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Sep
28
how could that be journalism?
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“… it’s not just criminal libel complaints, even though the frivolous use of that legal anomaly by “llorones sin cojones” is annoying. No, it’s people invading private lives, scaring children, following my wife in the streets. My daughter gets scared every time a policeman shows up with a court citation. I have to be on my guard, always watch which cars are parked in the street …”
and with these final, troubling lines, Okke Ornstein said goodbye, and shut down his notorious muckraking site. today scam-artists, content thieves, pedophiles, and corrupt officials can break out the duros. noriegaville is dead.
it’s a matter of public record that noriegaville has been good for panama, and in particular gringo retirees. even his critics, some of them languishing in jail cells, are aware of that. love him or hate him, we should all feel a little embarrassed, and concerned by this.
by the way, any of you out there wondering if panama is the place to retire should consider this: panama is a very young democracy, they still haven’t figured it all out yet. free speech is essentially illegal here. satire, the bailiwick of panama after hours, is illegal here. exposing corruption is illegal here. by my count that’s already three strikes.
and now okke’s gone. sad. clearly, hard-hitting journalism, while praiseworthy, is not the way to make a living in panama. in fact, it’s almost sure to garner you dangerous enemies.
ironically, many of okke’s enemies were gringos. he was stalked by gringos, harassed in forums by gringos, sued by gringos. and it was gringos, the very folks he helped by exposing scams and corruption, who could have kept noriegaville afloat.
the reaction to today’s news has been mostly muted. in the popular panama forum, one poster groaned:
“Its about time. This guy had nothing but NEGATIVE about Panama. How could that be journalism?”
indeed. noriegaville was always negative wasn’t it. always on about the dark side of panama. the thing is, there really is no way to put a happy spin on panama’s ills. not if you want to sleep at night.
but it seems okke was preaching to a rather bored choir. the locals all know their government is corrupt. and it seems most gringos really don’t want to hear about it, or be associated with it.
or as one of my readers recently chastised,
“why are you so worry about extending your visa when you can buy a new one just there? its all about corruption.”
other critics claim okke failed because the rules are different in panama:
“When the foreigners who were allowed to move to Panama as the permanent guests will finally grasp the culture and the Latin mentality they would understand that in countries like Panama the North American-European type approach is not applicable.”
i’ll grant you, this is another culture. and some of us are guests here. it’s hard to argue with the fact that honesty is perilous in panama. but as i write this, university students are outside throwing rocks at cars in the street. that’s how they like to roll down here. that’s the culture.
perhaps then okke erred by not picking up a rock. words, it seems, can be so harsh.
on the net - “Ex-US Air Force intelligence officer stalks journalist’s family with stun gun.” the panama news.
join the cult of cojito. just drink the koolaid.
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as someone once said…”the pen is mightier than the sword”…and obviously the powers that be in panama are very threatened and sensitive to media commentary. its hard these days to find truly credible news…balanced and fair. forget fox news, cnn and most other usa media. they all are more bent and twisted in their agendas than noriegaville ever was. i didnt always agree or like what orrie published, but it saddens me that the “powers that be” have succeeded in silencing him. i also will move from panama or anyplace where you have to speak the truth “underground”. i guess that story is still out…and continued kudos to this site and thepanamanews.com for continuing the push for free expression and journalism. is myanmar just a symbol of what could develop here and elsewhere in this crazy world so controlled by government regimes and power mongers? scary thought…
“Oh my god… those windmills are dragons!”
The horrors, the horrors.
tman - thanks man. when i was writing this up, i kept thinking, people want to be lied to.
certainly the model noriegaville (and in a different, more perverse way, panama after hours) was using will not be profitable in the long run. and if you can’t make money then why take the risk?
what biz wants to advertise on alternative sites like noriegaville or panama after hours? strip clubs maybe. but to sell their products most advertisers choose sites that put a happy, child-safe spin on the world.
hell, even an honest, real, news site like the panama news doesn’t make much loot. it’s only because eric lives like a monk, and writes like a fiend that it works. but for how long?
i write what i write because i can’t help myself. it makes me happy to be honest about what i see. maybe i’m self-destructive. but i just can’t stomach the alternative. the trick for me, or anyone i guess, is to package that happy narcissism into an ebook that can be sold for $99 lol.
costa rica jones - lol now you mock don quixote? blasphemy.
Walter Concrite…where are you? maybe we should go back even further? “good night…and good luck”. used to be a day when journalists were taught to have a creed…almost like what used to be the physicians creed…to be truthful, honest, with integrity…yadda yadda. Now its all about ratings, and yes, advertising rates based on viewership, hyping any extreme you can pander to…and surprise surprise…that leads to sensationalism and giving the sheep what they want versus what they need to hear. THe best combination of blood and guts…balanced by do-gooder stories. Its enough to make an honest, educated person puke on his tv tray. cant take viewing that shit anymore. even the bbc and other international news bureaus are “softening” and shortening their coverages of “sensitive” issues. what is the world coming too?
i might not always agree with erics politics at thepanamanews.com either…but i admire his devotion and passion to pursue and write about what he sees and believes. who knows…these are the kind of people that 2000 years from now could be the next religious identities. the prophets and rabbis of old were often stoned or killed for telling the truth about what they saw coming. these days we have some of these same in our midst…who are being silenced by the commercially and politically driven medias and government agencies. the truth is like a “voice in the wilderness”. Carry on Cojito my “wayward son”… :)
Tman - lol well, i’m often stoned, does that make me a prophet?
YOU SEEM LIKE JUST THE ONE WHO WOULD KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWERS. IVE BEEN INTHE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC FOR 5 YEARS, AND AM LOOKING INTO PANAMA PLEASE EMAIL ME, I HAVE A COUPLE QUESTIONS.
has anyone gotten error messages, or ended up on a 404 page? my stats program is showing a 404 page as a referrer and i’d like to fix the problem. if yes, what did you do to get there?
ricky - the Dominican eh? cool. i hate email, so fire away. remember, when you post here you get the benefit of everyone’s knowledge.
i do realize there are some questions you don’t want to ask here. like, how do i smuggle my hooker-girlfriend into panama?
so if you really really need to email me use the contact page, and send your questions on over. i’ll try and answer them. but be warned, they’ll probably just end up here anyway. questions are grist for the mill ricky.
Cojito,
I am in the gambling business here in the Dominican. I place private concession tables ” multi-ball roulette” in casinos here. In the dominican you can pretty much do whatever you can afford to pay officials for, and the gaming commission is not excluded. Also greedy casino owners love having a private consession that grosses what mine does, hhowever, the larger corporate casinos dont want such things as the casino in panama might well be just a cog in a well greased corporate machine and the monthly bottom line isnt of much concern as there is so much money backing the whole pie. That said I am interested on your opinion of casinos in panama. And your opinion of casino owners in panama. But most importantly your opinion of the powers that be concerning casinos and their business. Will the right amount of envelopes allow for just about anything?
ricky - to be honest, i do better with the how do i dispose of a dead hooker* questions lol. i really don’t know any casino owners personally. i play poker tourneys over at the majestic. and i’ve played at the veneto.
if i had to guess i’d say that the bigger concerns like the veneto might not want your action. but then the hold-em game over at the majestic seems to be run by an outsider. so maybe if they believe you’ll make them good money they’ll let you in.
there are a lot of other casinos that i don’t bother with because they’re small and don’t have hold-em. they may welcome your biz.
panama is a place where the rule of law really only matters to the poor. if you’ve put the right amount in an envelope, and you’ve given it to the right guy, then you’ll probably get what you need.
christ, people kill people, and with the proper connections and bribes they walk free. the gov has backed a lot of sketchy projects too. they seem willing to break their own laws in search of a buck. so what’s a little gambling operation?
these are all just opinions. i don’t run a biz down here. and the only time i’m with the rabiblanco crowd is when i’m sitting across from them at the poker table.
take everything i say with a fist full of salt. and hope that one of my many cult members can shed some light on your questions.
*answer - you throw her off a patilla balcony.
Cojito…youre just too much sometimes…LOL
ricky…panama casinos seem to be really poorly run, hit and miss operations. even the new owners of veneto dont seem to have things in order. management clueless. service still the worst. but with the tide of folks coming here, it seems you probably cant lose. And im sure the envelopes work here as well as they do in the dominican.
you must love running businesses “in the shadows”…