St. Maarten Private Eye

Have some government body reviewing all newspapers and media before they get printed? What on earth would you do with radio stations in that case?

Let's get something straight here folks.

The Today newspaper is owned or at least partially owned by Richard Gibson, who just happens to be the former Minister of Constitutional Affairs in the Government of the Netherlands Antillies. He lost his job in January when the National Alliance won two of the three parliament seats, the Democratic Party had had two. The DP are running the local Island Government with 6 out of 11 seats and elections are coming up nest year where many predict they will be out on their ass.

You can got read the Elections or Contitutional Change threads to find out more.

Anyway, it is privately owned and employs about 10-15 people I would guess. It's circulation is about 5-7000 and a glance through any recent issue will show that advertisers are scarce.

Many people buy it only for the news that might not be in the Daily Herald or because it's only 50c, as is the DH, you give a $1 and you get both. I get it for the same reasons and in order to catch the crappy articles and editorials in order to point them out to people.

St. Maarten is not a healthy democracy by any means, because there is a culture of caution and even fear that prevents people from speaking up too loudly. Most of them haven't a fucking clue about this case or the publicity it is getting.

I'm going to write about this more in a new post tonight, but I want it to be known and understood that the Today newspaper is not representative of the people of the island.

Please wait for my new blog post later on tonight and I will try to explain better.

Flipper

flipper,

I just want to thank you for keeping us informed and posting the horrific TODAY editorials. I did also see that at least they published Dick Jefferson's letter.

I was a visitor to St. Martin/St. Maarten (travelling with the author of Personal boycott) when the attack happened. Luckily we had gone to bed early that night in preparation for our trip home the next day. My friends had seen Ryan Smith, Dick Jefferson and their friends several times on the island being in many of the same places they frequented. It really frightened me that it could have just as easily been my friends that were attacked. I had no idea that when my friend that I've been vacationing with for 10+ years referred to "gay-friendly" or "not gay-friendly" that the latter could mean such vicious violence.

I've been searching the internet since then about the entire Caribbean and have found that the issues concerning lack of police response seem to be the case almost everywhere.

I'm also thankful for your blog to see that most of the people of SXM are thoughtful, intelligent and also outraged about the attack.

I think we will all feel safer when the thugs responsible are arrested and convicted.

Thank you again for keeping us informed.

You are sounding hysterical.

The Today paper is a rag and the vast majority of people here would agree with that term. The editorial DOES NOT reflect the views of the population. Several thousands of people dissapear in the US every year, several more thousands are beaten, many in hate crimes. This is the first case that we know of here and was clearly committed by a few ignorant moronic s**theads, to generalise the population of the island as thinking the same is shameful and absolutely ridiculous.

I would be surprised if the Today paper lasts more than a few more months.

Also, the population are also well aware of the failings of the police force, we live with them daily. This is the main issue here in this case and we want it fixed too.

Get a grip.

I think you need to get a grip on reality! Ignorance breeds hate!!! Your like the smart guy who says” Don’t worry about the guy you spits on peoples food at the restaurant, he probably get fired in a couple days." There’s no point in telling him that he is doing anything wrong, he will always be like that. Don't also say anything about the guy who beats his wife, because they will probably get a divorce soon.
Words from everybody’s Hero!
It's time for you to take your cape off bra!

Because you clearly know nothing about me. Nor do you know anything about the island it seems. The attack disgusts me and if I had been there I am the sort who would have dived in to help, risking my own life. Thank you very much.

As for the editorials, yes, they disgust me too and I have written to the newspapers several times to protest the crap they print. Thank you again.

But, the case as it concerns 'gay bashing' is an isolated case. This does not lessen it by stating a fact. The issue of the police response is not isolated and to me that is the bigger issue. Again, it does not lessen the bashing fact and that I want these guys locked up and the authorites to start paying more attention to the promotion of intolerance in the community.

So, like I said, get a grip and find a focus. If you want to focus on a hysterical view that St. Maarten is an anti gay island then I will naturally point out that you are talking crap. If there is to be any boycott of the island it should be because we lack a professional and reliable police force, not because you are afraid of getting bashed.

LH

The editorial was written by one person and published by one or two more. I know a couple of workers at the Today, (which probably employs about 10 people) who are upset with it. But they want to keep their jobs of course, what would speaking up accomplish other than to put them out of a job.

To take this editorial as the view of the population of the island is being just as ignorant as the s**theads that did the beating. It's a good thing that it's been exposed, by this site i might add, although no one seems to acknowledge it.

Americablog - St. Maarten's newspaper pines for the good old days when it was okay to beat the crap out of "faggots" and "homos" - 20th April 2006

GLAAD Urges Media to Spotlight St. Maarten Newspaper's Defamatory Embrace of Gay Bashing - 20th April 2006

I know the Today is garbage, the only reason we here at SXM PE get a copy is to expose it.

LH

I've only seen the editorials in the TODAY that have been posted pn this site and wish to thank those that have posted them to expose what's out there. Does the TODAY have advertisements? I would think the way to put pressure on the paper not to publish such hateful editorials would be to contact the advertisers and ask them to speak up by taking their advertising dollars away from TODAY unless they change their tune. After all, I would think most of the businesses that advertise probably depend on the tourist industry and the bigoted editorials definitely won't help the island's reputation as "friendly."

The author of this article is showing his/her ignorance--what part of "Thou shalt not kill" don't you understand? What if your son/daughter suddenly informed you that they were gay? Would you feel the same? Life happens--live and let live.

best to be empty, than to go against the gov'ment.

I sent this letter to the TODAY newspaper in response to their idiotic editorial published on the gay bashing:

I read your editorial published in your newspaper and can't believe you would put such garbage out there. You are only doing more damage to your island by showing the world that there are more closed minded morons on the island besides the ones who bashed those young gentleman.
If gay and lesbian people were afforded the same rights as everyone else,there wouldnt be a need for them to have a "cause" as your writer states.
As for the word, homophobia, his thoughts couldnt be further from the truth. There are people who are homophobic because they dont want anyone to know they themselves have homosexual tendencies. This doesn't mean they don't support homosexuality. This only means they are afraid to deal with it. Do some more reading on the subject next time before you make such idiotic statements.
You call gay bashing a strong armed robbery? DUMB. What did those bashers steal from Ryan and his friend? The only thing I can think of is that they stole Ryan's chances of living a normal, happy life. He will be marred for life thanks to them.You think the bashers thought they were stronger than Ryan at 6'7"? They didnt bash his head in because they wanted to show their manliness. They did it for one reason only. Ryan is gay.You call the bashers macho? I call them low life losers.
You list many names for gay people. How clever of you. Do you really think people dont know all the "code names" for gay people? You are a joke. Today is a family newspaper? I think it is a shame a tree had to die so they may put their dirty ink on it. I think TODAY is worthless trash.
Silly homosexuals? DO you realize homosexuals make up a large portion of the highly educated people of the world? Too bad you aren't as educated. This may be the first time this has happened on St Maarten and it also may not be the first time. Seeing how the incompetent police on St Maarten handled this case, who is to say they didnt sweep other bashings under the carpet. If you want your island to flourish, I suggest you thank all of those "silly homosexuals" for making your lazy government and loser police dept wake up and start to make life better for you and the other inhabitants of the island. If I was you, I would hang my head in shame for not thinking about the situation clearly and making such a public fool of yourself

This is why the world is going to hell in a hand basket! Maybe we are in hell? With the S#!% they just wrote in this newspaper, I would believe it to be true. Ignorant people just piss me off! This paper just not worth my time or breath. I'd like to wipe my a$$ with this newspaper. It's the only thing it's good for.

The artwork next to this article.... it sucks too! How long do you have to stare at it until an image appears? I hope nobody paid someone to make that..........It's probably a doodle an officer was working on when he was suppose to be doing his job! I know I did not say she because I figure the police are also sexist.