A mayoral candidate in Honolulu is trying to get a reporter he doesn't like thrown off the campaign trail, reported the Honolulu Civil Beat.
Candidate Ben Cayetano, the former governor of the state of Hawaii, said he has cut the Civil Beat from his media list and he is refusing to answer questions, emails or phone calls from award-winning government reporter Michael Levine, the Civil Beat reported, adding that if the newspaper wants to cover Cayetano, it has to send a different journalist.
“There is no point in talking to a reporter who accuses me of lacking in ‘believability,’” Cayetano wrote in an email to Civil Beat editor John Temple. Ironically, it was Temple, not Levine, who in fact had written the article that upset the candidate.
The Civil Beat pointed out that this is not the first time Cayetano has gotten upset with Levine. Previously he has called the reporter "biased," and has said the online newspaper is "substandard," "an over-priced blog," and "incompetent," the publication said. It is worth noting that in 2010, the Civil Beat was named Hawaii's top news site by the state's chapter of the Society for Professional Journalists.
Poynter's Andrew Beaujon has put in interview requests with both Cayetano and Temple.
