through the state Senate but has stalled in the House.

The proposal’s two bills, introduced by state Rep. Nicole Lowen and state Sen. Lorraine Ino­­uye, both of Hawaii island, would allow media members to visit areas closed off by state and county emergency officials. The bills further would provide for a pool writer, photographer and videographer in situations where full access "cannot be reasonably granted."

HB 592 and SB 533 come after county emergency officials kept media from coming within sight of the Pahoa flow during weeks of heightened coverage last fall.

Civil Defense Administrator Darryl Oli­veira and other authorities have cited concerns over safety and local residents’ privacy in restricting access to the flow front as the lava oozed across state-, county- and privately owned lands.

The bills’ supporters, meanwhile, argue that the media should have access to keep the community informed and public agencies accountable.

Both chambers’ public safety committees weighed the proposal Thursday. The House committee deferred its bill, essentially stopping the measure in that body. The Senate committee passed it but added language that the news media should have access "under the direction and supervision of emergency management personnel."

The Senate’s committee members also called for added language that would protect the state and county from liability should something happen to any journalists while in the areas.

Passage in the Senate keeps the measure alive, but it’s unclear how the language calling for supervision would affect things should the bill become law.

Inouye said she introduced the Senate measure on behalf of the Big Island Press Club, which launched the access effort, because she has held similar concerns over restrictions barring the media and public access to local election offices.

"The people need to know what’s happening in the communities, and I really have a passion for that," Ino­uye said Thursday.

Oliveira and several state and county agencies, including the state’s Defense Department, Transportation Department and Emergency Management Agency as well as the Hono­lulu and Kauai police departments, oppose the media access measures.

First responders could be put at risk, too, if they had to help a journalist in trouble at an emergency site, a Hono­­lulu police official testified at Thursday’s House hearing.

Bill supporters, meanwhile, said the measures were critical to keep both the local community and those abroad informed of what’s happening — as well as how the state’s responders are handling emergency situations.

"The recent lava flow on the Big Island gives a good example of how the law slows down the flow of information," Stirling Morita, Society of Professional Journalists Hawaii Chapter president and night city editor at the Hono­lulu Star-Advertiser, wrote in his testimony.

The measures would give journalists the ability to report thoroughly, accurately, independently and on a timely basis, added Hawaii 24/7 Editor and Big Island Press Club board member Karin Stanton. "It supports transparency and honesty in government," she wrote.

Hawaii island Rep. Joy San Bue­na­ven­tura lamented the fact that journalists had come from around the world to document the Pahoa flow but weren’t allowed to take photographs of the lava even when homeowners had offered to let them. She further contrasted the Pahoa access to the 1990 Kala­pana lava flow, where the media had much more access and, according to San Bue­na­ven­tura, was better able to document the community’s plight.

In a phone interview, Oli­veira said the Pahoa flow presented different challenges that required more stringent restrictions. Pahoa is a more heavily populated community, and the lava was advancing as much as 400 yards a day toward a highway and a critical power transmission line, heightening evacuation concerns, he said.

"My actions were never intended to create a perception that we don’t want to work with the media" or cover a historical event, he said Thursday. The security measures "may not have been popular or may not have been very well received."