I read with great interest about the thoroughly entertaining Nelson “Speed” Andrade vs. MinTour heavy-weight boxing bout, I also watched some of the press conference on Diario TV. The questions asked by Speed were excellent, I want to know myself who financed the state trip to the Netherlands, and why Aruba’s logo exploitation is making a private citizen rich, rather than benefiting the country.
But while Speed’s line of questioning is legit — curious minds what to know — his motives are unclear, and I would not be surprised if we establish that the MinPres asked Speed to kindly trip the MinTour’s trigger. I couldn’t help but notice that as the press conference got heated, the MinTour’s internal agitation grew, along with his frustration. The more he talked about transparency, striving to refute Speed’s allegations, the less credulous he sounded.
Back to the trigger: The fact that Speed managed to push the MinTour’s buttons means that his information was correct. If Speed’s info was baloney, the MinTour would have brushed the questioning off. Consulting “The Guide to Psychology and its Practice,” I learned that when confronted with a truth we wish to hide, we usually react in anger, at being caught/exposed. According to that website “The initial reaction when hidden secrets are revealed, is anger.”
On the other hand people living in glass houses should not throw bombs, because I am speculating that Speed has been in service, as the MinPres personal news distributor for many years, and perhaps getting paid for that. (All speculation on my part, this is a gossip column, not the gospel!)
Admittedly, I complain about this whole culture of Cut & Paste news all the time, because a number of years ago, the ministers each hired their own news making and regurgitating machines, thus prostituting the whole process of news collection and dissemination, on Aruba.
Why? Because the newspapers never want to pay for the services their reporters render. They don’t want to pay for smart, educated, qualified commentators.
Why? Because advertising rates here are low, and the greedy newspapers never want to dish out any cash to employ capable writers.
Churning and reprinting canned news is good enough for the local newspapers where reporters sit at their desks, cut and paste releases, without ever getting off their chairs. That’s what they get paid for.
About a decade ago, the government was only happy to comply: Each minister recruited his own press-release machinery charging their services to his department’s payroll. They now serve us blatant propaganda as “news,” and the newspapers and news websites publish the grub, against a small sponsor subsidy or an ad here and there, perhaps a banner.
Speed is good, he moves, he multi-tasks, he is fearless and intimidating. He makes the MinPres look presidential from every angle, disseminating his every word. Speed takes his job seriously, including the egging of the MinTour on, until the later blew his stack.
On the issue of remuneration: I would never have been able to write, without this website’s sponsors. May they thrive and prosper. I worked for newspapers for 23 years and they always paid me peanuts begrudgingly. Which was Ok because I am self-employed and the newspaper was not my only income.
Reporters MUST be paid well, like any other professionals, and if they cannot make ends meet on their newspaper salary and they assume other jobs, radio, TV, photography, to supplement their income, it kills journalism, and it makes them vulnerable. You cannot write from the heart, what’s on your mind when you fear for your job!
And don’t you think that working for some minister is such a big deal! We once created some adz in Island Temptations Magazine for the MinInfra and the MinEcon, they wanted to a create a business revival buzz, that was approximately five years ago, we’re still waiting to get paid, as our invoices are ignored like they don’t exist.
Diario without Speed is like fries without ketchup, because he was a major news provider. What will they fill the newspaper with?
