By: E. Jay Saunders
When do we put the brakes on collateral damage?
Swiss researcher Ernst Fehr once ran an experiment called “the trust game with revenge”, designed to reveal the motivation for vengeance. What he found was that: a) the decision to punish someone who we think cheated gives us a feeling of pleasure, and b) “…the desire for revenge, even when it costs us something and is fully irrational…” is built into us. (Harvard Business Review, July – August 2009, Page 83)
It is primarily because of this phenomenon, why we are seeing – and will continue to see – collateral damage resulting from the Commission of Inquiry.
For example, Sir. Robin Auld’s final report portrays Dr. Cem Kinay as a willing participant in government corruption, because: a) he gave a large sum of money to an elected official, and b) he is trying to keep the details of it out of the public domain. However, while (a) and (b) are true, they do not automatically equal (c)orruption. Here is why, and a scenario of what likely happened that got him to this point:
To keep cost low, Dr. Kinay’s company most likely applied for and received duty concessions from the Government, thereby saving him a few million dollars on the build-out cost for Dellis Cay. During the election campaign a Government minister most likely asked him for a sizeable campaign donation – probably US$1 million. Finding himself in an awkward situation where he could not easily say “no”, Dr. Kinay probably rationalized it as a one off donation to a government who is pro business, and most importantly, one who his pro Dellis Cay. He then probably agreed to donate an amount less than the initial request – although it would have still been a significant sum – and because there are no rules/laws regarding how campaign donations are made, he sent it based on the instructions of the minister.
Although there is nothing in the scenario above that under normal circumstances would be considered corrupt; because the government involved was Mike Misick’s administration, Dr. Kinay’s campaign donation is being suspected as such.
For the record, even if it turns out that the campaign donation was used for corrupt purposes, I doubt that Dr. Kinay was an architect of that corruption.
It is unfortunate, but in today’s world, you are what/who Google says you are, and if there are any references to you on the internet, Google will find it, index it, and archive it. As such, negative materials on the internet can and will affect (what I call) your “Google’s Character Reference” or GCR.
For the average person, their GCR has little or no impact on their lives. However, for someone whose reputation is his/her global currency; someone whose every business deal results in a background check being done; and someone who has global business interests; their GCR is becoming more important than their credit score.
The destructive powers of negative information on the internet is so great to a person’s reputation, that PR firms recommend that if you are a victim of it, to deal with it swiftly and aggressively – even if it means hiring legal representation to have the information removed. As such, it is likely that for this reason alone why Dr. Kinay is keen to keep any negative references to him in Sir Robin’s report out of the public domain.
However, in our desire to punish those who cheated, we want to have the full report in the public domain – regardless of the collateral damage that it can cause.
While there are those who may see some collateral damage as acceptable, the fact is that in order to rebuild the Turks & Caicos, we not only need the defensive strategy of Sir Robin, we also need an offensive (i.e. inward investment) strategy. As the management guru/thinker Peter Drucker once stated, “We have to accept what we all know to be elemental – that taking a defensive position can, at best, only limit losses. And we need gains.” With the economy in free fall, the Turks & Caicos desperately need gains like Dellis Cay. We cannot afford to watch the country go into an economic tailspin for 2 years while we remake government. This approach will only lead to more problems. With all due respect to Colin Roberts, he got it wrong when he suggested that Britain cannot simultaneously promote inward investment while fixing local government.
The task may be difficult, but Governor Wetherell needs to find a way to do both. For “The signature of the truly great vs. the merely successful is not the absence of difficulty. It’s the ability to come back from setbacks, even cataclysmic catastrophes, stronger than before.” (How The Mighty Fall, Jim Collins)
http://tcfreepress.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=864:wherewhen-do-we-put-the-brakes-on-the-collateral-damage&catid=19:editorial&Itemid=36
Reporting by opinion and innuendo
Media Bias forces questions about what is real news
By: Candace Williams
This appears to be the order of the news business these days. We've come a long way from the time of real news reporting, as I think back fondly of the Bob Woodward era.
It seems that the present-day media has strayed from reporting facts, pandering to ratings and news-breaking deadlines. Where is the justice in using the news media to exploit one's own ambition or agenda? Whether or not we want to admit it as readers of news, one has to consider the thought or lack of thought behind the words of the person who wrote it and his/her supporting news agencies' views as well.
However, we also have to consider human nature. Different people at the exact same event can yield two entirely contradictory opinions of the facts. That is just one way that the news can be inaccurate. Personal experiences in our lives and our individual perspectives will create an innate bias. For example, if two people were shot in broad daylight by a gunman, then it is a fact that there were two and not three or four victims, yet the details of the occurrence might vary from one witness to the next, though they each saw the same exact incident. It seems that even direct quotes cannot be assumed as “fact” if a writer uses the quote out of context or sets up the quote with a contradictory statement.
Accurate and responsible research is also a part of fair journalism. I recently came across an article that, upon reading, I noticed had a fact wrong right off the bat. This is what inspired me to write this article. I decided to research deeper into this article to investigate how news journalism can be flawed. The article that I refer to is indeed a main stream news article.
The shame is that after I did my research examining the article, I found it to be flawed in so many ways that I couldn't help but ask if this was pure laziness or if the writer was supporting an agenda.
I took the article line by line to test the accuracy of the statements. What I found was an alarming realization, I could either discount, disprove or impeach almost all of the statements in the article. In fact, if I were editing this article, I would have to strike 80% of it, just out of sheer integrity of journalistic professionalism.
The story caught my eye initially because it reported that the British had assumed control of the Turks and Caicos Islands. After I read it, I screeched to a stop and I asked myself, "really?" I started to look up world news and I couldn't find anything in the news about British rule in Turks and Caicos other than wide-spread rumors. But a take-over had not occurred and certainly not as of when the article was written, on August 7. I was dumbfounded as to why a reporter would report that as news. That is quite a big deal. I was offended and taken aback as a reader when I learned that this was false.
I decided to look at this article to see what else I could find. First: the headline, "Developer Michael Douglas bought property from named in TCI investigation." The first problem is that this article has generally nothing to do with Michael Douglas and it tricks readers by using a celebrity name gratuitously.
Secondly, the headline makes no sense, he bought it from whom? So I took it a step further and read the next couple of lines, "Dr. Cem Kinay has emerged as one of the central figures in the massive inquiry into political corruption in TCI [Turks and Caicos Islands]." I looked this up for accuracy. The corruption charges were against Turks and Caicos' former Premier, not Dr. Cem Kinay.
Dr. Cem Kinay is a developer from Turkey who pioneered the all-inclusive vacation concept and brought his vision to Turks and Caicos.
Research revealed that Cem Kinay is not "the central figure" of the investigation, he was dragged into the inquiry for his purchase of land under the former government, which he did under their laws. Furthermore, his land purchase was approved by the attorney general. I did not check into the land purchases of the other developers, but this was the case with Cem Kinay. By all accounts, it appears that Dr. Kinay has an impeccable track record as a developer, philanthropist and physician.
Then, as previously referenced, there's the claim that the corruption investigation, "led to the British assuming control of the Caribbean archipelago." This is patently false and flawed and there can be no way to explain this mistake or falsehood. Then I read the next couple of sentences, "Mr. Douglas and his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones bought the first luxury property at Dr. Kinay's unfinished $62-million Dellis Cay development before the alarm was raised about the islands' finances." I checked on this as well, and in fact the development is doing well and Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones are still very much happy holders of real estate on the island of Dellis Cay in Turks and Caicos, lest the author of the article insinuate a post purchase "alarm" that led to a pull out of the deal.
Furthermore, it is unclear how this reporter came up with "$62-million" as the cost of the project. My research revealed that his $62 million quote is very dated and far apart from the actual cost, $500 million US dollars. This information could have been updated easily by simple fact finding.
Of course, I had to keep going. I read the next couple of lines, "former Turks and Caicos Premier Michael Misick, who is also implicated in the financial irregularities." Michael Misick "also implicated" and "irregularities"? This is inaccurate and misleading at best. Michael Misick was the direct target of the investigation. A few of Misick's ministers were also investigated with Misick as the core target for corruption and not merely implicated for financial irregularities.
Then I read the next few lines and came across, "Dellis Cay is a 560-acre private island that Dr. Kinay hoped to develop." This statement also failed the accuracy test. This was proved to be a false and misleading statement by the writer's use of the word "hoped". My investigation revealed that the project is almost fully developed and is happily on target to open in mid-2010. It is not readily clear to me why the word "hoped" was used when the development is proven to be almost complete.
As far as the article is concerned, in my opinion it constitutes the worst form of innuendo with its use of inflammatory labels in willful disregard of the truth. It's a shame when journalists attempt to trade on innuendo to pursue an agenda or to lazily satisfy a deadline.
Sorry, still more. Then I read that an inquiry reported, "high probability of systemic corruption or other serious dishonesty by key politicians and businessmen in TCI." I took notice of the "high probability" which in fact the inquiry report concluded affirmative corruption by Michael Misick and certain members of his cabinet, not probably - but conclusive.
The author of the article lumps-in businessmen on the island with the sentence about corruption, that was worth looking into. The "businessmen" who were purportedly questioned by the inquiry were all from Europe, not Turks and Caicos. They were there to invest in the islands and develop vacation properties.
There were no laws that were broken by these businessmen, at least the one who I investigated, Dr. Kinay. Reportedly, all transactions were legally entered into under the authority of the government. Therefore, this reporting bordered offensive to me because it was an unsubstantiated and uncorroborated claim that crossed a line of persuading public opinion.
Furthermore, my research revealed that a judge went out of his way to order the businessmens' names removed from the inquiry report, namely Dr. Kinay.
As far as news is concerned, it is made more complicated when writers allow personal feelings and emotions to influence their news writing. Due to many personal factors, we can’t help but to be influenced in our thinking. Our different upbringings, cultural backgrounds, religion, ethical and moral education, and perhaps traumatic events in our lives may influence our judgment of facts.
All of these factors can also play a roll in how we perceive events. This reminds me of a matter that occurred this year in California, wherein a main stream reporter wrote about a legal case unaware that the legal action involved a second main stream reporter. The next week, the offended second reporter wrote a completely false report in an attempt for revenge against the first reporter. The second reporter was caught red-handed. This was embarrassing to all news agencies and calls credibility into question, which is at the very heart of integrity.
But in this case of Turks and Caicos, how does one reconcile subjective interpretation of events with statements that are patently false?
According to thefreedictionary.com, to be “objective"; means: “Uninfluenced by emotions or personal prejudices” (or) “Based on observable phenomena; presented factually”. To be “subjective"; is: “Proceeding from or taking place in a person's mind rather than the external world” (or) “Particular to a given person; personal”.
When we deal with objectivity, we also have to look at the concepts of truth, fairness, balance and accuracy. These fundamental principles in the world of reporting can never stand apart from each other. When we allow our work to be subjective, biased and inaccurate then we damage not only our own credibility, but can also mislead and influence the views of whole nations, promote hatred between groups and even fuel hostility or destruction of one person's future or reputation.
Once a reporter gathers facts, it is his/her duty to report the facts in context ensuring fairness and accuracy. It cannot stand apart from fairness. The test of fairness is giving all facts involved an equal opportunity to stand alone, as I demonstrated above. There was probably not one statement that could stand alone in the article as fact in context.
Adding to the recipe of destruction, is specific media agency policies, its political alignments and objectives. It's difficult to discern agendas in reporting.
When I watch MSNBC or Fox News, I am still shocked by the lack of objectivity and freedom of facts. Innuendo of other's characters is disguised as reporting. It is probably a good thing that most news watchers are savvy enough to distinguish MSNBC and Fox from real news.
But is the public at large aware of violations of integrity in reporting?
Article by: Candace Williams originally published August 11, 2009
|
| Letter: In response to: Is the TCI Journal fair? |
| Published on Monday, March 2, 2009 TCI Net news | |
Dear Sir: 
On Thursday February 26, the Turks & Caicos Net News posted a letter purportedly authored by Shaun O. Skippings, which asked, Is the TCI Journal fair?
Let us first begin by openly acknowledging that in fact, there is no person named Shaun O. Skippings. This particular letter, and others like it that have been published under that same name in the past, are clearly authored by a collection of people who are quick to slander and defame others, but are in fact, too cowardly to sign their own names to the accusations they publicly make.
This low-class and spineless tactic of collectively hiding behind a fake name to illuminate personal or private indiscretions of those they choose to target, or to make bogus accusations against people like Shaun Malcolm or Oswald Skippings, is reminiscent of the tactics and attacks perpetrated over the past few years by PNP ministers and their corrupt operatives when these same two gentlemen were attempting to expose PNP corruption and government malfeasance.
And, I find it rather ironic, hypocritical and very disingenuous that at the very instant this collection of people identifying themselves as Shaun O. Skippings is indignantly asking “Is it fair for people to hide behind fake names and launch attacks at everyone in sight without being man or woman enough to identify themselves?”, they are the ones who are actually hiding behind fake names and launching attacks without being man or woman enough to identify themselves.
Again, the real irony here is that those individuals making up the Shaun O. Skippings alter ego and disseminating false accusations are in fact PDM who fear that Shaun Malcolm and Oswald Skippings may be in contention for the leadership of that party. That fear is understandable when one considers that the PDM party has been leaderless for much of the past six years and continues to be so today.
The Shaun O. Skippings alter ego accuses the TCI Journal of having “summoned their expat supporters and have recruited Shaun Malcolm as their spokesperson”.
Please!... That ridiculous comment hardly warrants a response, except to say that anybody who personally knows Shaun Malcolm knows that Shaun Malcolm is a spokesperson for nobody but Shaun Malcolm.
Those Shaun O. Skippings of the PDM who hide their identities are quick to criticize the prospect that anybody would entertain the idea of a third political party. Could it be that those who may be considering the third political party alternative are doing so because of the in-fighting, back-biting and personal attacks that certain PDM members are now perpetrating against other PDM members?
http://www.tcinetnews.com/archivelist.php?news_id=1110&pageaction=showdetail&news
|