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I didn't want to apply for this fellowship. When I pictured investigative reporters, I thought of older men with spectacles, beards and mustaches, trenchcoats, blazers, a magnifying glass and outsized passion for public records requests.Some investigative reporters do fit that mold, and they're great at what they do.
It was just a matter of self-perceived difference. I got into journalism thinking I would report on pop culture, music and the beauty industry. When I wake up in the morning, I most often reach for a K-Pop T-shirt and my favorite jean shorts with a pink and yellow heart on the left buttcheek. I'm also 24 years old, so I wasn't sure how I was supposed to hold political powers accountable.
I continued to find myself the youngest person in the room as I attended Maui County Council and mayoral candidate forums this fall, from the West Maui Taxpayers to Honolulu Civil Beat and Lahaina Strong candidate forums. There, I heard what candidates had to say, and what they didn't say. I noticed candidates give empty answers, spinning words to cruise through two-minute time allotments. I kept finding myself wanting the moderators to dig deeper. I kept writing down follow-up questions. I realized then there was a whole world of politics to critically assess. Or in gay lingo -- there was a lot of tea to clock.
Doing the critical assessment was the hard part. I loved writing as a kid, and I'm forever grateful I got to make a life of it. I've reported on Lahaina's people, places and politics over the last couple years as the town recovers from the 2023 fires. I feel confident conducting interviews and attending events like Lahaina Homecoming, Kaibigan Palengke Night and Dia De Los Muertos. I felt good with words, but in covering politics, I realized anyone can say anything. To dig deeper than words, I had to go into numbers.
I hate numbers, but sometimes we have to do things we hate. My first story continued my reporting in Lahaina, looking into the three candidates who hoped to represent West Maui at Hawaii's State House. I used Hawaii's Campaign Spending Commission reports for the first time to see who was donating to these candidates. I learned dozens of donors were spending tens of thousands of dollars to get their chosen candidate in office. To get an understanding of how outstanding these numbers were, I looked into donations for past election years. That's how I found the fundraising for this race was three times the fundraising in years before. Already, I was seeing how numbers could tell a story. From there, I looked at who was donating to which campaign and how many donors to each campaign were in-state versus out-of-state.
Finding a newfound love for numbers, it was time to keep going. My third fellowship story analyzed the County Council elections at large, focusing on the seven contested seats up for election. I downloaded candidate campaign filings across the last year and collected the data into one master spreadsheet. From there, I started interviewing the data, or asking different questions and seeing what the numbers would say. I figured out which candidate raised the most money, which race donors poured the most money into, and who was donating the most money.
I realized this is the kind of journalism people are looking for on Maui. I made an Instagram video explaining my findings, and the video reached more than 5,000 people. My reporting also led me to a role explaining election results on live TV for Akakū. The most fulfilling part of my fellowship though was hearing my friends say they watched my videos or read my articles and felt inspired to vote for the first time.
This fellowship has been my most rewarding journalism experience. I broke down my preconceived notions of what it means to be a reporter. I tackled the topics that I find most intimidating, and I found ways to explain tangled spreadsheets in clear ways. I also challenged my preconceptions of what someone who participates in politics needs to look, sound or act like.
I'm just getting started. Now it's my responsibility to track how this campaign funding does or doesn't reflect the way our elected officials act. I want to look into who voted this year and why. I want to look at who didn't win their elections and what they would like to see. I want to interview the Gen-Z candidates who, while they didn’t win, showed us what a political candidate can and should look like. And I am dedicated to following how different campaign promises do or do not become reality.
When I picture an investigative reporter, I can see myself sitting in the County Council chambers with a pink and yellow heart on the seat of my pants. Maybe I'll see you there.
Yiming Fu is reporting for The Maui News as part of the Maui Nui Media and Creativity Collaborative Investigative Elections Reporting Fellowship, which supports expanded reporting on Maui County elections.