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Media Watchdog
"Heck of a Job" Daily Herald!
When I started SXM PE back in April 2005 it wasn't just about having a place to vent and blog my opinions, there were other reasons, one of which was to spur and encourage discussion, debate and the sharing of ideas within the SXM Community and hopefully bringing together people who shared cares and concerns. Another was to create a library of sorts, a library that has been used by students, lawyers, journalists, 'pinheads' and the general public at large. Over 2.2 million pages have been viewed since I started this site.
When I started, there was very little SXM news online, the DH had a site, but it was dated and quite often stories had to be scanned to be posted on here. The Today, even today, has no website presence to speak of.
The DH recently rebuilt it's website, perhaps because they got a little tired of it being criticized, especially here on PE, and all in all they did a good job. However one small problem. The thousands of links listed here in the pages of PE and elsewhere on the internet to news on their old site no longer work. I don't know if they are still available online, perhaps they are, but really, the loss is heartbreaking.
It's not the loss to SXM PE that hurts most, the DH did demand once that we stop posting links to their website and I refused, telling them that posting limited partial content and links was not only legal but also normal for the internet, in fact it was good for them because it helped drive up their visitor and page view numbers. The real loss is to the community and general public of the island. The news we scanned is still there, but links to DH stories over the past years are now useless.
Sorry folks, I guess the DH just doesn't think archives and history are as important as we do.
Flipper
GIBSON'S LAW
Law is a delicate institution and nowhere else than on St. Maarten can its interpretation be subject to scrutiny and sometimes frivolous scandal. Step forward Mister Richard Gibson who is widely rumored to have boxed off his second wife by building a complete dividing wall that runs through the middle of his luxurious Maho house.
The incidence of physical and thus media exposure of the celebrity variety is an increasing phenomenon on the island. Allegations that Julian Rollocks was parading in his underpants in October last year have been followed up with front page titillation via Mister Gibson’s own newspaper that the DP secretary is “broke” and has “serious issues with spelling and grammar”. For Mister G, as he is affectionately known, the boot is now clearly on the other foot!
Times change - DH Editorial
A study that shows people are increasingly using the Internet to plan and book their travels can be called good news for St. Maarten. After all, most of the emergency marketing funds made available in connection with the impact of the global crisis by diverting means from the Social Economic Initiative (SEI) programme financed by the Dutch Government were directed towards online wholesalers such as Expedia.com and Travelocity.com rather than more traditional promotion avenues. [More....]
St. Maarten wows Brazilian journalists and travel agents-- Group from Latin American market enamored with island’s beauty and variety.
SMNN -
Great Bay: -- They left the sounds of samba and tango in Sao Paolo and Buenos Aires, respectively, as they came to The Friendly Island for a weeklong stay, uncertain of what rhythms they may have to dance to. The eight (8) Brazilian and three (3) Argentinean journalists who were hosted by the St. Maarten Tourist Bureau during a CVC press trip quickly fell in love with the multiple rhythms that set the island aside as one of the most exciting destinations they have ever been to. Following an Island tour the day after their arrival, the group that also included a dozen high-performing travel agents from Brazil, got to see and taste what makes St. Maarten special.[More....]
The other legacy of José Lake, Sr. that turned 50 in 2009
PHILIPSBURG - The 84th birthday anniversary of the late St. Martin patriot Joseph H. Lake, Sr. (1925-1976) better known as José Lake, might have been remembered quietly by a few family members and friends on October 4, 2009. But another legacy of the man known as the father of journalism for the whole island and “dean of the political opposition” in the South from 1959 to 1976, reached another anniversary milestone in 2009, some 33 years after his death.[More....]
50 CENTS FOR THE DAILY HERALD?
Where is the Daily Herald these days? Their editorial standards have reached new lows, their Weekender is mostly a solid ragbag of text that has been copied and pasted from the internet, their letter page now comprises almost entirely of US based correspondence (Oppenheimer, Krauthammer et al.) and their local news reporting is often too late and wildly inaccurate. It has become a handout. At 50 cents, the paper is not worth the paper upon which it is printed.
Heraldic History may well reveal answers for the descent into this quality quagmire. The medium was set up as a fighting tabloid by Roger Snow when island news was controlled by the establishment and Snow thought very differently about all that. Snow succeeded in changing the media landscape and the status quo. Fast forward many years and enter Courtney Gibson whose sensitivities are clearly pro-establishment and whose reaction to editorial criticism borders on the neurotic.
O LYDIA, LYDIA MY ENCYCLOPEDIA...
The island’s promotional activities have taken a turn for the worst. Frans Richardson who does not have a clue about the travel business other than how air miles work, is having a public tiff with Interreps. Media watchers will remember that this company was hired by Roy the Boy Marlin to "PR" things in The Benelux. However, the company’s feeble efforts have not impressed Richardson. Furthermore, Lydia Haveman, the company’s owner is so desperate that she is talking openly to the local press about her desire to continue writing invoices and lunching on the taxpayers behalf.
Talking openly to the press about her disappointment? Wait a moment! I thought she should be talking to the press about the island’s USP’s. Point is she knows she is on to a lost cause. If she had developed an editorial program that generated enough column inches to justify her fees, she would not be facing the wrath of Roy’s namesake who probably has another relative in mind to do exactly the same as Interreps. Nothing, that is.
Journalist Alex Holder released
SXM Island Times - PHILIPSBURG - A reporter with the Today News Paper, Alex Holder who was recently arrested and charged with embezzlement, is now a free man.
The young journalist issued a press release on Tuesday giving an account of the legal proceedings against him and his eventual release from custody on the 16th of November.
Newsman Released on Conditional Dismal---Must Repay Victim by January 1, 2010.
SMNN - Philipsburg: --- The public prosecutor has released Alex Holder, the reporter who was arrested over a week ago on theft charges. Holder was released late on Monday afternoon after spending about ten days in the Philipsburg holding cells.
Prosecutor Rienk Mud said Holder was given a conditional dismissal since he is a first time offender. Mud said the suspect must repay the victim by January 1 2010 if not he would have to face prosecution. Holder was must also do 100 hours of community service Mud said.
JOBS FOR THE BOYS...
The front page announcement in the Herald this week that the St. Maarten Tourist Bureau continues to move full speed ahead by hiring Louis Peters to head up its New York Office will provide endless amusement to media watchers on the island. The Herald well known for its faithful duplication of press announcements has clearly neither massaged a word nor questioned why this public appointment was handled so privately?
To those who work in the media, St. Maarten has long been a joke when it comes to promoting its identity. Today, millions of dollars are now chasing an off-island PR bureau. Once hired this supposedly fast track agency was so competent that they even hired a third party to carry out branding activities. So far the only serious writing that has seen the light of day is that of endless invoices and prolific expense declarations. The advisers are advising the advisers.
