Following disclosures that Rex Johnson, head of the Hawai'i Tourism Authority, forwarded e-mails from his state computer that contained racist and sexist jokes about Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton, Johnson's future will again be under review this week.

While many were outraged that Johnson has been allowed to remain in his post this long, a few placed blame on The Advertiser because it was reporter Rick Daysog who made the public records request that unearthed the questionable e-mails. Daysog's report came several weeks after the state auditor announced it had found X-rated movie clips, slideshows and photographs of adult nudity, resulting in his contract being cut from four years to one and his salary reduced from $240,000 to $200,000 a year.

A Kane'ohe man accused us of "muckraking" and challenged us to audit the e-mails of our management staff, especially my e-mails, and to publish a list of anything that could be considered racist, sexist, pornographic or otherwise off-color. He stressed that Johnson, even as a public official, deserved some level of privacy.

Another reader, from Honolulu, said we participated in a political "hatchet job" and smeared Johnson "as being a racist and sexist" yet presented no evidence that he discriminated against anyone. "What you have done is not only smear the man, but to focus on political correctness, rather than job performance, as the standard for state employment."

For those who believe we have made too much of Johnson's e-mails, let's analyze our coverage.

We maintain it is the job of a newspaper to hold public officials accountable and thus, we routinely file public records requests to find information that officials sometimes don't want us to know. Daysog and The Advertiser did their jobs and brought to light a discovery that the state attorney general's office and the HTA board both missed.

Was it a newsworthy revelation? Of course. The state's top tourism official forwarding e-mails calling Obama a "coon" and Clinton a "beaver" is information that needed to be disclosed. The news prompted Gov. Linda Lingle and several outside groups — one marched in protest in Waikiki — to call on Johnson to resign or be fired.

Was the coverage overdone? Following the first revelation about the e-mails and the governor's request that Johnson resign, we wrote three other stories, one of which quoted legislators who asked that Johnson be removed, one that noted a special meeting had been set to discuss the e-mails and a third covering last weekend's protest. Lee Cataluna wrote a column criticizing Johnson for sending the e-mails as well as those who sought to excuse him. Daysog wrote last week that the HTA board was again delaying its final decision on Johnson until Wednesday.

The editorial page published an opinion piece asking that the board review the newest revelation. It printed a column by Dave Shapiro critical of Johnson and 11 letters to the editor, seven of which took issue with Johnson.

Our inability to determine whether Johnson discriminated against anyone on the basis of race or sex is irrelevant. He used a state computer to forward e-mails that many consider offensive and for which he has apologized and been disciplined once. The reader who asked us to disclose our Advertiser e-mails didn't seem to understand that private companies monitor their own employees and have their own rules for what is transmitted. In the private sector, there's a good chance that Johnson would not have lasted this long.

As for our coverage, it's hard to imagine a scenario in which we would not have printed stories about the newest batch of e-mails. What to make of Johnson's actions — whether he tolerates insensitive jokes about minorities and women or is a victim of political correctness — is for others to decide this week.

Mark Platte is senior vice president/editor of The Advertiser. Reach him at 525-8080.