Media Symposium, Mayoral Debate at UHH Friday

A media symposium to be held Friday at the University of Hawaii at Hilo will feature two debates between the candidates in the mayor and prosecutor races.

Billed as the first campaign forums leading up to the Nov. 6 general election, incumbent Mayor Billy Kenoi will face off with former Mayor Harry Kim at 2 p.m.

Lincoln Ashida, currently the county’s corporation counsel, will appear with Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Mitch Roth at the second forum beginning at 3 p.m.

The forums will be moderated by UHH political science professor Todd Belt and Sherry Bracken, a reporter for LAVA 105 and Hawaii Public Radio.

They will be followed at 4 p.m. by a panel discussion on the state of media in Hawaii with a cross section of reporters from print, radio and new media.

Those three events will be held at the university’s Campus Center Plaza.

The symposium will kick off at 9 a.m. in Campus Center Room 301 with a workshop headed by Hilo attorney Steve Strauss on libel, defamation and copyright matters. That will be followed by workshops on a variety of subjects including:

• Use of the iPad by Marty Orlando of Tropic Mac
• Technology and the Hawaiian language by Simon Kaliko Trapp of Hale Kuamoo, UHH’s Hawaiian Language Center
• Reporting and newswriting by Patsy Iwasaki of UHH’s Communications Department
• Ethics by West Hawaii Today reporter Nancy Cook Lauer
• Global media trends by Steve Petranik of Hawaii Business Magazine
• The state’s Sunshine Law by state Sen. Les Ihara

The event is sponsored by Ke Kalahea, the university’s student newspaper. Cost is $10 for students and $20 for the general public. Lunch and refreshments will be served.

Call 974-7504 for information or to register.