Why NicaLiving is Better Than the Mainstream Press

Submitted by fyl on 10 May, 2008 - 18:59.

If you wonder "who to believe" on an issue, check out this thread. In the mainstream press there would be an article, right or wrong, and at best one Letter to the Editor published. This particular thread is a good example of someone making a statement and a lot of people adding in some facts that dispute what was in the statement.

I'm not going to say this is only the case in NicaLiving. It is a perfect example of why blogs and on-line content that allows comments is a better source of "news" than the on-way sources.

‹ Sorry for the Interruption Profile photos ›
( categories: )

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

blog vs los periodicos

Submitted by gueguense on 12 May, 2008 - 12:52.

I read nicaliving primarily to find out what the gringos are doing in Nicaragua, and to see how they view us nicas.

We all have read stuff about us rascally nicas doing things such as hacking gringo moclines (gringos who like young girls), supposedly stealing i-pods, overcharging gringos. Ad Nauseam.

But of course, we have a few here who have grossly profited from nicas by being land thieves, and speculators, case in point San Juan Del Sur, a former gem that has become infested by gringos.

I have told many other blog members privately, that if things continue like they have been, eventually there will be a backlash against you. Eric Volz may very well have been the catalyst that has slowly put nica opinion against the so-called expats.

As far as the revelation that a gringo was involved in Tola real estate speculation, this is not news. We rascally nicas are not dumb, we know who is involved, and in some cases have been grea$ing palms to the current powers that be in exchange for a cut of the action....

NicaLiving is Better than the Mainstream Press

Submitted by ddagger on 11 May, 2008 - 14:58.

Ask your self why is La Prensa reporting the preliminary hearing and the setting of a court date? Why did daffodil beauty so breathlessly report the Indictments of the leaders of the Community and two owners of a land lease? It was actually the setting of a court date. Are they trying to use NL to discredit Dale Dagger? Nickname hint: Dale pronounced in Spanish is Dolly My first trip to Central America was in 1972. Jimi Hendrix had song called Dolly Dagger. Everyone in Latin America has a sobre nombre. It's not a big deal.

Flor de Mayo, using the classic three evils, "lawyers guns and money" is trying to evict 550 Nicaraguan families from land they have had since the 1800's. If this happens can you imagine how this will affect Nica/gringo relations? Where will these families go? Will they simply forget and forgive and be good neighbors? Please watch this video and tell me if you believe this is acceptable behavior for developers. This is from when Flor de Mayo was invaded by the police and a judge last year. Somehow this didn't get in the paper, The Tola Police arrested three members of the Flor de Mayo Security Force and confiscated seven weapons. This was NOT reported in La Prensa.

Me? I just got caught up in this because I leased a small plot of land from the Indigenous Community and now Philip Christopher attacks me telling the world I'm under investigation for money laundering. It must be a very small pila. He also accuses me of cutting a fence on the contested land. I don't even own a machete. I'm a surfer who wants to share the wonder of Nicaragua with a few friends. I can't even give the land back because it is not mine it belongs the the Indigenous community.

There is also an article in the April 25 Tico Times where Philip Christopher of Flor de Mayo admits to shooting at the Indigenous Community with rubber bullets. He laughs it off saying "it's an away game" Who are the other 24 owners of Flor de Mayo? Are they all such ugly Americans?

This video is in Spanish. It shows the size of the community and the trained attack dogs employed against them by Flor de Mayo

Guns,money and lawyers

Let's not get swept away, guru

Submitted by Daddy-YO on 11 May, 2008 - 12:41.

This blog doesn't emanate from the top of Mount Sinai. I read the La Prensa article and found nothing amiss. They simply reported a legal action: several were indicted on such & such charges, to be tried in court. (And, like blogs, I do enjoy their readers’ online comments, though nobody thought that this news item was worth commenting on. There were tons of comments on the Ken Kinzel case however.) It was the initial post on the NL stream you indicate that was inflammatory. What happens on NL is more like gossip in e-print, entertaining, sometimes informative (but ‘facts’ must be checked) and often filled with good, drawn-from-life advise. It’s reading the personal experiences of ex-pats who live in Nicaragua I find most valuable.

Dirtbag (nae Shite) lists (below) many of the recent cases of ex-pats in Nicaragua that were discussed on NL. I confess I read them as if they were tabloid ‘news’, fascinated by the details & personalities brought forth here. But I couldn’t possibly judge innocence or guilt from all I read. That’s why there are courts of law, not that they’re perfect, but evidence must be presented, attacked & defended, before those who know the law.

The mainstream press, with its journalistic fact-checking, editorial overviews, and its being an establishment, along side businesses and political parties, has a reputation to maintain & defend. Blogs can expose stuff the ‘press’ sometimes misses, but, for me the information is most valuable when the press takes that blog ‘news’ and prints it, stakes their reputation on it. That’s confirmation I’d bank on.

Yes, it's a blog

Submitted by fyl on 11 May, 2008 - 16:57.

I have been in the publishing business for 25 years. The main thing that told me is that publications (newspapers, magazines, books, ...) are written by normal people. Many have their own agenda.

Ignoring any bias, a newspaper still has an agenda which is to get "exciting" information out quickly in order to get advertising revenue. Magazines do a bit better at fact checking. Newspapers are actually pretty bad at it because of the time constraint.

My point here is not that NicaLiving is 100% accurate. It is simply that when someone offers up BS, someone else offers up more information. Just like I don't come to conclusions from reading La Presna, I don't come to conclusions from reading NicaLiving. But, hearing another point of view is more likely to happen here than in La Prensa, El Nuevo Diario or The Miami Herald.

What about the damage from the initial publication?

Submitted by bluewater on 12 May, 2008 - 08:22.

The real problem is that this blog piece will electronically carry the claims about these men forever. A responsible publication has fact checkers and screens obvious smears (in the majority of cases). Yes FYL newspapes and magazines have agendas, just like you and I have agendas. My point is that if you have ever been subjected to false blogs, you live with it forever and it just does not go away.

The responses live with the post

Submitted by fyl on 12 May, 2008 - 08:33.

While there will be some people that only see the initial post, the fact that there are responses attached to the post is what I see as a plus. When a newspaper "gets caught", the retraction or followup comments end up in a different place. As many newspapers are available on-line (including END and La Prensa), it is easy to see an article but not a clarification.

So, while we all may have agendas, the fact that you get an assortment of viewpoints/agendas in one place makes it a lot easier to put the pieces together.

Take a look at LinuxJournal.com for something that isn't this kind of politics. There are years of posts there with lots of attached opinion. It is a lot better than just reading the story in a pro-Linux magazine such as print Linux Journal or a magazine that tends to not want to admit Linux works (because its advertising revenue comes from Microsoft.

In Nicaragua, what I used to do was read La Prensa and END and if they agreed, assume it was the case. Unfortunately, it isn't that simple today. As both papers have agendas different from the current government, it is relatively hard to put together the real situation. Living here helps but it doesn't fill in all the blanks.

some good points there Daddy-Yo

Submitted by dirtbag on 11 May, 2008 - 14:51.

Made me also think to add, Good Luck trying to sue someone for defamation on a Blog.

or a lot of other people

Submitted by dirtbag on 10 May, 2008 - 21:31.

not making a statement. tis a "Blog". Lets not get confused. To each his own., remember on this "Blog" the Eric Volz snapshot. the lady in Granada a victim of stupidity, the American that got cut-up in Esteli..sorry, it was Esteli right! Guys like Tony,Huehuete Bob,R.I.P. Sandino Etc. Not News. Just a great "Blog". Personally, coming from Scotland I just wish we could have less Americans on this "Blog"... if yer nae Scottish yer Shite. welcome any others to join in please. You could always start you own "Blog" but it wouldn't be the same. By the way. all jokes aside, would you call Dale Dagger..great name, nae problem, and ask if he would sell you property around Rivas? That's not News, that's what's happening. Only Kidding.